Luke 18:15

‘And they were bringing to him also their infants, that he should touch them, but when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them.'

The scene is a very simple one. The believing mothers, who would have told the young children all about Jesus, now brought them, eager faced and willing, to be received and touched by Him. The use of the term ‘infants' by Luke, which he alters from paidion in Mark, is not in order to indicate babes in arms, but in order to bring out the contrast with adults which, by means of words of Jesus, he will use as an object lesson. For it is this aspect of things which makes him bring in the story in the context of similar stories which describe how God can be approached.

A practise had in fact grown up of bringing children to be blessed by the Elders and Scribes on the evening of the Day of Atonement. Thus to bring them to the great Prophet for the same purpose, while He was passing through their territory, would seem to the mothers a right and pious thing to do.

But the disciples, probably concerned at how tired Jesus was, sternly tried to keep them away. Their view was that Jesus had much more important things on His mind than children. Children were generally viewed in those days as needing to keep their place.