NOTES for Luk 18:15
In the East there is everywhere a belief that if a prophet or righteous person touches an infant, the child's fate will be happy. People have always sought, and still seek, to touch those known for their righteousness, even adults; and if parents manage to have a person known for his righteousness, for example, stroke their infant on the head, they can desire nothing greater for their child.
Clearly, infants were brought to the Savior for the same reasons. The disciples, as we can see, thought that what was present here were certain prejudices widespread among the people. Indeed, traditional Jewish ideas of spiritual life presuppose that it must be at least somewhat conscious, so that, for example, with respect to a child unfamiliar with the Torah, one cannot speak of any spiritual life.
And they perceived the parents' desire to bring infants to Jesus as absurd and meaningless: at such an age, after all, one still cannot speak of any spiritual life. Jesus Himself, however, sees this situation somewhat differently. Of course, He is not going to teach anything to the infants brought to Him. But neither does He drive away those who find themselves nearby.
This is understandable: if Jesus were simply a teacher of the Torah, even the greatest of all, infants would have nothing to do near Him. But He is not only Teacher; He is the Messiah who brought the Kingdom into the world. The Kingdom is always with Him and can be opened to seekers if they entrust themselves to Him. And here it is not always important to understand what is happening. Sometimes the breath of the Kingdom acts even on those who have only the vaguest ideas about God, the Kingdom, and the Messiah.
Of course, in this case there can be no talk of conscious spiritual or church life: for such life a person must understand and be aware of how God is working with him. But the action of the breath of the Kingdom can sometimes be useful from the point of view of preparing a person for conscious spiritual life. In any case, it will never be superfluous, and therefore the Savior does not reject any of those who come to Him with pure, even if naive, intentions.