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Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Well, as we sang just a second ago about children, that’s what this morning’s text has a lot of inference toward—children. But as a parent, if you are one, and if not, then you know what it’s like to be raised with a parent, because you were raised by a parent. As you look at what it meant to be a child, which child would get the affirmation of the parent? The hard-working, high-achiever, tightly-wound, maybe? Or the laid-back, somewhat indifferent, seemingly unflappable child?
If you are a teacher, which student gets your attention more? The high-achiever, hard-worker, tightly-wound child? Or the laid-back, indifferent, unflappable child? See, we know, don’t we? And we know that the one that gets the attention and the one that is noticed the most is the teacher. Greatest. So we already know what the definition of greatest is, so why are the disciples asking Jesus such an innocuous question as, who’s the greatest? They want to hear it from His lips. They want their thought of greatness to be affirmed by their Lord. And instead, you know what He does? Shatters it, obliterates it, and crushes it.
If that question is asked as to who is the greatest, note this: that the motive behind asking such a question is sinfully motivated. You cannot ask that question without wanting honor from someone unto whom you are asking it—the affirmation. God makes it very clear that His honor and our honor cannot coexist at the same place. There is not room for both. It is either God’s honor or our honor, not both.
So to think of greatness, to think of it in terms of this world’s definition, to think of it of how our flesh understands it, is completely counter to how God wishes it to be understood. So then, is the question answered, who is the greatest? Is the answer children? No, it is not children. That may be a surprise, because we live in a culture that affirms everything that has anything to do with youth. We live in a culture where anything that has everything to do with youth is lauded and praised. We want to look young. We want to feel young. We want to act young.
Search the Scriptures. You will find nowhere where childishness is affirmed by God. Childishness is never affirmed by God. In fact, Scripture is very explicit against childish behavior. Ignorance of right and wrong and good and evil. Foolishness and wisdom. Cannot choose rightly between the two, therefore you are unfit to rule or be responsible over yourself. Which also means that children are easily deceived. Scripture is always not affirming being deceived as an admirable attribute.
In fact, if you look at the Scripture, whenever Jesus is affirming childlike behavior, it is synonymous with affirming sheep-like behavior. In fact, in our text, children and sheep are even both included in the same context. We giggle at the fact that sheep are dumb and ignorant and have to be led, and children are too. So you see, it’s not about children in essence. It’s about childish behavior that is wrongly mistaken to be emulated in this text. Because like sheep, children are unruly, immature, fickle. And let’s not forget they whine. Wait a second, that applies to a lot of us as adults too, doesn’t it?
Here’s where the comparison makes the most sense. A child understands his or her identity because they are the child of a parent. Their identity is shaped as to who they are, where they belong, unto whom they belong, by their identity in reference to and in relation to their parent. Daily, you and I have to grab hold of our identity and our relationship to the Father who’s claimed us, who begat us in our faith, who claims us as His own. And our identity has to be wrapped up there.
If it’s not, then our identity is being wrapped up with what? The world? With ourself? Our identity as God’s child cannot coexist with our identity as a part of this world. We live in this world, but we are not of this world. Hence why our identity does not lie with this world. It rather is in God and not in ourself or this world. That’s what God means by childlike behavior.
The second thing a child knows when he gets up in the morning is that he doesn’t have to go out and get food to eat. You’re going to provide it for him as your mama and your daddy did to you. Daily, we have to come to terms with the reality that we are fed, both physically but more importantly spiritually, every day by God. We pray, “Give us this day our daily bread.” We are, in the same breath, saying, “Give us your kingdom today, Lord. Give us your kingdom. Let it come today to me. Let your will be done in my life today in me. Let your name be hallowed today in me.”
But as the pastor so eloquently said last week, it’s more about my will than God’s, my name than God’s, my glory, my kingdom rather than God’s. Finally, a child knows he is only protected and safe in his mom and dad’s house. A child doesn’t think that they can take on the world. A child knows he can only find safety in his mom and dad’s company. To be childlike is for you and me to daily come to terms with that same reality. We’re only safe when we’re in the nestled hand of our Father, not when we’re going off by ourselves, not when we think we have the world by the tail, not because we’re high achievers or hard workers.
So therefore, who really is the greatest? Since it’s not children… Who then is He? And the little ones unto whom He speaks are the beggarly in spirit. They are not the strong who show themselves strong to the world in faith. They are not those who are confident of their faith and show the world that they are. They are not those who are healthy spiritually. They are not bold in their spirit. They aren’t the greatest. That would take a mind of the high achiever, hard worker aspect, which is not what God is saying.
Hence why He said He leaves the 99 healthy, strong, confident, and bold on the hillside to go look for the little one who is troubled, poor in spirit, beggarly, weak and doubting, like you and like me. That’s the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. That is the little one unto whom He speaks and lifts up as the example. Jesus reminds us very clearly in this text a little bit later: “Woe to the world for temptations to sin, for it is necessary that temptation come. Listen, but woe by whom that temptation come.”
If you and I are all about showing the world how bold we are, how confident of our faith we are, how brave we are in our faith, we will infect one another with a horrible, damnable sin known as pride. It grows like mold, and it chokes and overwhelms people. So then how do I know, then, God? How do I know where the people are who are the poor in spirit, who are troubled, and who are… Well, one thing for sure, they’re not going to wear a sign around their neck that says, “I’m the troubled one, I’m the weak one, I’m the one who struggles with God.”
But I tell you how you will find out: by loving everyone. You see, we’re bound up together as children of the Heavenly Father. And we look at one another. We size one another up. We see one who seems confident and we wish we had it, and despise them at the same time for that confidence. We see the other who’s bold in their faith. We admire it and wish we could have it, and we despise it at the same time because we’re not. That’s comparison. That’s what Jesus is damning in this text.
He is not affirming comparison. He is affirming the one who says, “I’m the one you had to find lost in the wilderness, Lord. I’m the troubled one. I’m the doubting one. I’m the weak one. I’m the scared one. I’m the one who’s not confident and bold one. And I need you to find me.” As we love one another, as we forgive one another, we’ll find that out in talking with them, won’t we? We’ll find that out as they begin to realize we’re sincerely concerned about them. Amen.
And not about who we are and how we come off. That’s what Jesus meant when He said, “Become like little children.” That’s what Jesus meant by these little ones have angels who see the face of their Father at all times. For they are the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
Luther said, “It is the glory of the grace of God.” It is the glory of the grace of God that makes us enemies of ourselves. The wise words of someone who rides motorcycles is to never get too cocky or confident of yourself on that bike because what’s between your legs can put you down in a heartbeat and leave you as a grease spot on the concrete. Well, that same application can be said of you and my flesh. It will take you down and me down. It will drown us in our pride and crush us with our confidence and boldness. And it will leave us damned.
If we don’t watch it, it is the glory of the grace of God that makes us enemies of ourselves. And enemies of ourselves means we are the weak. We are the little ones. And those with whom we are communing this morning are the same. They’re no different. Just like me and just like you.
This is a call to repentance, brothers and sisters. A repentance to come back to your daddy. You remember whenever you may have bragged to your friends, “My daddy can whip your daddy?” Well, your daddy can whip any daddy because your daddy has done whooped Satan and your flesh and has brought you back into His safe harbor.
We do need to repent, don’t we? We are the weak ones whom He found again. In the name of that faithful shepherd who found us, Jesus, and that Father who beat all for us, amen.
The peace of God which passes all understanding. Keep your hearts and your minds on Christ Jesus to life everlasting. Amen.
