“For although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned, you have revealed them to the little ones.” – Matthew 11:26
When you think of God, what words come to mind? Powerful? Almighty? Infinite?
What about defenseless? Meek? Small?
The great mystery and paradox of the Incarnation reveals that our all-powerful, infinite, and uncontainable God assumed the feeble nature of a tiny child. What could be more vulnerable than a child? Yet, there in Mary’s arms, the God of the Universe rested, both completely defenseless and perfectly content.
God’s humble act of self-emptying saw its completion on the Cross. Here the King willingly became the criminal. Here the Word Who spoke the world into being willfully refused to come down from the Cross. He had walked on water. He had healed the sick and restored sight to the blind. Surely, He could have escaped, but he chose rather to die, and so destroy death from the inside out, that we might live.
Our culture insists that only the strongest survive, but Jesus tells us in the Gospel of Matthew that, “unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.” How can this be? Why is it that “power is made perfect in weakness,” as St. Paul writes in his second letter to the Corinthians?
Only when we recognize the truth of our human limitations can we see, in contrast, the unlimited power of God. Only when we accept our mortality can we embrace the Immortal One who offers us a share in His divine life. “Only when it’s dark can we see the stars,” said Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
When we realize that we are children, we recognize that God is truly our Father. Paradoxically, utter dependence on Our Father becomes the source of our greatest freedom and peace. When is a child most free? When she squeals joyfully in mid-flight, absolutely certain that her father will catch the precious cargo he had tossed playfully into the air. When is a child most at peace? When he sleeps securely in his mother’s strong arms.
Lord Jesus, Son of God, teach us to be childlike, so that with You we may place our trust completely in Our Father in Heaven, and together with the Blessed Virgin Mary, Our Mother, we may enjoy forever the freedom and peace of Your Kingdom in union with the Holy Spirit. Amen.
