1At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, "Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?"
2Then Jesus called a little child to Him, set him in the midst of them, 3and said, "Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. 4Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5Whoever receives one little child like this in My name receives Me.
I do not understand the disciples desire to know who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. It seems as though they were asking when they go to heaven, who will have the seat of highest honor? Should we simply strive to enter heaven, or should we be striving to have a better place in heaven?
But Jesus answered saying you need to be converted and become as a little child. Aren't there times that you wish you could be as a little child again? Wouldn't it be great to have no worries, no responsibilities, complete trust in those who take care of you, no knowledge that makes you want to desire what you do not have? Becoming an adult has taken all that away from us. It is as an adult that we learn competitiveness, to desire greater things, and to be rewarded with greater things. But if we recognize that those things that have tied us down as adults are not the things that God wants us to be concerned about, we can become as little children. God says to not worry, give Him our burdens, trust in Him, and desire nothing other than to be a good child of God.
Does this mean we are to give up all our adult cares and responsibilities? No, Jesus was just explaining that we still need to pay the taxes due us. We still need to care for our families and be responsible citizens. But we cannot let our adult responsibilities override our childlike dependence on God. When things get difficult, always turn to God as a child. Let Him carry you through the tough times.
There are two parts to what Jesus explained here. He said we must humble ourselves as a little child, and that we must receive a little child like this in His name to receive Him. What does Jesus mean by receiving a little child in His name to receive Him?
Back in Matthew 10:40-42, Jesus said:
| 40"He who receives you receives Me, and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me. 41 He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward. And he who receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man's reward. 42And whoever gives one of these little ones only a cup of cold water in the name of a disciple, assuredly, I say to you, he shall by no means lose his reward." |
I had a long walk through that text and what it meant to me, but the conclusion I came to for that text was that we are to receive others, to serve others, not in the name of those who told us to serve others, but in the name of God. If we do it in the name of those who taught us, the reward can be no greater than what they are able to give us. But if we do it in the name of God, our reward can be great. For in serving others in the name of God, we are serving God.
I think the last line in today's text is a reminder that even though we are to leave our responsibilities and worries in God's hand, we still have work to do. Jesus said we are to still receive a child such as this in His name. He may have meant that we are to raise our children, and those we can influence, in His name. And He may even have meant that we are to receive in His name anyone, either adult or child, who humbles himself as a child to God. By receiving them in His name, I believe He means to serve them in His name. In so doing we will be serving God, and we will receive our reward from God.
So who is greatest in heaven? Jesus said that whoever humbles himself as this little child will be greatest. But He also said you must humble yourself as a little child in order to even enter heaven. So I believe all who enter heaven will be the same, will have humbled themselves as a little child. All are greatest, none are greater than the other. Greatness is simply getting into heaven. And we get the reward of heaven by a humble dependence on God, and by serving others in His name.