The coming of Jesus the Messiah, and his forerunner John the Baptist, were totally different from the glorious and princely expectations of people of their time. Today, how do we understand John the Baptist’s imprisonment, the difficulties of his mission and the persecutions, and the Cross of Jesus? Were these divine disavowals, or, on the contrary, God’s surprising design, the eternal divine wisdom that today’s Gospel speaks about?
After denouncing in strong terms the attitude of unbelief of the inhabitants of Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum, Jesus turned to the Father in a prayer of thanksgiving and says: “I thank you, Father, Lord of Heaven and earth, that you have hidden theses things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to the little children…”
The Kingdom of God Revealed to Little Children
Why does the message of Jesus, and his identity remain hidden from the wise and learned but gets revealed to the little children?” Is his message not meant for all? If upon all the miracles Jesus performed for the people of Bethsaida and Capernaum, they did not believe in him and his word, then one would wonder what exactly their problem was. I think that the answer to these questions could be found in the prayer of Jesus.
Jesus as Perfect and Unique Divine Revelation
Jesus makes us understand that the purpose of all his teachings and actions is to reveal God and his Kingdom to us and show us the way to them. The divine wisdom that Jesus and his message represent is accessible to the little children. Jesus once said: “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these” (Matthew 19:14). So, we see that one of the conditions of understanding who Jesus is, and of entering into the kingdom of God, is being like little children. But what exactly does this mean in this context?
Jesus is teaching us what is called childlike faith. Those with childlike faith are humble enough to acknowledge that the knowledge of Jesus is a divine revelation, a gift from God and not the consequence of human reasoning. Accepting Jesus with a childlike faith means also developing attitudes like simplicity, honesty, and purity.
Humility Wins Us Much Favor
We should also cultivate the attitude of humility. Humility in our relationship with God and others helps us not to be pretentious. St Peter says: “God is opposed to the proud, but he gives grace to the humble” (1 Peter 5:5.). Before the grandeur and mystery of God, we should be humble enough to ask in prayer for divine wisdom. Jesus teaches us that only those who humble themselves have experiential knowledge of God. Christ is an epitome of this truth: he humbled himself, took our human nature, and died on the Cross for our salvation (Philippians 2, 1-11).
Childlike Faith as Knowledge Seeking Understanding
The Kingdom of God and the knowledge of Christ are accessible to the humble of heart, people with childlike faith. But this does not mean that we should not ask questions seeking to understand our faith. While seeking to understand our faith with regards to the challenges in the world, we should not forget this childlike faith. When divine revelation was made to our Blessed Mother Mary by archangel Gabriel, she questioned the angel of God, and she dialogued with God. Childlike faith leads us to dialogue with God. When we understand that we have a God whom we can call “Abba, Papa, Father,” then we grow in our filial identity as adopted children of God in Christ. It is a call to have complete and total trust in God.
Above all, it is by loving God that we come to know God and the more we grow in our knowledge of God the more we will love God, and make God known and Loved in the world. Whoever has this knowledge has already entered into eternal life (John 17:3).
