1 At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” 2 And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them 3 and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
5 “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, 6 but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.
7 “Woe to the world for temptations to sin! For it is necessary that temptations come, but woe to the one by whom the temptation comes! 8 And if your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life crippled or lame than with two hands or two feet to be thrown into the eternal fire. 9 And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into the hell of fire.
10 “See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven. 12 What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray? 13 And if he finds it, truly, I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray. 14 So it is not the will of my Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.
(ESV)
STOP! Think a little 🤔 What is God saying to you?
- What is the writer saying?
- How do I apply this to my life?
The disciples are concerned about who will be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. They are concerned about status, rank, and power. What they have missed is the God-ordained way that those things are achieved, which is humility. Jesus answers their question by focusing on a child. Unless you become like little children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. They were not asking about entering the kingdom but Jesus reminds them that in order to enter the kingdom, we need to turn away from the skeptical, anti-grace ideas that plague most adults and have the open belief that is easy for a child. Humility determines greatness in God’s kingdom.
Jesus continues to use the child as a symbol of the humble believer and says whoever shows kindness to them embraces and honours Christ. Pride and ambition cause us to treat other believers badly and dishonour Christ.
There is a strong warning to anyone who would set up a child (or new believer) to sin and fall in their faith. It is quite despicable to set up a stumbling block in the path of an unsuspecting child. To do that on a spiritual level is worse. The penalty for such behaviour is so severe it would be better for the person to drown himself in the depths of the sea.
Sin is serious and needs to be dealt with seriously. Jesus is not advocating self-mutilation as if cutting off your hand or foot could actually fix your sin problem—only changing your heart can do that. But we should take sin seriously. We must be equally serious about things that cause others to sin and things that cause us to sin ourselves. We can apply this to our lives in how seriously we deal with things that cause us to sin. When we have things that cause temptation in our lives, how seriously do we take it? Are you willing to go to extreme lengths to remove the temptation or do you make excuses and allow the temptation to remain? What are you keeping around that keeps tripping you up? Wouldn’t it be better to get rid of it to deal with the temptation completely?
Do not despise the little child (or the new believer). God is not partial. He is concerned about each and every believer. While we are focussed on status and who is greatest, God is focussed on the least. God is so concerned over every believer that He would leave the 99 to go after the little believer who has strayed in order to rescue and restore them. Let us not be concerned about those who appear great, or worse, about being great, but let us look after the little ones in God’s kingdom.