Francis Gonsalves

Barring cellphones and iPods, men normally boast about having everything big: Big money, big muscles, big motorcars and even a Big God! But flipping through the pages of the Bible, I often encounter a God of small things. I don’t doubt that our “Almighty God” is omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient. However, God is deeply concerned about the littleness that seems so insignificant to you and me.

The Bible often speaks of “election”. Here it’s not referring to the polls that inevitably see the biggest, boldest and best elected as mukhiyas and mantris in India, but it’s talking about God’s choice of collaborators: the youngest, weakest, last and least. God, surprisingly, chooses and commissions the likes of these to accomplish mighty deeds. “My ways are not your ways,” says God, whose choices would make us laugh; yet, they also instil hope.
What have Abel, Jacob, Joseph, Benjamin and David in common? They’re all the youngest sons of their families. Abel finds favour with God over elder brother Cain, and Jacob over elder Esau. Joseph and Benjamin are dearly beloved sons of their father, Israel. Joseph eventually becomes governor of Egypt after being sold as a slave by his elder brothers. Surely, God seems to favour the youngest in all these cases.
You’ve heard about David and Goliath, haven’t you? David, the young upstart, defies the gigantic Goliath. Disregarding dissuasion from elders and divesting himself of the arms and armour that King Saul heaps upon him, David says: “I cannot walk with these; for I’m not used to them.” Trusting God fully he challenges Goliath, “You come with sword and spear, but I come in the name of God!” Then, David slays Goliath with only a sling and a stone.
God sends Prophet Samuel to choose a king from among the sons of Jesse. When Samuel sees the seven elder sons of Jesse, he feels that God has chosen one of them for they’re all hefty and handsome. However, God tells Samuel: “Do not look at the appearance or height or stature, for God does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but God looks on the heart.” Finally, Jesse’s youngest son, David, is enthroned as king.
Besides God choosing the “little ones” individually, God preferentially loves three groups of people: widows, orphans and aliens who are spouseless, parentless and friendless respectively. The rationale behind the divine predilection for these weaker ones is that they experience a “lack” in their life, which God fills up with his special love and solid support.
The life of Jesus, too, reveals and reiterates God’s love for little things. Of Jesus’ birthplace Prophet Micah prophesied: “You, O Bethlehem, who are little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth one who is to be ruler.” While preaching God’s word, Jesus freely associated with those who were rejected in society for he regarded every human being as a daughter or son of God. Consequently, he taught us to call God Abba (Father) and to care for all peoples, especially the poor.
“Whatever you do to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you do it to me,” said Jesus, reminding us that when we love and serve the poor, we truly love and serve God. Trust Rabindranath Tagore to pen this most powerfully: “Here is your footstool and there rest your feet where live the poorest, the lowliest and the lost.”
We yearn for divine fullness and a God pregnant with power. But, instead, God reveals Godself in our emptiness and smallness. The Shvetashvatara Upanishad asserts: “Smaller than the smallest, larger than the largest is the self that lies here hidden in the heart of a living being” (3:20). God Almighty is also the antarayami (the knower) enshrined in the human heart.
The god of small things invites you to nest and nestle in the divine embrace, just as you are:
“Come as you are, that’s how I want you;
Come as you are, feel quite at home.
Come to my heart, healed and forgiven,
Come as you are, why stand alone?”
God loves you and me in our loneliness and littleness. Will you accept God’s little invitation? Come!

— Francis Gonsalves is the principal of the
Vidyajyoti College of Theology, Delhi. He is involved in interfaith dialogue and peoples’ initiatives for
fostering justice, harmony and peace. He can be
contacted at fragons@gmail.com