Thu. Mar 28th, 2024

Week 19 Saturday – Ez 18:1-10,13,30-32; Psalm 50:12-15,18-19; Matthew 19:13-15

What did Jesus mean when he presented a child as an example? Could it be what we like to do so much, which is referring to the good old days that actually weren’t all that good? For although we are talking about our children: my angel, deluding ourselves that we were the same, the truth is different.

Of course, a child can love but can also be a blackmailing egoist. Trusting, but not everything. Prone to being hurt, capable of hurting mercilessly. Affectionate and sensitive especially among peers, turning quickly into the aggressor. Sharing without difficulty, and then taking everything back.

So, why a child . . . ?

They clearly sense their dependence, seeing it as something natural. On mum, dad, loved ones, their environment. On God also, although His image isn’t always properly formed. So, they have something we adults don’t necessarily value. On the contrary. We want to be independent at any price. From God as well. And this is why it’s so difficult to call sin by its name and turn away from it. It’s even more difficult for us to confess, as the Apostle Paul: by the grace of God, I am who I am . . .