"Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven." Over the years, there have been countless suggestions concerning what it means to "become like children," as Jesus says we must do. The innocence of children is sometimes suggested, although anyone who has ever raised a child might say that the illusion of such innocence is hard to maintain past infancy. It seems likely that childhood in Jesus' day was understood far differently than in ours, and this likely makes for additional difficulty in understanding what Jesus asks of us.
Jesus does offer us a clue when he adds, "humble like this child." But of course humility is not much admired in our world, in children or adults. We learn at an early age that we must draw attention to ourselves if we're going to get ahead. There are books and seminars that tell you how to make your résumé stand out or how to make sure your college application gets noticed amidst all the others.
But Jesus seems to think that children are humble, and I suspect they were much more so in that day. Children in First Century Palestine had no power. They were totally dependent on parents. They had no disposable income. Very often their worth was understood more in terms of potential than intrinsic. Such a status might make me humble, too.
The English word "humble" comes from the same Latin root as humus, referring to earth or soil. I suppose this has connotations of lowliness, but it also speaks of the earthiness that is part of our created nature. We don't need the Bible to tell us that we are dust and we shall return to dust. But for the gift of life, we are simply organic material, humus.
But God has made us but a little lower than angels, says Psalm 8. God has given us amazing gifts and abilities, and those who realize how dependent they are on God for these understand something about humility. And they tend to deflect attention from self and toward God. Who we are "in Christ" becomes more important than who we are on our own, and our lives point beyond ourselves to Jesus.
This requires a fundamental shift for many of us. We are so used to saying, "Look at me; look at me!" It is so difficult to speak as John the Baptist does of Jesus when he says, "He must increase, but I must decrease."
Humility is not about being a doormat for others. Jesus speaks of himself as humble, and his power and authority are obvious, even to his opponents. But in his ministry, Jesus always points people beyond himself to the Father. The earthly, human Jesus is totally focused on God's will rather than his own.
That is often very difficult for me, just as it is difficult for me to trust Jesus when he says, "Those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life more my sake will find it." Can that really be true? Can losing my life in Christ truly heal me and make me whole? Jesus, give me the confidence and faith to know it is so, and live in ways that reveal you to the world.
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