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you have revealed them to little ones.
Everything that the Son came to reveal was made known only to little ones. The pride of those who believed themselves to be wise causes them to stumble.
Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven (see Matthew 18:3-4).
We are tempted to want wisdom for pride and for vanity. We want to be like the great theologians who inspire us, the greater preachers who motivate us, or we want to be seen to be on equal footing with those in the world who contradict us.
Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? (see First Corinthians 1:2).
Are we willing to be the babes to whom the LORD reveals himself? If so, what does it mean if the world sees can't recognize that wisdom? It is true that from the point of view of the world the wisdom of God often seems foolish. Yet we are not called to scandalize the world by simply persisting in human foolishness. We are called to the humility that lets us so receive the revelation of the Father and the Son that, even if the world can't understand it, they are nevertheless compelled to recognize in it an inner luminosity and coherence.
Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened,
and I will give you rest.
We must become like little children to heed the call of Jesus to come to him for rest. If we insist that we continue to stand and struggle by our own efforts our labor will continue and our burden will persist. The 'adult' in us has a hard time seeing things any other way. We fear that if we don't fully take responsibility, not only for the doing of our tasks, but for the worrying about them, that they will fail. Children can trust in their parents enough that they can sleep in peace without worrying about providing for themselves.
But I have calmed and quieted my soul,
like a child quieted at its mother’s breast;
like a child that is quieted is my soul (see Psalm 131:2).
We are meant to be a people sacred to the LORD, a chosen nation, a people peculiarly his own. It is precisely as small and childlike that we are chosen. Our strength and skill do not factor in.
It was not because you are the largest of all nations
that the LORD set his heart on you and chose you,
for you are really the smallest of all nations.
It was because the LORD loved you
The fullness of being chosen by God is being made sons and daughters by adoption.
For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” (see Romans 8:15).
It is the Spirit who makes us sons and daughters. It is the Spirit who gives us the gift of humility. He himself is the strength with which we bear our burdens, the rest in whom we rest. He is given to all who acknowledge that Jesus is the Son of God, and by him we are brought to perfection.
This is how we know that we remain in him and he in us,
that he has given us of his Spirit.
After saying "everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God" we might assume that John would add that we know we remain in him by seeing whether we love or not. But he knew that saying that would only encourage us to take the burden ourselves that Jesus intended to carry. And so he reminds us of the one way to remain childlike, to abide in love. We must drink deeply from the font of life who is the Holy Spirit, given from the pierced heart of Christ.
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