At that time, 1 the disciples came to Jesus and asked, "Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?

 

At that time, 1 the disciples came to Jesus and asked, "Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" 2 Jesus called a little child to him and had him stand among them 3 and said to them, “Truly, truly, I tell you, unless you turn and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Whoever makes himself as humble as this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5 And whoever welcomes one such little child in my name welcomes me. 10 Do not despise one of these little ones, for I tell you that their angels in heaven always look on the face of my Father in heaven. 12 What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them goes astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills to look for the one that is lost? 13 Truly, truly, I tell you, if he finds it, he rejoices more over it than over the ninety-nine that did not go astray. 14 In the same way, my Father in heaven is not willing that one of these little ones should be lost.

—The Word of the Lord Salvation.

Reflection

Once again we are faced with the use of a word that can place the disciple at odds with his identity as a disciple. It is the word "greatest". The disciples ask: "Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven?" The issue is that many may interpret this question as if they were interested in some position of honor among them, or even that there was a hierarchy of the most important places, but that is not quite the case. When they use the expression "Kingdom of Heaven" they imply that the term "greatest" here refers to "spiritual greatness". They are certainly thinking about life in communion with God in the logic of the positions of honor of the "old man".

Faced with this question, Jesus responds by demanding two things from the disciples and the entire Church: conversion and becoming like children. Conversion means changing one's mentality, casting aside the mentality of the "old man", sinner, follower of oneself and the desires and interests of the world, to enter into the mentality of the Gospel, the logic brought by Jesus Christ. The man who thinks with the world has a panoramic view of reality and points out only the beautiful, famous places that fill his personal pleasure. Now, there is an invitation to see the reality of himself, the world and others from his own perspective. The converted gaze sees humbly, devoid of supports, human security, worldly interests, seeks to be simple, poor, detached from everything and everyone, confident. It is that gaze that reaches the core, the deepest, the essence of the other or even of himself. This is the gaze of a child, who trusts his father, throws himself fearlessly into his arms and does not want to know about strangers, deprived of friendship with those he loves and by whom he is loved.