Be Humble Like A Child

𝐎𝐂𝐓. 𝟐, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟓: 𝐇𝐎𝐋𝐘 𝐆𝐔𝐀𝐑𝐃𝐈𝐀𝐍 𝐀𝐍𝐆𝐄𝐋𝐒

𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝟏: 𝐍𝐞𝐡 𝟖:𝟏-𝟕, 𝟏𝟐

𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐏𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐦: 𝟏𝟗:𝟖-𝟏𝟏 “𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐣𝐨𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭.”

𝐆𝐎𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐋: 𝐌𝐚𝐭𝐭 𝟏𝟖:𝟏-𝟓, 𝟏𝟎

𝑲𝒆𝒚 𝑽𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒆: “𝑾𝒉𝒐𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒉𝒖𝒎𝒃𝒍𝒆𝒔 𝒉𝒊𝒎𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇 𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒍𝒆 𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒍𝒅, 𝒉𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑲𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒅𝒐𝒎 𝒐𝒇 𝑯𝒆𝒂𝒗𝒆𝒏.” (𝒗𝒗.3-4) 

Another perplexing message that Jesus made was when his disciples asked him who was the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven. And again, Jesus comes up with a picturesque response by taking a child saying in 𝒗𝒗. 3-4: “𝒖𝒏𝒍𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒂𝒔 𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒍𝒅𝒓𝒆𝒏, 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑲𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒅𝒐𝒎 𝒐𝒇 𝑯𝒆𝒂𝒗𝒆𝒏. 𝑾𝒉𝒐𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒉𝒖𝒎𝒃𝒍𝒆𝒔 𝒉𝒊𝒎𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇 𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒍𝒆 𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒍𝒅, 𝒉𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑲𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒅𝒐𝒎 𝒐𝒇 𝑯𝒆𝒂𝒗𝒆𝒏.”        

Jesus used a child to describe a citizen of the Heavenly Kingdom because the child is clothed with the characteristics of anyone who want to enter and live in God’s Kingdom. First and foremost, of these qualities is the humility of a child which Jesus referred to as the model for Christian behavior. 

          A child is also utterly dependent on those who are raising him up and shall have developed in his lifetime complete trust on his parents. These two virtues – dependence and trust – are the attitude that each Christian must have in his relationship to God.

          Jesus used the example of a little child to also break down the misconception of his disciples towards the kind of Kingdom that he has come to establish on earth. Up to this time, his disciples were still thinking of the worldly realm when Jesus will finally take his place as the Messiah and Jesus had to stop them on their tracks without hurting their enthusiasm. Hence, he equated the inhabitants of heaven to the character of a child.

          There is also another interpretation on why Jesus used the child as a metaphor to bring across his message and in this   second version, it is possible that Jesus was referring to a young adult and or even men who are undergoing study and training in righteousness and this is borne by the fact that the Jews sometimes apply a double meaning to certain words.

          The word child is no different which to the Jews could mean a little child and or someone who is known to be a disciple or follower who is normally labeled as a son or child of a teacher. Thus, Jesus may also have been referring to a person who is still under the wings of his teacher.

          Regardless of which of these interpretations is accurate, what we should bear in mind is the tremendous responsibility that Jesus passed on to us which is to teach children not only to develop their child-like faith but to eventually lead them to live a Godly life.

          And to further emphasize the importance of looking after one another, Jesus follows it up by another narrative – the Parable of the Lost Sheep, a story so clear and vivid among the Jews because this is the profession that most of the Jews are engaged in.

          As love is the inherent principle in the Kingdom of Heaven, Jesus used the kind of love that Shepherds have of their sheep to draw a parallelism with the love of God and Jesus masterfully linked this parable to the need to instruct and guide the little ones to find their way to the Kingdom of God just like the Shepherd does when tending his sheep.

          What Jesus revealed in this parable is the kind of love of God that seeks and saves the lost or those who wander away from the faith. And God will not stop until all who strayed are found to serve the purpose for which we have all been created.

          All of us have at one time or another also wandered. We did things we thought were right. Some of us are so gifted it made us think that we don’t need God to make a life. We pursued our dreams to fame and fortune. We stepped on other people’s toes along the way, but we shrugged them off as part of my right to promote myself. We didn’t mind the injustices that we perpetrated to get things done. We cheated on our family. Spent time on vices and we gambled our lives away.

          But God like a Good Shepherd is not going to wait until we come back because he knows we are incapable of doing that as we remain attached to the world around us that brings comfort and happiness that are fleeting compared to the eternal joy of God’s Kingdom, but which is characterized by trials, pains and suffering.

         And before we could totally destroy ourselves, God out of his great love for us intervened and found us and brought us to either the Marriage Encounter Weekend, Singles Encounter, Solo Parents Encounter, Youth Encounter and or the Life in the Spirit Seminar which are the entry points to renewal communities like the BLD Catholic Charismatic Community and God put all our sins behind his back when we all returned to him and there was great rejoicing for the lost sheep that was found.

         God will go out to search for each lamb and sheep that is lost and bring them back at all costs – even if this will cause his death at the cross in exchange. And this is what God expects from those he has saved.

         This is what God expects of us. As the Gift of Shepherding is one of the primary gifts that God has bestowed on charismatics, it is incumbent for everyone, except for reasons of health, to exercise their Gift of Shepherding to seek, search and find the lambs in the field.

The word “beg off” should never be on the lips of God's under-shepherds. Besides, God ransomed us with his death on the cross which means he now owns us and we should go where he tells us to go.

          That we too must also go out on a limb to seek and find the lost and provide them the care and love and the teachings they will need so that they may “know” God and enjoy the abundant life that God has promised us. In other words, it's payback time for all Christians who have been found and have been given the right to call God - Abba Father! (𝘌𝘥 𝘔𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘺 - 𝘖𝘤𝘵. 2, 2025)