Let the Children Come

In the small village in Judea, where Benjamin lived, hardly anything of importance ever happened.  One household was little different from another, the families being equally poor.  The village was, actually, more like one big house with a lot of rooms.

At 10,  Benjamin was not considered old enough to participate in the discussion of serious village matters.  Though he tried to be as helpful as he could, he spent much of his time at the village well where the mothers and children often gathered.  There he played child’s games, listened to family arguments and sometimes saw a stranger who had stopped at the well for water.

To look at Benjamin and his friends tease and chase around the  the rocky square, it would seem that they were a bunch of lazy good for nothings.  But, the time was not wasted-not at all. These moments were the only education that Benjamin and his friends would receive.  The merchants that  stopped to sell a few pots and pans were not the best sort of persons. however, they would share news from the other villages and bring many stories.  One time a traveler murdered another over a camel that he had been overcharged for.  Another time, three Roman soldiers and a Roman official came to the well.  Benjamin was given some figs for hauling them water.  At the same time he had opportunity to hear their strange way of speaking and to see their fine tunics.  Then there was the day that a magician arrived and took a large coin out of Benjamin’s sister Sarah’s ear.  It was the largest coin that any of the children had ever seen.  Ever since then the children made Sarah cry by looking in her ear to see if there were any more such coins.

When the villagers heard that a holy man, and teacher, was near, Benjamin joined everyone else in walking out to see him.  It was seldom that a person who was known throughout Palestine came by the village.  The man was standing where Benjamin had a clear view, though he could not get close enough to hear.  A number of adults were standing around the man arguing about religious matters.  Benjamin didn’t care, because he was not old enough to worry about such things.

Imagine Benjamin’s surprise when his mother and aunt took him by his arms and began pulling him through the crowd as some of the other parents were doing with their children.  The people close to the teacher began to push the parents and children back, and there were angry shouts at this interruption in the discussion.  But, the man said that it was alright and he let all of the children come up close so that he could put his hands on them.  When Benjamin got up to the man, he stopped struggling with his mother and aunt and looked at the man with interest.  He was not more than a foot away.  Though the man didn’t say anything, he didn’t make Benjamin feel uncomfortable.  He put his hand lightly on the side of his head in such a way that he made Benjamin feel very important simply because he was who he was-Benjamin!  After he had touched all of the children, the man turned and walked away from the crowd and was never seen by the villagers again.

It is difficult to say just how a child becomes a man or woman.  Many things have to come together and this was true for Benjamin, as well.  But, Benjamin owed much to that teacher from a nearby village.  He had made Benjamin feel important…and Benjamin couldn't even remember the man's name.