Who is the Greatest?

October 2, 2024 Wednesday of the Twenty-sixth Week in Ordinary Time
Memorial of the Holy Guardian Angels
Daily Readings: Job 9:1-12, 14-16; Matthew 18:1-5, 10

One constant human concern is to be great. We have so many competitions to know who is the greatest. The world is so concerned about this.

In today’s Gospel, the disciples showed the same concern when they asked Jesus who is the greatest. But maybe to their dismay, Jesus did not name any of them. Instead, Jesus pointed to a child.

Imagine a group of scholars or honor students or a group of multi-awarded athletes or a group of government leaders or business executives asking who is the greatest among them and getting a response that it’s the ordinary man or woman by the door. I can almost hear the grumbling among these men and women who consider themselves great.

What’s special about a child, we may ask?

Jesus may not necessarily be only talking about age here. Obviously, we can never be children again. But we all can be childlike—that is, someone who is humble. This humility that Jesus mentioned speaks of our complete dependence on the Father, just like a child is completely dependent on his or her parents. 

Being a child is acknowledging that apart from God, our wealth, our career, our position, our degree or our possessions, mean nothing. We are to acknowledge the power of God over us. In the first reading, even in his great distress, Job acknowledged that God is most powerful.

Call to Action for Catholic Living: Jesus also pointed out that unless we welcome the children, we will not be able to enter heaven. Do we welcome the little ones—not only the children, but those who cannot help themselves, those needing our help? Do we reach out to them? Or, are we busier competing to be the greatest?