A passage from today’s gospel struck me in a fresh and astonishing way today. It’s the final few verses in which Jesus emphasizes his identity as the lowliest one by embracing a child.
“If anyone wishes to be first,
he shall be the last of all and the servant of all.”
Taking a child, he placed it in their midst,
and putting his arms around it, he said to them,
“Whoever receives one child such as this in my name, receives me;
and whoever receives me,
receives not me but the One who sent me.”
In the ancient world children were not mollycoddled and adored like they are today. They were certainly loved by their parents, but they were not surrounded by the sentimentality and gush that we shower on children. Instead, the hierarchy of society was men on top. Women as second class citizens, then slaves, and then children.
Children were potential human beings–no more. They were abused, sold as slaves, prostituted, and thrown away if they weren’t wanted. In the ancient world children were used as fodder for the rituals of human sacrifice. In Carthage, for instance, infant and child skeletons by the thousands have been uncovered by archeologists proving the extent of child sacrifice in the ancient Middle East.
The Roman historian Plutarch, writing in the first century chronicles the practice
“With full knowledge and under standing they [the Carthaginians] offered up their own children, and those who had no children would buy little ones from poor people and cut their throats as if they were so many lambs or young birds; meanwhile the mother stood by without a tear or moan; but should she utter a single moan or let fall a single tear, she had to forfeit the money, and her child was sacrificed nevertheless; and the whole area before the statue was filled with a loud noise of flutes and drums so that the cries of wailing should not reach the ears of the people.”
Jesus, on the other hand, stands the culture on its head and not only loves and cherishes children, but teaches on children in various other passages. Someone who scandalizes a child or abuses a child deserves to be cast into the sea weighted down with a millstone. To enter the kingdom of God one has to become like a little child.
But today’s passage is most astonishing because Jesus says “Whoever receives one child such as this in my name, receives me; and whoever receives me, receives not me but the One who sent me.”
In other words, like the famous passage in Matthew’s gospel where Jesus says that when we feed, house and clothe and visit the poor we are doing it for him, so if we accept a child we not only accept Jesus Christ, but we also accept God–the one who sent him.
The consequences therefore of NOT accepting the little child are severe. If accepting the child is to accept Christ, then to reject the child is to reject Christ. What we do to these little ones, in other words, we do to him.
So let’s stop and re-examine our own society. We’re so sophisticated aren’t we? Not like those barbarian Carthaginians, Phoenicians and Canaanites. Not like those bloodthirsty Aztecs.
Yet we abuse children through child pornography, human trafficking, prostitution and abuse. Not only that, abortion and infanticide are part of our culture too. Not slitting their throats and throwing them in the fire, but practices like partial birth abortion where the child is delivered feet first, then when the head is still in the birth canal the doctor of death shoves a tool into their soft little head and sucks the baby’s brains out.
While late term abortion is horrible and barbaric, why is it nicer or easier if the fetus is a few weeks younger?
To push this further, what other ways do we reject children? Contraception and sterilization rejects children.
Whenever we reject children we reject life and in rejecting life we reject the one who is the Way, the Truth and the Life.
The surest way to avoid getting into Heaven for all Eternity is to reject God – to refuse to love those He puts into our lives is to refuse to love God as well as we can. As Christ said, “Love is the greatest commandment.” “If you love me, keep my commandments.”
Hopefully there comes a time, sooner rather than later, when we realize that by refusing to love children, refusing to love God, and refusing to love others as best we can, we will acknowledge our serious sin and seek forgiveness through the Sacrament of Reconciliation. And rededicate our lives to keeping his commandments.
Thank you, father. My wife and I struggle with this Sin. We have been blessed with four children, and are older. We struggle with trusting the Lord in our intimacy. Not with artificial contraception but also not using the marital act the way God intended. It’s a lot to manage, I need grace to trust God more in this area of my life. Thank you!