In one of the most profound moments recorded in the Bible, Jesus took
the example of children to teach his followers by saying, “I tell
you the truth unless you change and become like little children, you
will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles
himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom” (Matt 18:
3-4 NIV). In another instance too he invited the little children and
blessed them: “Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them,
for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these” (Matt 19: 14
NIV). Though Jesus made it very explicit that the likeness of a child
is a quality that we must cultivate I have often wondered what must
be in a child that made Jesus really wanted us to become like one of
them. Until some incidents in my life made me understand…
Once while I was traveling in the Delhi metro train I was caught by
an innocent act of a child. As I got out of the train and walked into
the escalator a tiny hand grabbed one of my fingers. The kid was
holding his mother’s hand on the other but needed another hand to
hold less he falls off. My hand happened to be the nearest support he
could reach out to. So natural was the child’s action that he
didn’t bother to look up at me to see who I was! All those time
even the mother didn’t notice what was going on. While I was still
amazed at what had just happened, the kid walked out of the escalator
with his mother letting go of my finger without even a glance at me!
That moment stayed with me till today. What struck me was the sense
of universality in the mind of the child. The child didn’t know me.
By sheer chance I happened to stepped in to give him the support he
needed there and then. To the child the incident would not have meant
anything new, but I learned something extraordinary. It was one
moment that reminded me of the simplicity in children which Jesus
talked about.
When my daughter was born in November of 2010, she instantly became
the center of attraction and the topic of all talks. Everything seems
to revolve round her! It was such a joy to behold her then as it is
now also. And back then, I have to admit, the little fragile being
commanded all my attentions like some kind of a magnetic force! As I
cuddled her and look closely at her she would utter some
unintelligible noises as if talking to me. But I knew she’s too
young to even know who I was at that stage. I was just anybody to
her. Yet I loved her for that too! She’d go to everyone or smile at
anyone. She’d even smile while sleeping! Sometimes I fear to think
that someday even my child would grow to understand the world we live
in and comprehend the complexities around her. And that the innocence
in her would go.
It is a pity that we have to lose so many qualities of a child as we
grow up. From the simple innocence to humbly ‘forgive and forget’
attitude of the child, we somehow have laid them in the past as if
they belong only to childhood! Sometimes as we progress in life we
are stuffed with foreign things that we forget to nurture what was
instilled in us originally. Yet, Jesus wants us to become the
children we used to be. Ravi Zacharias, in his book Recapture the
Wonder (2003), laments the lost of childhood innocence like this,
“The tragedy of growing up is not that we lose childishness in its
simplicity but that we lose childlikeness in its sublimity”. We do
not like to see an adult being childish for its connotation with the
negative values, but we love the childlike ease in a person for it
brings out the innocence of the person. Much of what the world has to
offer us will distance us from the true values that God has bestowed
on us. Yet, what we’ve accumulated for ourselves may not give us
the chance to see eternal life in heaven. Therefore, I think it is
good to be reminded that unless we change and become like children we
cannot hope to see the glory of God. This, in other words, require a
lot of unlearning of the worldly things, which is by no means an easy
task! If we want to see perfection, or something close to it, perhaps
we should seek the company of children and understand the
universality of their language.
