Education in Faith
In this week's gospel we read about Jesus welcoming children and praising their attitude as the way to the kingdom of God. Children of the time of Jesus had no status and were regarded as literally the property of their father. When Jesus laid his hands on the children and gave them his blessing, this was the action of a father ‘claiming’ the child as their own.
Jesus is enjoying the presence of the children, He makes it clear that we must imitate children and become like them in order to enter the Reign of God. Obviously Jesus is calling us to not be childish but to be childlike. How do you see the difference between being childish and being childlike? What exactly are we being called to?
Most of us at some time or another have been told to ‘grow up’; ‘stop acting like a child’; or to ‘act your age’. It implies that, as we grow older, we have to behave in a more ‘responsible’ or ‘mature’ way than when we were children. Jesus turns this on its head and tells us that unless we ‘welcome the kingdom like a little child’ we will never enter it. The gospels are full of stories about people who call on God’s mercy because they recognise that without God they are nothing. When they subsequently receive God’s mercy or healing they welcome it all the more – like a little child.