GREAT IN THE KINGDOM

Mat 18: 1-5, 10, 12-14

In this life most of us desire the best and the largest share. We want good positions and treasures; we all love places of honor. We want to be big rather than small, to be high rather than lowly. But today’s gospel is preaching the opposite of our natural inclination. Jesus, in this text, is teaching us to be like little children. He says: Unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.

Responding to the request of his disciples, Jesus teaches them about the nature of God’s Kingdom and the people He expects to be part of it. It is a strong message for us in our society today. This lesson is also true for us. Ambition in life is not wrong, but Jesus says it should be for the right object to do the will of God. For Jesus, the measure of greatness in the kingdom is not based on the power or the position we have, but it is based on being like children. If we look at a child we see three great qualities which make him the model of those who are citizens of the Kingdom. We see the child’s humility, his dependence, and his trust.

I think Jesus in telling us that if we aim at the fulfilment of personal ambition, the acquisition of personal power, the enjoyment of personal prestige, the exaltation of self, we are aiming at precisely the opposite of the Kingdom of Heaven. To be a citizen of the Kingdom means the complete forgetting of self, the total trust and dependence on God alone. To be members of the kingdom of God requires the spending of self in a life which aims at love and service to others. As long as we consider our own self as the most important thing in the world, then we turn the back to the Kingdom. A humble service to others is not just the path to greatness in the kingdom; it is also the path to happiness in life. To use the words of Mahatma Gandhi, THE BEST WAY TO FIND YOURSELF IS TO LOOSE YOURSELF IN THE SERVICE OF OTHERS.