Childlike Humility and Faith

Homily for Sunday of the Twenty-fifth Week in Ordinary Time

Why was the story of Jesus with the little children, versions of which appear in the three synoptic Gospels, so vividly remembered by the first Christians? Perhaps it was because that his reflections about the little child got very close to the heart of Jesus’ teaching. The way Mark sets up his account of this story in our Gospel for this weekend is frankly both funny and disconcerting because it is evident that of the disciples complete miss the point of Jesus’ words.

It begins with Jesus speaking about what is going to happen to him once they reach Jerusalem. “The Son of Man is to be handed over to men and they will kill him; and three days after his death the Son of Man will rise.” We English teachers would describe that sentence structure as compound and complex. However, it is really rather simple. In one sentence, Jesus states the entire Paschal Mystery to his apostles. According to St. Mark, the apostles did not understand what Jesus was talking about. He adds that they were not even willing to engage Jesus by questioning what he meant.

When they reached the destination of their journey, Jesus asks them what they had been talking about as they were on the road. They aren’t able to answer the question because of their embarrassment in the fact that they were discussing among themselves which one of them was the greatest. Who comes first? Who is the most important? Who has successfully climbed the ladder of success? Let us be honest about it; this is not a question with which we are unfamiliar. The first, the greatest, the most important, and the most successful person is the subject of many of our conversations. We are all obsessed with being a success, with accomplishing something important. Our conversations tended to revolve around this topic. When we see others honored, we may ask ourselves what they have done that is so special. How come they get a reward and I get nothing? I suspect that the apostles were framing their arguments in much the same way that we frame ours.

Jesus reacts to this conversation by placing a little child in their midst, putting his arms around that child, and explaining without saying a word that the child was a true reflection of who he was. He identifies himself with the child. Now, in our post Dickensian world, children have become a sentimental topic. His novels about David Copperfield, Pip, Oliver Twist and Little Nell have enshrined the welfare of children in our hearts. However, such sentimentality was completely foreign to the time of Jesus. In first-century Palestine, a child was a nobody. They didn’t even stand on the lowest rung of the ladder. In time of famine, the child was fed last while the elders were fed first. Within the family and the community, the child had next to no status. A minor child was considered equal to a slave. Only after reaching maturity did the child become a free person with rights to inherit the family estate. This culture’s notions about children spilled over into the writings of Thomas Aquinas who taught that in a raging fire, a husband was obliged to save his father first, then his mother, next his wife, and last of all his young children. Sadly, such priorities are still common in many non-Western cultures.

The reason for this was quite simple. In the first century A.D., infant mortality was so great because of a poor diet, the ravages of unconquered diseases, and the outcomes of poor hygiene and sanitation. Consequently, more than 50% of the children died before they reached puberty. As a result, parents did not pay much attention or show much love to their children until they became their social security; if one had a child who reached adulthood, then that parent could count on someone taking care of them in their old age.

In this simple gesture, Jesus teaches us a compelling and moving truth about the virtues that we associate with children. Humility, childlike faith, a lack of self-absorption, and being satisfied with simple things are all virtues that can be found in children. These are qualities of the kingdom of God. These are the qualities which Jesus asks of his disciples.

Ultimately, as Jesus Christ is the suffering servant, the one sacrifice made for all, we imitate him in our love for and service to others. We pray for the grace to be who he asks us to be and do what he asks us to do: to live humbly and serve one another in love.