Lent 1: Two questions of the kingdom

If you could sit down with Jesus and ask questions about the Kingdom of Heaven…what would you ask?

If Jesus could ask us a question about how we’re seeking to live into the Kingdom of Heaven, what might He ask us

Matthew 18:1–14 CEB

1 At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” 2 Then he called a little child over to sit among the disciples, 3 and said, “I assure you that if you don’t turn your lives around and become like this little child, you will definitely not enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Those who humble themselves like this little child will be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5 Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me. 6 “As for whoever causes these little ones who believe in me to trip and fall into sin, it would be better for them to have a huge stone hung around their necks and be drowned in the bottom of the lake. 7 How terrible it is for the world because of the things that cause people to trip and fall into sin! Such things have to happen, but how terrible it is for the person who causes those things to happen! 8 If your hand or your foot causes you to fall into sin, chop it off and throw it away. It’s better to enter into life crippled or lame than to be thrown into the eternal fire with two hands or two feet. 9 If your eye causes you to fall into sin, tear it out and throw it away. It’s better to enter into life with one eye than to be cast into a burning hell with two eyes. 10 “Be careful that you don’t look down on one of these little ones. I say to you that their angels in heaven are always looking into the face of my Father who is in heaven.12 What do you think? If someone had one hundred sheep and one of them wandered off, wouldn’t he leave the ninety-nine on the hillsides and go in search for the one that wandered off? 13 If he finds it, I assure you that he is happier about having that one sheep than about the ninety-nine who didn’t wander off. 14 In the same way, my Father who is in heaven doesn’t want to lose one of these little ones.

There are two main questions in our text today…

The disciples’ question. Misguided though it may be…

Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven?

In this question, the disciples say out loud what many of us simply think and wonder but are too shy to name. Who is important in the Kingdom of Heaven? Who is prominent? And, how do I become one of the “prominent ones”?

Who matters?

And Jesus points to a child. And says that the child is the model for kingdom living. Become like the child, humble yourself like a child and welcome children.

Become like the child?

unpretentious, unfazed by status (a child meets an “important” person and isn’t fazed by their importance),

Humble yourself

Humility is not thinking poorly of oneself, but thinking in a right-sized way. Children model this for us in that they aren’t afraid to take up space, but they’re also aware of how little they are, unafraid to ask for help, to receive. “The child does not make themself smaller than they are, but knows how small they really are. Thus humility is nothing else than knowing how small we really are before God.” (Schnackenburg)

Welcome such a child…

To pay attention to someone insignificant, needy, … this is the call of the kingdom. Not to prominence and networking with important people, but to giving time and attention to the little or insignificant people. People who tend to be disliked or ignored.

Dale Bruner summarizes it this way:

Jesus is not asking us to adopt an infantile innocence but he is asking us to begin a heroic new obedience: to turn from greatness and toward service - to little tasks and to little people.

In the second section of the text, Jesus applies this idea of why we must consider the “little ones” in the kingdom by naming the harm that comes, and the talk of the child shifts to speaking about “little ones” - mikros in the greek. And this word will show up again in verse 10.

The warning and instruction about how to treat “little ones” is pretty strong...

Jesus takes “care for the other” and demands not just care for the other, but care for the insignificant other. This isn’t the special calling of a compassionate few, but the only way to build community. And not doing it comes with terrible consequences. Hurt inflicted on “one of these little ones” will be judged and Jesus is not letting his disciples (or us!) think that it will all be okay in the end.

This is really good news for anyone who had been hurt by someone within the community of faith. It means that you aren’t asked to just let it go. It matters. And it wasn’t okay.

But it’s also a really serious calling to all of us - don’t be the reason one of these little ones, one of these who seem insignificant, who are vulnerable… don’t be the reason they trip and fall into sin.

It ought to make us look at all that we do as a community and wonder, is this a tripping hazard? Who will this hurt? How could we do this more carefully, with more consideration of how it’s received by people more vulnerable than me? The gift of community is that we’re put into relationships with people who are more and less vulnerable than we are. With people who have more or less earthly significance than we do. With people who are more and less needy than we are. With people who are easier and more difficult to like or get along with.

But doing no harm is that call. Jesus warns us that we have to take the harm that can be done seriously because He takes it seriously and will hold us to account.

So, who matters? The little ones. Then we come to the second question comes from Jesus, asked through a parable he tells.

Who is missing?

It is through this well-known story of the reckless shepherd, leaving the 99 to go in search of the 1 lost sheep that Jesus shows us the Father’s heart. That love seeks out others. Pays attention. And therefore notices when someone - even someone “little” goes missing… wanders off. And if the Father notices, then we are invited to join in on the noticing. To go after the missing one and not just figure that it’s enough if most of us are here.

This parable shows up in Luke as well, though Luke & Matthew give it slightly different contexts.

Here, Matthew is highlighting the “wholeness” of the community being destroyed when even one goes missing.

One sheep that is excluded is more important than the 99 who remain. The little one who had wandered off is intensely loved and longed for, and therefore risk is taken to restore them.

The call to us is “Be careful that you don’t look down on one of these little ones.” God doesn’t despise them for wandering off, so neither should we.

There’s no “cost benefit analysis” on whether it’s worth all the trouble. Just the radically invitation that demands that the issuer GOES OUT TO FIND the one who wandered off. It’s not just a “you’re always welcome to come back” but going out to find them to and to see what happened.

And at the end of the passage, Jesus reveals the Father’s heart - rejoicing over the one who is restored and who doesn’t want to lose even one “little one” - does this sound like the picture of God you have in your head? (Be honest) We know who God is because of Jesus. So Jesus isn’t the soft side of God. Jesus is the revelation of the Divine. What does it mean to hear both the promise of judgment for those who have hurt the “little ones” AND the desire that God has not to lose any little ones.

If you could sit down with Jesus and ask questions about the Kingdom of Heaven…what would you ask?

How do we make SWCC great? We don’t need to be the greatest, but it would nice to be great....

If Jesus could ask us a question about how we’re seeking to live into the Kingdom of Heaven, what might He ask us?

Who is missing?

Who can’t join in? And why?

Are we willing to go out and find them? Are we afraid of what they might tell us? Are we happy with the status quo?

The questions are related.

We’re called to give ourselves to and for the little ones. Not just children, but to the small, to the micro. However that shows up in our life and in our church. Little tasks and little people.

We’re called to become childlike, is to view ourselves as properly small, and to give ourselves to “little people and little tasks”…

We’re called to lay down our propensity to chase after greatness and to pay attention to the small, to the overlooked…

We’re called to become like this littles ones and then we’re warned to pay attention to the little lest we become the reason any of these should stumble. To consider things from others points of view. Realizing that we may very well be adding burdens to the vulnerable rather than making things better.

We’re called to become so attuned to the little that we notice who is missing…and to the kind of love that seeks others out.

That’s how we’ll be “great” …

Let’s pray…