The Stained Glass Windows of Saint Mark

Suffer Little Children to Come Unto Me

“And they brought unto him also infants, that he would touch them: but when his disciples saw it, they rebuked them. 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 18:15-16

In Loving Memory of Elizabeth Winship Bates, 1872-1928
and Wilson Allen Bates, 1867-1907

The account of Jesus blessing the children, from the Judean section of his ministry, appears in almost identical language in all three Synoptic Gospels (Saint Mark 10:13-16, Saint Matthew 19:13-15, Saint Luke 18: 15-17). The passage expresses an attitude very unlike the academic rabbinical attitude toward women and children. Jesus is asked to touch the children even as he was asked to touch the sick, presumably because some special blessing was expected from the contact. This story provides the setting for an important teaching of Jesus: “Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.” (Saint Mark 10:15, RSV) Here, unlike 9:37, it is not the receiving of a child, but the receiving of the kingdom, that is emphasized.

Much of the opposition to Jesus came from those who held fast to their adult skepticisms and misgivings and lacked imagination, receptivity, and the childlike capacity to act at once upon what they understood.

The figures in the window are arranged to surround the dominant personage of Jesus, clothed in the symbolic colors of red and white to indicate his sovereign power and purity. The rich damask of the children’s clothing was named for its origin city of Damascus, about 150 miles from Jerusalem. Its use here for children’s wear reflects the early Renaissance influences upon artistic design; fabrics of this kind were unknown among common people at the time of Jesus. Two of Jesus’ disciples, who followed traditional religious thinking and rebuked those who were bringing the children, stand behind their Master and exchange disapproving glances.

It is interesting to note the strong parallelism which exists between this window and the one directly opposite it across the church, “The Lord Is My Shepherd.” In both one sees the central figure of Jesus, a distant city in the background, and a body of water. In both cases the rightness of Jesus’ ideas is questioned, once by the scribes and again by his own disciples.

The medallion at the top of the window is a red heart surmounted by a white cross and surrounded by a yellow sunburst. Across this symbol of love and devotion is a banner carrying the title of the window, “Suffer Little Children to Come Unto Me."

This window was dedicated by the Reverend Dr. S. H. C. Burgin, Pastor of Saint Mark Church, and Dr. Harvey W. Cox, President of Emory University, at the Morning Worship Service on Sunday, March 15, 1931.

Mr. and Mrs. Wilson Allen Bates were numbered among the small group of Atlantans who established Saint Mark Church at Peachtree and Fifth Streets and were members of the congregation when it was known as the Merritts Avenue Methodist Church. Mr. Bates, a graduate of Auburn Polytechnic Institute and Vanderbilt University, was chairman of the Board of Stewards at the time the decision was made to transfer the church to its present location. Their little daughter Anne, later Mrs. Willaford Ransom Leach, broke ground for the present church by lifting the first spade of earth. Mrs. Bates was the daughter of Robert Winship, whose family was one of the most influential in the South. She was the first woman ever to be elected to the Board of Stewards of Saint Mark Church. She was supervisor of the primary department but it was in the Woman’s Missionary Society that she found the happiest expression for her spirit of service.