The Gospel of Barnabas

183.

While they sat at meat the scribe said: 'O master, thou saidst that God loveth true humility. Tell us therefore what is humility, and how it can be true and false.'

[Jesus replied:] 'Verily I say unto you that he who becometh not as a little child shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.'

Everyone was amazed at hearing this, and they said one to another: 'Now how shall he become a little child who is thirty or forty years old? Surely, this is a hard saying.'

Jesus answered: 'As God liveth in whose presence my soul standeth, my words are true. I said unto you that [a man] hath need to become as a little child: for this is true humility. For if ye ask a little child: "Who hath made thy garments?" he will answer: "My father." If ye ask him whose is the house where he liveth, he will say: "My father's." If ye shall say: "Who giveth thee to eat?" he will reply: "My father." If ye shall say: "Who hath taught thee to walk and to speak?" he will answer: "My father." But if ye shall say: "Who hath broken thy forehead, for that thou hast thy forehead so bound up?" he will answer: "I fell down, and so did I break my head." If ye shall say: "Now why didst thou fall down?" he will answer: "See ye not that I am little, so that I have not the strength to walk and run like a grown man? so my father must needs take me by the hand if I would walk firmly. But in order that I might learn to walk well, my father left me for a little space, and I, wishing to run, fell down." If ye shall say: "And what said thy father?" he will answer: "Now why didst thou not walk quite slowly? See that in future thou leave not my side."