The timing of this post is coincidental to the events of today. The school shooting in Connecticut is heartbreaking. Being the parent of a Kindergartener and hanging around an elementary school for the last seven years, my feelings are anger, fear, confusion, and sympathy. This column doesn't seek to address what happened today as if any column, from me or anybody else, could.
Children. Nothing quite like them.
Childish. The mess on the family room floor. The loss of appetite when the Brussels sprouts and baked chicken come out of the oven and the simultaneous reemergence of the appetite when the key lime pie comes out of the refrigerator a few minutes later. They can be selfish, egocentric, unreasonable, quarrelsome, and spoiled. People don’t necessarily grow out of such things the way a baby grows out of diapers or the way a young adult grows out of acne. One has to make a concerted effort to put such behaviors behind us. Paul sums it up at the end of his discussion of love when he writes:
When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put my childish ways behind me. – 1 Corinthians 13:11
Childlike. But it was Jesus who tells us to become like children.
The disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who is greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven?” Jesus called a little child to him and put the child among them. Then he said, “I tell you the truth, unless you turn from your sins and become childlike, you will never get into the Kingdom of Heaven. So anyone who becomes as humble as this little child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven. -Matthew 18:1-4
Jesus is talking to a group of childish men. They want to know about order of importance, pecking order, and how to get to the top. Their selfishness and egocentric life has emerged like cream rises to the top of a bowl of porridge. Then Jesus tells them they don’t really have a clue and they need to become a lot more like this little guy he just plucked from the crowd. The little boy stands there. All the disciples are looking at him. Jesus is talking about him. He is innocent: unable to wear a mask or be anything other than what he truly is. No point in neurotically comparing and competing against others when one is blissfully being oneself. His eyes are wide-eyed and full of faith when the great teacher summoned him. He is up for an adventure.
This is what Jesus meant by humility. Not modesty, polite self-deprecation, or thinking ill of yourself. Not saying that you aren’t much of a poker player, when you and everybody else knows you are. It’s more like this: When the chips are down, the boy knew the cards in his hand. He didn’t pretend to be anything other than what he was and trusted in the one who called him. Authentic. Bona fide. Faithful. And that is more than enough.
If God’s Kingdom is what you are seeking, Jesus says be like a child. It’s not an achievement you accomplish or a box you check-off. Instead, it’s a way of life and a rather splendid one at that.
The best is yet to come…
Craig
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