Big things come in little packages

 This week's verses are Matthew 18:1-4:

 At that time the disciples came to Jesus saying, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” He called a child, had him stand among them, and said, “I tell you the truth, unless you turn around and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven! Whoever then humbles himself like this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 

 These verses are Jesus' answer to the disciples' leadership questions. As children were considered to have very little to offer, his answer would have been extremely surprising! Imagine you paid a lot for a leadership seminar, and you asked the guy running it who you should choose as your mentor. How would you feel if he called some random five year old over and was like, "You should try to be like Jimmy here." You'd probably ask for a refund right on the spot!

Jesus' answer tells us that our ideas of greatness do not match God's. What guide to leadership is going to tell us to be small and inexperienced? Self-appointed life coaches are always telling us to be big, to take up as much space as we can, to inflate our experience and seem "important." But Jesus tells us to turn around, to go the other way and become small.

The call to become like a child is a bit like the call to be born again. It's starting anew, from the beginning. We don't naturally approach things with the curiosity and openness of a child. We don't naturally stumble upon what Buddhists call "beginner's mind." We have prejudices and preconceptions. We have our firmly set beliefs. We have an idea of our self-righteously accumulated value over time.

To be sensitive to our value to God as human beings, or to our sinfulness and need of his charity, we have to be humble. We have to be willing to be open to his correction. And we have to stop trying to be bigger than we are.

Humility has all but disappeared in our society. We immediately engage in ritualistic verbal combat and shaming of anyone who we disagree with, without ever trying to understand their position or where they are coming from. Anything that could be taken as criticism is either attacked viciously or completely ignored. We're these giant egos, floating over each other like hot air balloons, never coming down to earth. It's not surprising that a child would be greater than us in the kingdom of God.

But how do we go from that to becoming like little children? How do we go from being so puffed up to being so small? Jesus says we have to humble ourselves. We have to tell ourselves the opposite of what the world tells us. Maybe we don't need to make ourselves heard in every case. Maybe we don't have a right for special treatment, or exemption from punishment. Maybe we don't deserve to have an easy life, or our choice of spouse or career. Maybe our ideas are not so great. We're only little, after all.

It goes the opposite direction from what we're taught, but Jesus says we won't enter the kingdom of heaven if we don't do it. So it seems like something we need to take seriously and put in an effort.

Watch yourself this week. Listen to the words coming out of your mouth. Ask yourself, "does this sound like someone who is small, and innocent, and trusting, or does it sound like someone who thinks he's kind of a big deal." Correct as needed. Ask God for help.