Childlikeness

The first reading of today’s liturgy, James 4: 1-10, begins with the question: “Beloved: Where do the wars and where to the conflicts among you come from? Is it not from your passions that make war within your members?” In the Gospel, Mark 9: 30-37, Jesus admonishes the twelve apostles for arguing among themselves about who is the greatest among them. They enter into this argument right after Jesus told them that He would be “handed over to men and they will kill him, and three days after his death the Son of Man will rise.” Totally ignoring Jesus, they fight about who is in first place in Jesus’ eyes. Jesus tells them that, in God’s Kingdom, those who are first are those who are “last of all and the servant of all”. He then brings a little child into their midst—children in those days were in last place and actually were not ever counted. As with women in that culture, it was as though they did not exist. Jesus puts His arms around this child and says: “Whoever receives one child such as this in my name, receives me; and whoever receives me, receives not me but the One who sent me.” Being a disciple of Jesus is about being like little children, who simply go about being little children, enjoying life, playing with each other, learning what is put before them to learn, assuming whatever role is given to them, exploring and being excitedly open to the wonders of the universe, of life itself, of who God is, who adults are, who they are as little children and what possibilities to live life fully are open to them. Children do not come into the world filled with jealousy of others, vying for first place, or arguing who is greatest among them. Those are learned behaviors passed onto them from adults in their lives. Receive a child as a child, in all its innocence, purity, openness, lack of prejudice, honesty (children say it as it is), awe, wonder. Teach that child about God, about love and gratitude, about forgiveness and service, about generosity and compassion. You will not only have received a child, you will have opened yourself to Jesus and to Jesus’ Father and your Father, God the Almighty. What more could we want from life, truly?