Matthew 18:1-6: a reflection

1In that hour the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who then is greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven?” 2Jesus called a little child to himself, and set him in the middle of them 3and said, “Most certainly I tell you, unless you turn and become as little children, you will in no way enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. 4Whoever therefore humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven. 5Whoever receives one such little child in my name receives me, 6but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble, it would be better for him if a huge millstone were hung around his neck and that he were sunk in the depths of the sea.

When the disciples ask who is greatest in the kingdom of heaven, Jesus answers by calling a little child to stand among them: Unless you turn and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom. The disciples were asking about rank and status; Jesus points them to a child, and to the childlike lowliness that alone opens the door to the kingdom.

Notice what Jesus commends in the child. Not innocence exactly, but lowliness, dependence, the absence of status and pretension. A child has no rank to stand on, nothing to boast of, no self-importance; a child simply depends, receives, trusts. And this, Jesus says, is what it takes to enter the kingdom: to turn and become like that, to let go of our grasping for greatness and become small, dependent, receiving the kingdom as a gift we cannot earn.

That reorients everything about greatness and entry into God's kingdom. We are prone, like the disciples, to think in terms of status, achievement, rank, to want to be great. Jesus says the door is low, and only the childlike, the lowly and dependent, pass through it. The kingdom is not earned by the impressive but received by the small. Turn, then, and become like a child: let go of your self-importance and your grasping for greatness, and come to God in lowly dependence, receiving his kingdom as a gift. The way in is not up but down, into childlike trust.

Lord Jesus, when your disciples asked who is greatest, you set a child among them and said that unless we turn and become like little children, we will never enter the kingdom. Reorient me. Take from me the grasping for status and greatness, the self-importance that has no place in your kingdom. Make me like a child: lowly, dependent, without pretension, receiving your kingdom as a gift I cannot earn. Help me turn and become small, trusting you as a child trusts. The door is low; give me the humility to pass through it in childlike dependence on you.