On Wednesday of this week we read from MATTHEW 17:24-27; 18:1-4:  

 

“At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, "Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them, and said, "Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” 

 

Christ’s responses to the questions of his disciples are often not what they expected. What could be more unexpected than an answer like the one Christ gives in this passage. “Who is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” Not great kings, or prophets, generals, or high priests. Rather, to be greatest in the kingdom of heaven, even to enter into the kingdom of heaven, one must become like a little child. 

 

“Whoever humbles himself like this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” That which makes a little child so great in God’s eyes is humility. A child must submit to its parents, go where the parent says, eat what the parents say to eat, go to sleep when the parents say go to sleep, live where the parents say to live, a child knows what it means to be entirely dependent on another. We are all dependent on God as our Creator, but our own pride gets in the way of our reliance on Him. We want to be in control of our own lives, to have the good that we want, rather than the good we need. It is this same pride that caused Adam and Eve to fall, wanting to become like God on their own terms and in their own way. When we, in our pride, force our will, rather than uniting our will with God’s, then we fall as well.  

 

How can we become more like the little children? We must call to mind Christ’s words in the Garden of Gethsemane in Matthew 26:39: “not as I will, but as you will...” or the words of the Theotokos to the Archangel Gabriel at the Annunciation in Luke 1:26-38: “I am the handmaiden of the Lord, let it be done to me according to your word...” By giving up our own will and submitting ourselves to God’s we let go of our own ego, our own pride, and realign ourselves once again to the “way, the truth, and the life,” the way that leads us to the kingdom of God. 

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