First Reading - Ezekiel 2:8-3:4
Gospel - Matthew 18:1-5,10,12-14
Today's readings invite us to become people who not only hear God's Word but truly receive it.
In the first reading, God gives the prophet Ezekiel a scroll and tells him, “Eat this scroll.” Ezekiel does not simply read God's message and then pass it on to others. He must first take it into himself. He has to receive the Word before he can proclaim it.
And when he eats it, he discovers that it is sweet.
This is a powerful image of what it means to be a servant of God. Before we speak God's Word to others, we must allow that Word to speak to us. Before we tell others how to live, we must allow God to change our own lives.
Sometimes we want to preach, advise, correct, or teach others, while we ourselves have not allowed God's Word to touch our hearts. Ezekiel reminds us: the Word must first become part of us.
Then Jesus gives us another important lesson in the Gospel. The disciples ask Him, “Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven?” They are thinking in terms of position, importance, and status.
Jesus places a child in their midst and says, “Unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the Kingdom of heaven.”
Jesus is not asking us to become childish. He is asking us to become childlike.
A child knows how to trust.
A child knows how to receive.
A child knows that he or she depends upon others.
That is the attitude Jesus wants us to have before God. We do not enter God's Kingdom because we are powerful, successful, or important. We enter because we know that we need God.
And then Jesus speaks about the lost sheep.
If one sheep wanders away, the shepherd goes in search of it. He does not say, “I still have ninety-nine, so one does not matter.”
For God, one matters.
The person who has wandered away matters.
The person who feels forgotten matters.
The person who struggles with faith matters.
The person whom society considers insignificant matters.
Jesus tells us that the Father does not want even one of these little ones to be lost.
That should change the way we look at people.
Sometimes we measure people's importance by their position, education, wealth, or influence. God measures differently. He sees the person. He sees the heart. He sees the one whom others may overlook.
Dear friends, today's readings leave us with a simple invitation: receive God's Word with a humble heart and learn to see people with God's eyes.
Like Ezekiel, let us first allow God's Word to enter our own lives.
Like the child in the Gospel, let us learn to trust the Father.
And like the shepherd searching for the lost sheep, let us never consider anyone unimportant.
May the Word we hear today not remain merely words that we listen to. May it become part of us, shape our hearts, and change the way we live.
And may we always remember: in the eyes of God, every person is precious, every person is worth seeking, and no one is ever insignificant.
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