Matthew 18:1-14 (Mark 9:33-37, Luke 9:46-48): Who is the Greatest?

 By Captain Michael Ramsay. Presented to The Salvation Army Alberni Valley Ministries, 16 May 2021, by Sarah-Grace and Heather Ramsay

 

Matthew 18: …the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who, then, is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” 

 

2 He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. 3 And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5 And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me. 

 

The scene is like this: Jesus’ followers, his congregation, his friends, like you guys here; like us; they ask Jesus which one of them is doing the best? Who is the star? Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven? 

 

Jesus then looks for a child in the congregation and has her stand with the disciples who are asking the question (the word is gender neutral but there is an argument to be made that the child is a girl)[i] and Jesus tells his disciples – she is the greatest…or one like her. 

 

What does Jesus mean by this? He means a couple of things: 

·       One, he means to tell his leadership team, ‘why are you asking me such an annoying question’?

·        Two, he means to let be known to ALL who are present, that the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven is one who isn’t concerned about being the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven – the one who doesn’t consider themselves better than or even necessarily as worthy as everyone else there.[ii] 

 

And then Jesus goes one step further in his rebuke of his those who were seeking to be seen as the star of the team. He tells them that whoever welcomes one like this child (who does not consider themselves better than someone else; someone who isn’t primarily concerned about their own rights and position; someone who may seem a little timid; someone who isn’t already part of the ‘crowd’); whoever welcomes one like this on Jesus’ behalf, who is humble enough to learn, they are welcoming Jesus. When we welcome little people, meek people, eager people, new people to be a part of our group, our group becomes part of the Kingdom of Heaven.  

 

Verse 6ff: “If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. 7 Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to stumble! Such things must come, but woe to the person through whom they come! 8 If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire. 9 And if your eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell. 

 

Jesus continues in his response to people asking to be crowned Champion of Kingdom of Heaven. If we are so full of ourselves that we cause others to be drawn into our fights, if we are so full of ourselves that other people copy our arrogance, then we are in danger of the fire of hell.

 

Jesus is not apparently happy at all that people have asked him who would be the greatest in his Kingdom. For us to be even concerned about such a thing, Jesus suggests, Verse 2, we may even disqualify ourselves from the Kingdom of Heaven. And if, even worse, we cause others to be like this, it would be better to have a big stone tied to us and be tossed out there into the ocean.  

 

Verse 10: “See that you do not [look down on] despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven.  

 

Jesus continues. He says that we must not to be so full of ourselves as to be worrying about which one of us is the greatest; Jesus says that we must not teach others to be full of themselves thinking that they are better than any other people; and Jesus says, ‘make sure you don’t despise people who aren’t fighting to be considered the best in the Kingdom of Heaven’. He says:

 

·       Don’t puff yourself up!

·       Don’t teach other people to puff themselves up!  

·       Don’t despise people who don’t puff themselves up. 

·       Don’t look down on people who don’t play your games.

·       Don’t look down on clients;

·       don’t look down on staff,

·       don’t look down on poor people,

·       don’t look down on smart people;

·       don’t look down on new people;

·       don’t look down on or exclude old or young people…

A shunned, despised, or unwelcome person will wander off.[iii] 

 

Verse 12 “What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? 13 And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. 14 In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should perish. 

 

God loves all of us and He does not wish that a single one of us should perish. So back to the original question, who is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven?

 

·       The greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven is one who is not worried about ‘winning’ or promoting themselves, and

·       the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven is one who helps the vulnerable or the outsider, and

·       the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven is one who invites the vulnerable and the outsider be to a part of our team that continues to help the vulnerable and the outsider.

 

When we serve the King of Heaven this way then we are indeed all most valuable parts of His Kingdom to Come.

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[i] NT Wright, Matthew for Everyone Part 2: Chapters 16-28 (NT for Everyone: Louisville Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 2004),p.27: The child is gender neutral term but NT Wright argues for a girl.

[ii]  Cf. M. Eugene Boring, Matthew (NIB 8: Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon, 1995) 374  

[iii] NT Wright, Matthew for Everyone Part 2: Chapters 16-28 (NT for Everyone: Louisville Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 2004), p.31: anyone who is an outsider/outcast is a ‘little one’ 

Matthew 14:13-21, Mark 6:30-44, Luke 9:10-17, John 6:1-15: The feeding of the 5000, the 800, and the 152 000

Presented to The Salvation Army Alberni Valley Ministries, 02 May 2021 by Captain Michael Ramsay and on 22 September 2024 by Major Michael Ramsay

 

This is the original 2021 version, to read the longer 2024 version, click here: https://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2024/09/mark-630-44-matthew-1413-21-luke-910-17.html

 

Today we read about the feeding of the 5000 by Jesus and his disciples. This is a very significant story. The writers of all four of the Gospels included it in their biography of Jesus’ and their record of his ministry. It is actually the only miracle that all four of them noted. The authors John and Matthew were both present when this event occurred, and Luke’s version of this incident is recorded after some significant research. And John Mark was certainly part of the inner circle of Jesus’ followers afterwards and so he undoubtedly heard about this incident quite a bit - as he himself may or may not have been there as well.

 

John and Matthew were both there when this happened. John has a little bit different of a memory of this event than Matthew but no more of a difference of a recollection than Susan and I have over some of the events of our life and ministry.

 

This story struck me anew this week for a couple of reasons. One, I was surprised to learn this week that I have never preached on this passage before – though I did reference it in a piece I wrote that was included in the 2008 book One Thing and the 2011 book One for All by Commissioner James Knaggs and Major Stephen Court about a miracle God did while we were helping out with Emergency Disaster Services relief work in Texas. And EDS work is the second reason why this story stood out to me this week.

 

I am going to read an excerpt from my account in One Thing[i]:

 

Our canteens were instructed to make sure that they gave away all of their food before they came in for the night. They did not want food returned when people were going without. One canteen had some food left. It was getting late so they were seeking out someone to give their last Cambro (container) of food to. They prayed. One person then saw a line of about 12-18 tired and hungry looking construction workers so they headed over to offer them their food. They were really appreciative.

As they were feeding these men, a number of school busses filled with people pulled up. It is my understanding that they served over 800 meals at that location – no one went away hungry. Feeling blessed by what the Lord had done they started to clean up. (Now there was a non-believer, a Red Cross worker on their canteen with them today). Someone picked up the Cambro from which they fed the 800 meals and read from the side of it, ‘serves 90 meals’. The Lord fed more than eight times that number and no one went hungry. The Red Cross worker who was helping them on the truck that day began to cry. He said that he had never believed in God – until now.  

 

That is a real-life miracle that I will never forget. We have a similar miracle happening right here in the Alberni Valley on Vancouver Island today, right now. When the crowds in the disciples’ day were without food, Jesus said ‘you feed them!’ to which they replied, ‘we don’t have enough money to feed them!’ to which the response is still ‘no really, feed them!’ They do and God provides the food needed in whatever miraculous way He provided the needed food.[ii]

 

In the Alberni Valley here we have now fed people more than 152 000 times during the pandemic. At our height we were feeding more than 700 individuals a day. Now we are providing lunch at the Bread of Life soup kitchen, dinner and weekend meals off the Salvation Army truck, and evenings at the drop-in centre with Kuu-us.

 

Feeding 152 000: Think about this miracle. There is no way when Covid-19 hit that we could possibly have fed that amount of people and, honestly, the Bread of Life was broke. Jesus said to us “you feed them.” “We don’t have enough money.” The soup kitchen was close to turning out the lights forever when they approached the Army about serving the Lord and the community together before the pandemic and then the Lord produced miracle after miracle after miracle: we keep breaking bread to serve the crowds which seem to be without number and the Lord keeps producing more food with which to feed them. The Soup kitchen doors are open and the agencies in this community, we are working together like we have never done before and we are continuing to feed people to a tune of more than 152 000 times – and we are still going strong. This is a miracle! And through this time more people have given their lives to the Lord through the Army here and we have faithfully put them to work. We continue to experience the miracle of the Loaves and the Fishes right here in the Valley each and every day. Praise be to God.

 

Let us pray.

 

www.sheepspeak.com 

https://www.facebook.com/Salvogesis

 

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[i] Commissioner James Knaggs and Major Stephen Court, One for All (The Salvation Army USA Western: Frontier Press, 2011).

[ii] Pheme Perkins, Mark (NIB 8: Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon, 1995), 602