When the disciples were arguing about who was the greatest in the kingdom of heaven, Jesus took a little child to himself and said, “Unless you become as little children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.” Does Jesus mean that children don’t sin much and so we must all be like innocent children to be part of God’s kingdom? I’m sure you know that you actually sin a lot, so that can’t be true.

So what does Jesus mean? Children are really the littlest of people. Children are dependent on their parents. You can’t make the big decisions in your family, but your parents do. And you need to trust them and others in authority over you. You need to trust that they will do what is best for you, even if it doesn’t always feel like it is good.

In the same way we don’t become a part of God’s kingdom because we are important and deserve to be part of God’s kingdom. We must be humble or like the littlest to be part of God’s kingdom. We can only be part of God’s kingdom if we depend on God for everything. We need God’s forgiveness, mercy and grace. That’s how we are part of God’s kingdom. It’s all God’s grace and love. He has chosen us to be one of his children. Now out of thankfulness for this grace of God, we need to be humble by being the least.

This is very hard for us to do. So often we want to be the most important person, or the person who is first or gets the best marks. But that is not how we should act as God’s children. We are already part of God’s kingdom, and so we must show love and kindness to others remembering that we are nothing more than dust held together by God. If it wasn’t for God’s love for us, we wouldn’t even be one of his children. So always remember to show love to the people around you.

Reflection with your child:

Why did Jesus say that we need to be like children?

Source: Sermon by Rev. A. Pol