Chiding

Jesus is gentle with children and sharp with his closest friends. “Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not,” he says when the disciples try to turn parents away. Yet in a boat on a stormy sea he asks, “Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith?” On the road to Emmaus he calls two followers “slow of heart to believe.” These rebukes are short, plain and aimed at people he keeps close to him. They come, in the stories themselves, with a calm and a lesson attached. To feel the contrast, read Mark 4 beside Mark 10.

15 verses

Matthew

Matthew 8:26

And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm.

Matthew 14:31

And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?

Matthew 15:16

And Jesus said, Are ye also yet without understanding?

Matthew 16:8

Which when Jesus perceived, he said unto them, O ye of little faith, why reason ye among yourselves, because ye have brought no bread?

Matthew 16:9

Do ye not yet understand, neither remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets ye took up?

Matthew 16:10

Neither the seven loaves of the four thousand, and how many baskets ye took up?

Matthew 16:11

How is it that ye do not understand that I spake it not to you concerning bread, that ye should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees?

Matthew 17:17

Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him hither to me.

Matthew 19:14

But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 26:40

And he cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, What, could ye not watch with me one hour?

Mark

Mark 4:40

And he said unto them, Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith?

Mark 7:18

And he saith unto them, Are ye so without understanding also? Do ye not perceive, that whatsoever thing from without entereth into the man, it cannot defile him;

Mark 10:14

But when Jesus saw it, he was much displeased, and said unto them, Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God.

Luke

Luke 18:16

But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God.

Luke 24:25

Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken:

Based on Nave's Topical Bible by Orville J. Nave (1896). Public domain. KJV scripture text, public domain.