Welcoming a Child as a Metaphor for Welcoming God's Kingdom: A Close Reading of Mark 10.13-16

Abstract

The purpose of this article is threefold: to analyze the structural markers in Mk 10.13-16 that signal that the reader should render the simile in 10.15 `welcoming the kingdom of God as one welcomes a child', to sketch the narrative and symbolic functions of this simile within its immediate literary context, and to highlight those aspects of 10.13-16 that indicate this passage is an expanded Markan relecture of 9.33-37.