From the Mouth of a Child
Matthew 18:1-3
In this time, the disciples went to Jesus saying, “Who should it result the one being the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” And summoning a child, He placed in their midst and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you change course, becoming as children, you won’t enter into the kingdom of heaven.”
Ouch. Jesus’ response to the disciple’s question must have stung a bit; forget being the greatest in the kingdom of heaven, you’re not even getting in.
Why children? What do children possess that adults must emulate? For starters, Children are innocent, unwise to the evils of the world. They don’t yet know about pride. They are aware of ego, the self, because the ego naturally wants, and children naturally want stuff. But pride is another matter, accomplishing things to boast about or feeling ‘puffed up’ about, like this comment the disciples made about who is the greatest. That is a pride question.
Children also have blind trust, even to a dangerous fault, trusting persuasive voices of alluring strangers. Children trust without asking why, trust that parents are going to care for them, trust that needs will be met. Jesus said, “Look to the birds’ when He was teaching about not being consumed with thoughts. He could have said, “Look to the children, they trust without asking.”
Children don’t yet know about socioeconomics, social status or class systems. Children will play with anyone who plops down in the sandbox. They don’t first eye-scan the visiting child to size them up, noticing skin color or asking about occupation or rate their demographics. Children don’t compare with a greater or least measuring stick. Children just know how to be who they are in the moment, unspoiled by world standards.
Jesus’ commands make amends for these anthropological danger zones; two of them specifically – shine your light and do not judge. Children have these commands on auto-pilot. A child, unless suffering from neglect and/or abuse, has a shining light of innocence that transcends any boundaries. And they can’t be judgmental; they wouldn’t know how. Sadly, judgment is something that will be taught to them later. Judgment has to be learned.
“Who is the greatest,” can be translated in Christianese: “Who is the most spiritually mature?” Spiritual maturity is often measured, erroneously, by years of church attendance and/or stacks and stacks of Bible knowledge or memorization. However, a more accurate measurement of spiritual maturity is the one who can bend the knee of Humility the fastest. Don’t get into a humility race with a child. A child without pride is going to be hard to beat.
