At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” And calling to Him a child, He put him in the midst of them and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 18:1-4
I. Who is the greatest in the world of professional sports?
Does anyone here play or follow tennis? What tennis match held in NYC just finished up? (US Open) Can you name the greatest female tennis player in the world today? (Many would say Serena Williams) Can you name the greatest male tennis player? (Some might answer Roger Federer based on the US Open results, but others might say Rafael Nadal because of his #1 ranking in the world or his Olympic gold medal.)
Who likes football? I watched the game Sunday night and, while I’m a Bears fan, and I’m very happy they won…who would most people say is the greatest football team in the NFL right now? (NY Giants is what the announcers were saying.) Why the Giants? (Because they are the reigning Super Bowl Champs.)
(II. The greatest in your school? You may wish to ask something like, ‘Who is the best trombone player?’ – in our case, our Band Director and 4th grade teacher. Or, ‘Who is the best singer or organist?’ – in our case, again a teacher, our 3rd grade teacher and Music Director.)
III. Who is the greatest in the whole world?
Did anyone watch the Olympics a few weeks ago? Lots of different sports and athletes from around the world! Now let’s see who is the greatest!!
Who might some people say is the greatest athlete in Olympic history? (Michael Phelps USA) Why? (The record number of Olympic gold medals he won. At this point I showed some gold medals won by one of our students, Jennifer, who is a very accomplished gymnast.)
What about Olympic gymnastics? Which country took gold and is perhaps the greatest in Women’s Gymnastics? (China followed by the USA and Romania) Men’s Gymnastics? (Japan followed by China and the USA)
Which country had the ‘greatest’ Men’s Basketball team? (USA, then Spain and Argentina) How about the 'greatest' Women’s Basketball? (USA again, this time followed by Austria and Russia)
Let’s see…the greatest in Baseball? (Korea then Cuba and the USA)
Does anyone know which country won the most gold medals? (China – 51 and then the USA – 36) What country won the most total medals? (USA – 110 followed by China – 100)
O.K., so the greatest male swimmer in the world is probably Michael Phelps of the USA. And the greatest Baseball powerhouse may be Korea. The greatest female gymnasts, probably China. The greatest in Basketball (Men’s and Women’s) – USA. Greatest countries based on medal counts? (China and the USA)
IV. One more greatest
Oh…oh…wait a minute, there is one more GREATEST I forgot to ask you about!! Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven? Can you tell me? (Children!!!) [Read Matthew 18:1-4 again.]
One day, the disciples asked Jesus who the greatest was, and Jesus called a child over and placed the child in the middle of the group. He told the disciples that this little child was the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
V. Now we have to ask ourselves, “What makes children so great?” Is it because you're so cute?
A man who lives only a few miles from here used to go around telling everyone, “I AM THE GREATEST!” He was a professional boxer and an Olympic gold medal winner long before you were born. Does anyone know who I’m talking about? (Mohammad Ali) Many years ago, my wife had a child in her class whose mother was a housekeeper for Mohammad Ali and his family. When it came time for my wife to visit this lady and her children, this mom often was busy working (she may have actually lived on the Ali estate in Berrien Springs, MI), and she would ask my wife to make her home visit at Mohammad Ali’s estate. My wife got to meet that man who called himself “The Greatest,” and he even came and visited the kids in her Lutheran school. He was, perhaps, the greatest boxer of all time. In fact, at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Mohammad Ali lit the Olympic flame that evening which opened those Olympic games.
Take a look again at these medals. Jennifer won these because, on a given day at a gymnastics meet, she was the best. You might say, ‘she was the greatest,’ in her class or division. And what made her great was how well she performed her routines. How well SHE did! Not how well her Mom or Dad did, or what a great school or church she attended, or anything to do with anyone else. It was all about her, how she did and how hard she worked, much like the athletes and teams I mentioned before. You usually don't win a gold medal because of what somebody else did for you. However...
What does make little children great in God’s eyes, according to what Jesus says in today’s Bible verse?
It is their humble faith in Jesus. It isn't something great that the children did like the athletes I mentioned before. Jesus is talking about the children's faith as we can see in another place in the Bible when Jesus let little children come to Himself. The disciples who asked the question, “Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven?” were probably hoping Jesus might name one of them. Maybe they were expecting Him to say something like, “Andrew, you are the greatest because you do so many good things to help others.” Or maybe something like, “Peter, you are the greatest because you are such a fantastic preacher!” They probably would not have been surprised if Jesus had said, “Well, the angels are the greatest because they can fly, but next is my disciple John because…”
Who knows exactly what the disciples were thinking, but I can tell you this, they didn’t expect Jesus to say, “Children are the greatest.” Jesus was teaching His disciples (and us) that it isn't anything they did (or we do) or ever could do that determines who is the greatest. Rather, it was the humble faith of these little children...in Jesus. To the disciples, it is likely that they were surprised by Jesus' answer, like the way we'd be shocked if the slowest swimmer or runner at the Olympics would have been awarded the gold medal or if a gold medal had been given to the weakest athlete instead of the strongest. It probably didn’t make any sense to the disciples, and maybe it doesn’t make sense to us either sometimes.
But the humble faith that little children have in Jesus is what makes them great in God’s eyes. Jesus was teaching His disciples that the children depended on Him and not on themselves. God promises that we will enter the kingdom of heaven not because of anything we have done to earn it but because of what Jesus has done for us on the cross. Amen.