Matthew 18:1-5.10: The Children As The Greatest (Sunday Gospel for January 19, 2014, the Feast of the Sto. Nino).

I consider this passage as one of my personal favorites, not for its reference to the feast of Sto. Nino, but because of its powerful message if we accurately understand how "children" were perceived during biblical times; and secondly, due to the context of this passage.

1. "Children" - Children played a mixed role in Jewish as well as Greek-Roman tradition. (Biblical times were a mix of Jewish culture with influence from Greek and Roman.)  Among the Jews, children were regarded as a divine gift, a source of great joy, and sign of God's blessings.  But children were also considered as "ignorant, capricious and in need of strict discipline." 

The Greek-Roman culture looked at children as loved by parents and considered indispensable by the state for economic, cultural and military purposes.  At the same time they were also viewed as "fundamentally deficient, not yet human in the full sense, and mentally deficient who spoke nonsense."*

Why then would Jesus use children as an analogy to communicate greatness in the kingdom?  To show that it is precisely the helplessness of humble children (not their innocence of "cuteness" which are often the misinterpretations of this passage) that is the prerequisite in experiencing the Kingdom of God.  Adults often lean on their own skills and capability.  But a helpless child, totally dependent on others, will always see God's power, plan and providence in all things.  Karl Rahner, a prominent theologian, uses the term "infinite openness to the Infinite" to refer to children.

It is for this reason that I chose Joey Velasco's painting of "Hapag ng Pag-asa" (Table of Hope), which depicts Jesus's last supper with streetchildren, as a more appropriate image for the Feast of Sto. Nino.

2. The Context - this passage is part of Chapter 18, the entire chapter being a series of teachings most likely compiled by Matthew for the early church to use as their reference.  As Matthew's gospel was written sometime around 80-90 AD, then the early Christians were already more than just a movement, but were becoming to have its own organizational structure.  

Like any organization, it would be unavoidable that there would be some arguments and disputes based on position, rank, and authority.  In Jesus' set of values the humble are more important than the powerful for dependence on God is what makes one open to God's rule; and so the little child is held up as an example.**

During the Feast of Sto. Nino, let us remember: God is in control, we serve based on God's rule, and we lead as servant-leaders.

Other Trivia:

- In the Philippines, this Sunday's gospel reading is different from the rest of the Catholic world because we celebrate the Feast of the Sto. Nino (as approved by Pope Innocent XIII sometime in the 18th Century to be celebrated on the third Sunday of January).

- Further to how children were perceived during Biblical times, the Roman father's authority was supremely demonstrated in his power of life and death over his children, and could decide whether to recognize a newborn and raise it, or to expose it in a public place, to be left to die, or picked by strangers in which they might be raised as slaves, prostitutes, or beggars. ***

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* Judith M. Gundry-Volf, "The Least and the Greatest: Children in the New Testament", in The Child in Christian Thought, ed. Bunge (Michigan/Cambridge: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2001), 34-36.

**Raymond E. Brown et al (eds), The New Jerome Biblical Commentary (New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1990), 191-192.

***Gundry-Volf, 33-34.