Friends, in today’s Gospel, Jesus places a high value on childlikeness. What is it about “the childlike” that Jesus prizes? Jesus himself is the child, the Son who has received everything from his Father. He lives in an attitude of receptivity, taking in all that the Father has given him. His is a life of obedience. He is not in command of his life, but he receives it as a gift.
This is what it means to be a little child: to have an attitude of receptivity that allows you to be moved by God and by God’s ways. The problem with “the wise and the learned” is not that they’re educated but that they are trying to govern and run their own lives on their own terms rather than living in obedience to God. The truly wise are those who are like Christ: little children in relation to God.