A reading from the holy gospel according to
Matthew (Mt 19, 13-15)
“Then little children were being brought to him in
order that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples spoke sternly
to those who brought them; but Jesus said, ‘Let the little children come to me,
and do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven
belongs.’ And he laid his hands on them and went on his way.”
I love this short and simple story that spells out
God’s love for small children, although I like Mark’s rendition better. When
Jesus saw the disciples rebuking those who brought their children for him to
lay his hands on them and pray, he told them: “Let the children come to me, and
do not prevent them; for the Kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these."
Matthew and Mark tell this short story as if
‘sandwiched’ between two other stories, one a question about divorce and
another about how to inherit eternal life.
Just before this story, both Matthew and Mark
report about Christ’s teaching on divorce. Some Pharisees asked Jesus, “Is it
lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any cause?” He answered them, “What
did Moses command you?” They said, “Moses allowed a man to write a certificate
of dismissal and to divorce her”. But Jesus said to them, “Because of your hardness
of heart he wrote this commandment for you. ... What God has joined together,
let no one separate.”
Luke also reports something in this line of
thought before his rendition of today’s gospel. He presents the parable of the
pharisee and the tax-collecter. The one wasted his time boasting before God about
how good he was, as if God was indebted to him, and the other who acknowledged
his sinfulness and asked for God’s mercy and obtained it, returning to his home
justified. Jesus said: “All who humble themselves will be exalted” (Lk 18, 14).
Just after the story of the blessing of the
children Matthew, Mark and Luke tell us the same story about the rich young man
who asked Jesus about what to do to inherit eternal life. Eternal life is an
inheritance, a gift, and the only thing one can do is to live like a true
daughter, like a true son. Jesus did not tell the young man how to inherit
eternal life but proposed to him to follow in his way by selling all his
belongings and give them to the poor in order to be wholly dependent on God’s
love and providence. The young man was good and Mark tells us that “Jesus
looking upon him loved him” (Mk 10, 21). But he was unable to let go of his
possessions and he could not accept Christ’s invitation and went away sad. And
Jesus said to his disciples, “It will be hard for a rich person to enter the
kingdom of heaven”.
Mark tells us that Jesus was indignant at the way
the disciples rebuked those who were bringing their children to Christ. Jesus said
to his disciples: "Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them;
for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven" (Mt 19, 14) and “Truly, I say
to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not
enter it" (Mk 10, 15). Why is it that the Tax-collector, a sinner, was
justified and not the Pharisee who kept the Law? Why is it that Jesus declared
hard-hearted those who wanted divorce for any reason, and Jesus told them: “Let
no one separate what God has joined together?
Why is it that the kingdom of God belongs to
children, and they shall enter it?
It is not a question of being a child, for
children grow and become adults, and have to make important choices about
following or not Christ’s way of life. In truth Jesus said that those who
receive the kingdom of God like a child, these will enter it.
How can we be childlike, in order to enter the
kingdom of heaven?
Once Jesus told his disciples: “Truly I tell you,
unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of
heaven. Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in the kingdom
of heaven. Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me” (Mt 18,
1-5).
Are children humble? Not necessarily, but they
know their limits, they know they need the support of their parents, their
family, and that they could not live on their belongings, for they have none.
And children had no status in the culture of Christ’s time.
Children are always asking ‘Why’, for they want to
learn, and are not ready to follow blindly whoever comes their way. They use
their brains.
So Jesus does not ask us to be childish, but to be
childlike.
Those who wanted divorce for any reason were not
childlike. The Pharisee was not childlike for he was keen to show himself
better than the tax-collector, nor the rich young man was, who was so attached
to this wealth. The tax-collector knew that he needed God’s forgiveness and he
asked for it, and got it.
At times the disciples too were on the verge of
losing their way, for without knowing it they were preventing children and those
who brought them, who were childlike, from coming to Jesus. They were working
against Christ’s will and he was indignant at their behaviour, for they saw
themselves as defenders of their Master and not as facilitators for people to
meet their saviour, and they found themselves working against what Jesus Christ
stood for. They had forgotten that Jesus was friends with sinners, the poor,
the sick and that he wanted the children to come to him. For him they were not
a nuisance!
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