Bible
Study: Ezekiel 2, 8 to 3, 4. Matthew 18, 1 to 5, 10, 12 to 14.
In the
book of Isaiah, chapter 55, verses 8 to 9, we read: “For my thoughts are not
your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the LORD. For as the heavens are
higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts
than your thoughts.” The truth of this statement is what dawns on us in today’s
Gospel passage. The way we humans think is so different from the way God
thinks.
For the
disciples, the essence of greatness is lordship over others and the exercise of
power but to their greatest surprise, Jesus’ definition of greatness was the
very opposite. True Greatness in the sight of God is to become humble like a
little child. And it doesn’t stop at that, we have no choice but to humble
ourselves because without the virtue of humility, we cannot even enter the
kingdom of heaven. Hence St. James would say: “God opposes the proud, but gives
grace to the humble.” James 4, 6.
How do I become
proud? By assuming that I am better or richer or wiser than someone else. When I
start to look down on others or do things to make them bow before me or when I make
myself a god. Jesus goes further to say: “See that you do not despise one of
these little ones; for I tell you that in heaven their angels always behold the
face of my Father who is in heaven.”
To despise
a person is to treat the person as if he or she is not important. If there are
two people waiting to see me for instance and I treat one of them with respect
and cordiality while I completely ignore the other one or tell him or her that I
am not around, I have despised such a person. Wherever you go today, be it in
our banking halls, in hospitals, in offices, in government buildings and sadly even
in our churches, people are despised either on the basis of their age, their financial
status, their tribe, their family background or simply because of who-know-man
syndrome.
Nobody
deserves to be taken for granted. Nobody deserves to be treated like shit. No
soul is unimportant. A person may be little in your eyes today but that same
person may be your saviour tomorrow. Treat everyone you meet well not because of
what may happen tomorrow but because as Jesus says, these little ones have
Angels, invisible angels around them who are watching and taking note of how
you treat them. And God himself cares about each little one. God can leave the
ninety-nine and go in search of the missing one. We also should have that same
attitude.
Don’t be a
banker who will get up from his seat to attend to a “big” man but reign insult
on a poor man who has been standing on the queue for hours. Don’t be a teacher
who will favour a bright student in the class but ignore the slow learner who
needs more time and attention to grasp what is being taught. Don’t be a
Government official who will listen to the God-fathers of your party and then
ignore the youths because they have nothing to contribute financially. We all have
a duty to humble ourselves and attend to the little ones around us.
Above all,
just as Ezekiel was given the scroll containing the word of God to eat, we need
to consume the word of God day in day out in other for us to start thinking and
acting like God. Left to our natural ways of thinking, we are so different from
God, we are in fact, opposite. But our continued and persistent study of the
Bible changes our thinking, it changes our value system, it makes us more
humble and better persons.
Let us pray:
Lord Jesus, increase my level of
humility. Amen.
Good morning. Be Happy. Live
Positive. Have Faith. It is well with you. God bless you.
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