LESSONS FROM CHILDREN! ~ CookingFood.Org

“HONEY FROM THE ROCK”

Saturday, 13^th August 2016,

Nineteenth Week of Ordinary Time

Ez 18:1-10, 13, 30-32;

Ps 50:12-15, 18-19;

Mt 19:13-15

LESSONS FROM CHILDREN!

Today's brief gospel passage describes how Jesus accepts the children. The disciples scolded the mothers, perhaps because this was according to the severe norms of the Law of purity. The small children in the conditions in which they lived were considered unclean, impure. If they touched Jesus, he would become impure. Jesus does not care about transgressing the norms which prevent fraternity and acceptance to be given to the little ones. The new experience of God, the Father has marked the life of Jesus and gives him new eyes to perceive and to value the relationship between persons. Jesus gets on the side of the little ones, of the excluded and assumes their defense.

It impresses when we see together everything which the Bible says regarding the attitudes of Jesus in defense of the life of the children, of the little ones: Jesus' joy is great when he sees that the children, the little ones understand the things of the Kingdom which he announced to the people better than the learned (Mt 11:25-26). To accept and not to scandalize. One of the hardest words of Jesus is against those who are a cause of scandal for the little ones, that is, who are the cause why the little ones no longer believe in God. Because of this, it would have been better for them to be thrown into the sea with a millstone around their neck (Lk 17:1-2; Mt 18:5-7). Jesus asks his disciples to become like children and to accept the Kingdom as children do. Without this, it is impossible to enter into the Kingdom (Lk 9:46-48). It indicates that the children are made teachers of adults.

Prayer: Help us O Father to be childlike in our relationship with You. Amen.