A Reflection of Matthew 18:1-5, 10, 12-14
When the disciples came to Jesus asking who would be greatest in the kingdom of heaven, they were thinking like we often do, about status, recognition, and climbing the ladder of success. But Jesus did something unexpected. He called over a little child and placed them right in the center of their circle. In that simple gesture, He turned everything upside down. The greatest in God's kingdom aren't those who accumulate the most or achieve the highest positions. They're the ones who approach life with the trust, wonder, and beautiful simplicity of a child.
There's something profound about how Jesus chose a child as His example of greatness. Children don't worry about their reputation or their net worth. They don't spend sleepless nights calculating their social media metrics or comparing their lives to others. They simply trust, love freely, and find joy in the smallest things, a butterfly, a warm hug, the chance to help someone they care about. This is the humility Jesus calls us to embrace: letting go of our need to impress, our attachment to material things, and our desire to be seen as important. But here's where we need to be careful, the enemy of our souls is clever. He knows that wealth and success aren't evil in themselves, but he can use them as golden chains that bind us. When we start believing that our achievements make us self-sufficient, when we think we don't really need God. After all, we've "got this handled," when sharing becomes difficult because everything feels like "mine", that's when our blessings become barriers. The devil whispers that our success proves we're special, that we've earned the right to independence from God and others. But children know better. They know they need help, they share naturally, and they run to those who love them. When we strip away all the stuff we think defines us, we discover who we really are in God's eyes, His beloved children.
The parable of the shepherd leaving ninety-nine sheep to find the one that's lost reveals something beautiful about how much Jesus values each of us. No matter how far we've wandered, no matter how tangled up we've become in the pursuit of worldly success or material possessions, Jesus never stops looking for us. He doesn't wait for us to clean ourselves up or prove our worth. He comes searching, calling our name, ready to carry us home. This is the heart of the Catholic faith, not a distant God who judges from afar, but Jesus who knows us intimately and loves us completely, just as we are.
Living with the heart of a child doesn't mean being naive or irresponsible. It means approaching each day with trust in God's goodness, even when life gets complicated. It means being willing to let go of the things we've been grasping so tightly, our plans, our possessions, our need to have everything figured out, and instead opening our hands to receive whatever Jesus wants to give us. This requires constant vigilance because self-sufficiency can creep in so gradually. We might start with gratitude for our blessings, but slowly begin to feel entitled to them, then protective of them, then defined by them. Before we know it, we're living as if our security comes from our bank account rather than our relationship with Jesus. The antidote is remembering that every gift we have is exactly that, a gift, and gifts are meant to be shared. When we put Jesus first and others before ourselves, our wealth and success become tools for love rather than chains that isolate us. When we do this, we discover something remarkable: the life He offers is far richer than anything we could have achieved on our own. The peace that comes from knowing you're unconditionally loved, the joy of being part of God's family, the purpose found in serving others, this is what it means to be truly great in His kingdom.
©2025 James Dacey Jr.
