Breaking the Word

At that time the disciples approached Jesus and said, "Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" He called a child over, placed it in their midst, and said, "Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever receives one child such as this in my name receives me. "See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that their angels in heaven always look upon the face of my heavenly Father. What is your opinion? If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them goes astray, will he not leave the ninety-nine in the hills and go in search of the stray? And if he finds it, amen, I say to you, he rejoices more over it than over the ninety-nine that did not stray. In just the same way, it is not the will of your heavenly Father that one of these little ones be lost. (Mt 18:1-5,10,12-14)

Many people in today’s society consider children to be nuisance. Some prefer to do away with them. Naturally the question of child would not enter into the mind of such people when answering the question. Jesus instead picks up a child to answer the question. When Jesus calls them the little ones he includes the idea of weak, vulnerable, playful and at times dirty.

Kingdom does not go for the values and criteria which the elders will opt for. One of the virtues which a child possesses according to Jesus is humility. Here humility points to the attitude of a child that longs to learn from the other. In a sense child is the one who accepts its limitation. Child does not pretend to be knowing everything.

A shepherd leaving the ninety nine in the street and going after the lost one, the stray one is an accepted picture of the Christian tradition. God isn’t happy to say ‘well, we have still got ninety nine and let us not worry about the lost one’. God’s logic is different. So should the logic of the followers of Jesus.

As they were gathering in Galilee, Jesus said to them, "The Son of Man is to be handed over to men, and they will kill him, and he will be raised on the third day." And they were overwhelmed with grief. When they came to Capernaum, the collectors of the temple tax approached Peter and said, "Doesn't your teacher pay the temple tax?"  "Yes," he said. When he came into the house, before he had time to speak, Jesus asked him, "What is your opinion, Simon? From whom do the kings of the earth take tolls or census tax? From their subjects or from foreigners?" When he said, "From foreigners," Jesus said to him, "Then the subjects are exempt. But that we may not offend them, go to the sea, drop in a hook, and take the first fish that comes up. Open its mouth and you will find a coin worth twice the temple tax. Give that to them for me and for you."  (Mt 17:22-27)

The disciples were overwhelmed with grief when they heard the news about Jesus’ death. This news also was accompanied with the news about his resurrection. We wonder why the disciples were not overjoyed about that. It could be because they have not experienced the resurrected persons. They did not want to lose Jesus. They wanted him to be with them always.

Jesus didn’t believe the Temple tax was proper. Every Jew, all over the world, was supposed to pay small sum each year, to help to support the Temple in Jerusalem. This irritated several Jews and some even wanted to over throw the Temple regime. This could have been one of the reasons why Jesus was against the Temple and its administration.

Jesus’ kingdom movement was aimed at challenging the authority of the Temple and its rulers. Now he was in Galilee and this was not the opportune time speak against the Temple. Time will come when he would openly challenge the authorities. Now he had better played it low. He was a master strategist. He planned to challenge them in Jerusalem so he asked Peter to oblige.