Commenting on Jesus’ command for his followers to be “like little children,” Xavier Léon-Dufour wrote:
‘Like Little Children’
One day, the disciples tried to prevent some people from bringing little children to Jesus, presumably because they thought it would be for Jesus a waste of valuable time: these children were not old enough to observe the Law, and the disciples probably concluded that they were too young to be of interest to their Master. But Jesus was intensely interested in them just because they were no innocent and guileless, and said: ‘it is to creatures such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. I tell you truly, anyone who does not welcome the kingdom of God like a little child who does not welcome the kingdom of God like a little child will not enter it’ (Mk 10:14-15). In this episode, Jesus seized the opportunity to teach that the kingdom was not something which men could enter by their own efforts; it was a gift, to be accepted gratefully, in the way little children accept presents. Children have nothing to give, they can only receive presents; and that is why they provide so perfect an image of the attitude Jesus expected from his disciples. Matthew records a similar saying (‘Unless you become again like little children . . . ‘, Mt 18:1-4), in which there may be a hint also of the need to be reborn by baptism, through which a man enters the kingdom as a little child (cf. Jn 3:3).
Jesus also said, ‘Happy are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven’ (Mt 5:3). Detachment from worldly goods is indispensable for possession of the kingdom, because the man whose life is dominated by concern for possessions does not have sufficient trust in his heavenly Father: this is a major theme of the Sermon on the Mount (Mt 6:32-34). In a time of peace and relative stability, such detachment may not seem unduly difficult, but Jesus said that his disciples ought to have confidence in their heavenly Father even in war and under persecution. ‘Do not be afraid of those who kill the body, but have no power to kill the soul. Be more afraid of him who can throw both soul and body into hell. Are not sparrows sold at two a penny? Yet not one of them falls to the ground unknown to your Father. The very hairs of your head are all numbered. So be without fear, for you are certainly more precious than many sparrows’ (Mt 10:28-31; Lk 12:4-7).
Nor is it only in extreme situations that Jesus call for an unreserved commitment to oneself to God’s care; he demands the same attitude in daily life. ‘No man can be the servant of two masters at once; either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be attached to one and will despise the other. You cannot serve God and Money’ (Mt 6:24). Luke places this saying in a different context (Lk 16:13), and introduces Jesus’ teaching on poverty with the parables of the Rich Fool who, when he thought he had enough money, died suddenly the same night (Lk 12:20). It is not that Jesus condemned men simply for being rich: he was most gracious to Zacchaeus the tax collector, who gave half his wealth to the poor (Lk 19:8-9), but our Lord did condemn in the strongest terms those whose lives were consumed with the pursuit of earthly possessions.
The spirit of total commitment to God which has been described as a spirit of detachment and childlike simplicity is called, in technical theological language, faith. The word ‘faith’, when it occurs in the gospels, does not mean primarily an acceptance of some proposition as true, or even obedience to divine revelation (though either of these meanings may be implied); the primary meaning of the world in the gospels is a total entrusting of oneself to God, as a child trusts his father. Jesus demanded that men should how this same unbounded trust towards himself, and when they showed it, he never failed to respond with generosity. Those who carried the paralysed man to him (Mk 2:5), the blind men who asked or sight (Mt 9:29), the centurion of Capernaum (Mt 8:10, 13), and the Canaanite woman (Mt 15:28) all showed unbounded faith in Jesus, and were rewarded correspondingly. In these and many other texts, the miracles of Jesus are presented not as a cause producing faith in men, but as the reward and result of their faith. This is the lesson taught in the passage about the sign of Jonah (Mt 16:1, 4; Lk 11:29-30): the doctrine taught by Jesus should have been sufficient to engender faith in anyone who was well disposed, and Jesus was unwilling to perform miracles for those who turned a deaf ear to his preaching. In other words, when Jesus asked for faith, he asked men to respond to God’s call like little children, in simplicity and sincerity of heart. (Xavier Léon-Dufour, The Gospels and the Jesus of History [trans. John McHugh; London: William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd, 1968], 241-42)
