“At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, ‘Who is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?’ And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them, and said, ‘Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child, he is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.’” - Matthew 18:1-4
This scripture passage from Matthew is unlikely to make any top 10 lists for Jesus’s most famous teachings. Taking in the cultural context of 1st century Israel, the teaching even becomes a little more bizarre because children held such a low status in the society. However the words “never enter the kingdom of heaven” are found in these few verses, so I am guessing we better take this message very seriously.
That said, this article is NOT going to be a strict exegesis of the scripture trying to understand the literal meaning that the evangelist was trying to convey to his original audience. Instead, I want to look at another miracle as an example where we see an adult become like a child in the way I think Jesus is intending. That bible miracle is when two men walked on water.
Even with a decreasing Christian culture in many ways, it is still a common expression to highlight someone’s greatness by their ability to “walk on water.” If you were to ask people, “Who did that?” I think a lot of individuals could tell you that comes from Jesus’s miracle. However, that answer is only part correct. In the recounting of this miracle in Matthew just four chapters before the above passage, the gospel account tells us that Peter is the other man who accomplished this great feat. After seeing what they believe to be a ghost and becoming very fearful, Jesus reassures the apostles that it is him. Dr. Tim Gray of the Augustine Institute has a pretty harsh criticism of the modern translation given. What is translated, “It is I,” is actually the same Greek word used for the unspeakable name of God, “Ego eimi,” or “I AM.”
So, after hearing that God is out on the water, Peter does his child-like action. He answers Jesus’s divine declaration with the ancient equivalent of, “CAN, I DO THAT TOO!” Dr. Tim Gray highlights this child-like response in his Lectio series about Peter on FORMED. In his assessment, he recognizes the excitement that a child has at “cool” things, and walking on water would certainly fall into the category of “cool.” However, it goes deeper than the excitement and ultimately rests in Peter’s child-like trust in Jesus to do this crazy task of walking on water he had only ever swam or boated in before.
I see this trust in my own children. During Notre Dame football games, there is a tradition of doing crowd pushups for each of the points ND scores throughout the game. Ever since my kids were born, I have tossed them up into the air after each of the Irish touchdowns or field goals, and they can’t get enough of it! Brett will shout, “Higher!” Meanwhile, Trinity’s laugh will just grow and grow as the tosses continue. Why? This 3.5-year-old is 9 feet off the ground and falling quickly. The 1.5-year-old doesn’t fully know what is even going on and only knows her big brother is loving it. I think the rush and excitement is natural and couldn’t be articulated, but what makes everything okay is that both understand that Daddy is going to catch them!
After Peter takes his eyes off of Our Lord, he sinks and cries out to be saved. He wanes in his child-like trust, and that is when he puts himself in danger. Brett and Trinity have no such problem. Even though they will learn that their Daddy is a flawed man who can make mistakes and “drop them.” I think this is spiritual attitude that Jesus is calling us to regain. Life is scary. Sometimes it is a wild storm! Sometimes it is a free-fall to the ground! But, I hope we can all adopt an absolute trust in Our Lord to catch us when we surrender ourselves to Him!