Today, children are precious. They reveal an innocence and purity that endears us to engage and encourage them. Yet, this is not typical historically, especially in the ancient world where women and children were treated as commodities rather than as persons.
Women and children, especially orphans and widows, were prey and suffered the manipulation and deception of others, especially by men of means who used them for their advantage. For this reason, Jesus raised the Widow of Nain’s son. He knew what would happen to her after the funeral (Mark 12:41-44). So too Jesus invites the children to come to Him, telling us we need to become child-like, trusting Him, if we are going to enter into heaven (Mark 10:13-16).
Because of their poverty and neediness, children, orphans, and widows became slaves just to survive. To combat this mentality, God imposed a law declaring:
Cursed be anyone who deprives the resident alien, the orphan, or the widow of justice! All the people shall answer, Amen! (Dt 27:19)
To protect the innocent and needy, God throughout the scriptures commands us to protect and promote those who are vulnerable and defenseless. This divine teaching, a much different code than the pagan philosophy which dehumanized anyone who was weak or helpless, corrects our natural inclination to enslave those who are wanting.
Jesus, Who radiates might, power, and majesty as we see in the transfiguration, becomes like the orphan, like the widow, manipulated and mistreated. Yet, He chooses to become child-like, a servant Who serves us all serving us with humility and docility enhancing our dignity and beauty (Matt 20:28).
Lumen Gentium captures this concept when the authors, heavily influenced by St. John Paul II writes, “Man, who is the only creature on earth which God willed for itself, cannot fully find himself except through a sincere gift of himself” (GS, # 24). Children, truly a gift from God no matter what struggles they may have, cause us to gift ourselves to them. This wonderful exchange in which children gifted to us, teach us to gift ourselves to them, making us child-like: meek and humble.
Jesus then Who is divine becomes like us out of meekness and humility. His childlikeness invites us to humility, serving Him sincerely as He served us purely. In serving Him, we see ourselves as the child. We see ourselves completely dependent upon Him. He becomes our Teacher, not to lord it over us, but to serve and protect us as his children, welcoming us with open arms.
This is the great mystery of faith. Greatness according to God’s way serves, knowing we are dependent upon the Lord. We, poor in spirit, become rich in grace when we completely cast our cares upon the Lord as a child casting his cares upon his parents. We completely abandon ourselves upon his Way — not our way.
Many today traumatized by the evils in the world want to lord it over those who have oppressed us. Yet, in the trauma of hardship, instead of seeking revenge, Jesus teaches that we too absorb and embrace the hardships, not as a masochist suffering from the sadist, but as Wisdom states a test: “that we may find out how gentle he is, and make trial of his forbearance” (Wis 2:19). Through the trials of persecution, we not only imitate Jesus’ love, but we assimilate ourselves into his love. Assimilated, our love becomes pure and undefiled, not letting the injustices corrupt us, but offering forgiveness to the one’s committing injustices.
As did Jesus, we become a suffering servant as He did, returning good for evil and blessings when cursed. Instead of lashing out in bitterness and envy when persecuted, we cast away our revenge and replace it with reconciliation.
Reconciliation restores us for we see ourselves as sinners, for we see Jesus as our Savior. We no longer live by our personal code of honor, but by personal repentance, knowing that if Jesus forgives me, I can forgive others.
Reconciliation first forgives ourselves. No matter how shameful or humiliating my actions are, we repent as Peter exhorts. “With your whole hearts turn to God and he will blot out all your sins” (Acts 3:19). Seeking reconciliation is truly child-like. In their innocence, they want to restore broken relationships. They, in their purity of heart, reach out when others hurt. When we hurt, Jesus reaches out to us to heal our hurts and restore our goodness. He embraces us with open arms and welcomes us despite our tears.
Next, forgiving those who trespass against us is essential. Forgiving others is humanly impossible; yet it makes us most like God. If Jesus can forgive us while we were sinners, He wants us to forgive those who hurt us.
St. John Paul II addresses the dilemma between revenge and forgiveness when he traveled Croatia, a war-torn country, exhorting the citizens.
“To forgive and to be reconciled means to purify one’s memory of hatred, rancour, the desire for revenge; it means acknowledging as a brother even those who have wronged us; it means not being overcome by evil but overcoming evil with good (cf. Rom 12:21) (John Paul II, Homilies of Pope John Paul II, Homily October 3, 1998)
Forgiveness restores our freedom. No longer does revenge, bitterness, and envy imprison us, but it softens the hardness of heart to find peace within. To peace at peace in Christ Who teaches us the deeper meanings of our sufferings: divinization. To partake in God’s life by which we become full of grace.
Reconciliation then embraces my neediness as a child of the Father. I see my neediness. I need help and cast myself upon the mercy of the Father. This casting trusts for we do not cast ourselves upon the mercy of a tyrant, but upon the mercy of our loving Father Who washes our wounds, binds our brokenness, rebuilds our bodies, and enlivens our souls with his Spirit. As a child who throws himself into his father’s arms, we are held and healed in Christ.
Reconciliation restores our innocence. Embracing the turmoil and trauma others cause, as a child, we reach up to our Heavenly Father for his comfort and compassion. His embrace strengthens us, consoling us in our tears, healing the wounds even deep and penetrating. His love changes our pain from bitterness into a blessing. We understand divine love much different than human love.
Counter-cultural and counter-intuitive, Jesus inverts human love. Upon the cross, He forgives all, hoping we convert and accept his forgiveness. Jesus wants us to convert our thinking to his way of thinking allowing his power to infuse in us his Holy Spirit which humbles us to become child-like, despite the sinfulness and shamefulness we face.
Healing comes not from lording it over but by trusting as a child. This trust knows, just as a child knows, that the Father will bring good out of the evils we suffer: He offers grace, where evil abounds. Our hurt and shame become our honor and blessing for we know that despite our sinful world, Jesus heals and saves us from those very deeds I have done, and deeds others have done to harm me.