The Greatest in the Kingdom of God

Lk 9:46-62

Key verse 9:48

“Then he said to them, ‘Whoever welcomes this little child in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me.  For he who is least among you all- he is the greatest.’”

            In the previous passage, Jesus healed a boy with an evil spirit with the compassion of God.  At this time, Jesus was heading toward Jerusalem where crucifixion awaited him.  Jesus was bracing himself for this.  But what about his disciples?  They were caught up with a power struggle among themselves.  Their big question was, “Who will be the greatest?”  They thought Jesus was going to establish a messianic kingdom in Jerusalem.  They imagined they would finally reap the benefits of following Jesus.  But they were missing the mission and greatness of Jesus.

They had great ambition.  Who here does not want to be great?  If a person doesn’t want to be great, they cannot live up to the purpose God has for our lives.  The thing is, God’s view of greatness is different from that of the world.  Let’s learn how to be great in God’s viewpoint.

I. Who will be the Greatest (46-48)

            Read verse 46.  “An argument started among the disciples as to which of them would be the greatest.”  Who were the disciples?  They were the followers of Jesus.  Specifically, they were the twelve apostles who had been taught and trained by Jesus to be servants of the gospel.  Compared to the highly religious and educated Pharisees, or the sophisticated Sadducees, the disciples seemed unlikely to be chosen as Jesus disciples.  But Jesus decidedly chose such ordinary men to carry on the work of God.  In the past, they felt so ordinary.  They lived to survive in a hard world and try to be a little better than their neighbor.  But now they were following Jesus.  Jesus was healing the sick and driving out demons.  He even raised the dead.  He was doing the work of the Christ- the Messiah.  To the minds of the Jewish people, the Christ would be a political and military leader to free them from the oppression of Rome and restore Israel to it’s glory from the days of King David.  The disciples imagined they would have high positions in Jesus’ kingdom.  They were beginning to jockey for position.  Already there was a distinction being made.  Peter, James and John had gone up the mountain and witnessed Jesus’ transfiguration into heavenly glory.  In the meantime, the rest of the disciples were at the base of the mountain unable to drive an evil spirit out of the boy.  So there were superior and inferior complexes abounding.  Maybe Peter, James and John were bragging:  if we weren’t busy on the mountain with Jesus, Moses and Elijah, we could have driven out the evil spirit no problemo.  But Phillip and Thomas took exception.  Bartholomew was hoping he could keep a low profile, watching everyone fight it out, until he was the last one standing and rise to the top and gain long awaited respect for himself.  They each experienced God’s favor and power when Jesus equipped them earlier with power.  They had a hope to not be ordinary men any more, but extraordinary.  They really wanted to be the greatest.  They were full of unbridled ambition. 

            God made man to be great.  Gen 1:27 says God made man in his own image.  So as God is great, man must become great.  If a man does not achieve his potential to be great, he can only become miserable.  When God called Abraham, what did he say he would do for him?  “I will make you into a GREAT nation and I will bless you; I will make your name GREAT, and you will be a blessing.” (Gen 12:2)  It was God’s will to make Abraham great.  The disciples thought Caesar was great, because he ruled over people as the emperor of Rome- the world superpower.  They imagined ruling a kingdom and ordering people around with authority.  Worldly greatness comes at the cost of those who are crushed in the rise to power. But God’s standard of greatness is different from that of sinful men.  Jesus would tell them about that.

            In verse 47, Jesus took a little child and had him stand beside him.  Jesus knew the disciples thoughts had been filled with the lust for power in the world.  Jesus wanted to help them learn true greatness.  Jesus did not point to a successful man by the world’s standards.  Instead, he drew their attention to a little boy.  Read verse 48.

            “Then he said to them, ‘Whoever welcomes this little child welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me.  For he who is least among you all- he is the greatest.’”  Here Jesus speaks of welcoming a child being the equivalent of welcoming Jesus- and that in turn the equivalent of welcoming God the Father.  When guests come to our homes what do we say, “Welcome!”  It means to come in because we will accept you and serve you and enjoy your company.  Usually we like to welcome our loved ones or people of high standing.  But who was Jesus saying to welcome?  A little child.  In those times women were viewed as second class citizens and children as third class citizens.  They were not even included in the count of the crowd of 5,000 which Jesus fed with five loaves and two fish.  Children were considered a liability until they could grow up and serve and earn a living to support the household.  Until then, they required so much serving and care- changing diapers, feeding meals, doing homework, driving to soccer practice.  Once people were bringing their children to Jesus to be blessed by Jesus (Mk 10:13-16).  But the disciples tried to stop them.  “Jesus is a very important man.  He does not have time to waste with your little children.”  What they meant was, “We are very important disciples of Jesus.  Recognition from your children does nothing whatsoever to improve our status.  We only have time to be recognized by people with clout and influence.”  Recognition by children gave them no benefit.  Instead it made them feel insignificant, and they hated that feeling- they wanted to be great!  According to Jesus, our CBF teachers who welcome children every week are the greatest including director Sh. Belssi, and my children’s teachers Andy, Tommy and Omy.  Once I noticed Senior Msy Sarah Chang was serving in the CBF classroom.  She looks very quiet.  But I heard a rumor that she is one of the most ambitious cowokers in UBF history.  I think she wants to learn Jesus’ way of greatness learning from children.  So she has spiritual ambition to learn from Jesus by welcoming children.

            Here we see Jesus’ way of greatness is much different from our own way represented through the disciples.  We want to be great by exalting ourselves over others- “I am the greatest!”  But what did Jesus say?  He said, “He who is least among you all- he is the greatest.”  The Apostle Paul had wanted to be the greatest Pharisee, even persecuting Christians and crushing the weak to advance his personal agenda.  Then he met Jesus who saved Paul from his runaway ambition which was driving him to become violent man, and he was changed to be a servant of Jesus and Jesus’ people.  Later he testified, “For I am the LEAST of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.  But by the grace of God I am what I am…” (1 Cor 15:9-10).  What’s the key word here?  “Least…”  Paul considered himself the least of the apostles.  He did not crave human recognition, but considered himself the least and served so many people sacrificially.  He lost his self-ambition and gained spiritual ambition to advance the kingdom of God.  But now we consider him great in the kingdom of God.  The same is true for our Lord Jesus.  How often did Jesus turn people away?  Never.  People turned away from Jesus.  Jesus was welcoming from the time he was born as a helpless baby in a manger.  Anyone could approach him among farm animals.  In Mt 11:28-29 Jesus said, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”  Jesus welcomes us.  He went on to say, “Take my yoke upon you and LEARN from me, for I am GENTLE and HUMBLE in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”  Jesus says he is gentle and humble.  To serve others who can’t help us is not easy.  It requires humbleness.  It requires us becoming the least and dying to our self-ambition.  We become least as Bible teachers for college students.  We serve a lot, and don’t get much in return.  It’s like welcoming children.  Yesterday after the beautiful wedding, there was an ice cream truck in the parking lot.  Of course my children went running over to it with glee.  Sh. Faith bought some ice cream for someone else’s child because they kept saying, “I want ice cream!”  When the child walked away and someone asked him who bought it for him, do you know what he said?  “I don’t know.”  He did not recognize Sh. Faith.  So it is not easy to welcome children because they don’t return favors.  But when we welcome them, we have a similar attitude like Jesus.  Jesus humbled himself to come down from heaven becoming like us.  Even more he gave up his life for our sake.  But how often we forget what Jesus did for us.  Or we don’t realize the extent of his love for us.  If we are self-sufficient, and think we are something great, we cannot learn God.  If we like to hang out with big-shots at school, work or even in the ministry, there is a problem with our attitude.  Bible teachers can want spongey sheep.  Then they can grow and we can take the credit.  But we don’t’ want trouble maker sheep.  But Jesus welcomed trouble maker sheep, like the crowd of 5,000 who wouldn’t leave him alone.  He had compassion on them.  The point is that the greatest in God’s sight is the one who has the compassion of God to help the helpless.  The Bible calls David, “a man after God’s own heart.” (Acts 13:22).  It is because he had the love of God in his heart. So Jesus said if we welcome needy children, we have the heart attititude to learn Jesus and even welcome Jesus inside us and welcome God the Father and can have deep personal relationship with God in this way.  May God teach us a heart attitude to be great like Jesus.

            Read verses 49-50.  “Master,’ said John, ‘we saw a man driving out demons in your name and we tried to stop him, because he was not one of us.’  ‘Do not stop him,’ Jesus said, ‘for whoever is not against you is for you.’”  Do you think John was listening to what Jesus was saying, “Welcome a child… the least is the greatest…”  John not only thought he was greater than his fellow disciples, but he thought he was greater than an outsider who was doing the work of God.  Think about it.  A man was driving demons out of people in the name of Jesus.  He was doing a great work of God.  He was fighting against the forces of evil and bringing glory to Jesus and advancing the kingdom of God.  It was cause for rejoicing.  But what was John’s response?  He was upset.  “What’s going on here?  Who do you think you are?  You are not one of us!  You must stop!”  John was still too proud.  He was threatened by so much competition.  As if he didn’t have enough trouble vying with Peter for the top spot, now some no-name disciple was threatening him.  He seems more like a disciple of the Pharisees who always wanted to know by what authority Jesus was doing the work of God.  It means we should humble ourselves and respect other Christians.  In UBF we have a clear mission to teach the Bible to college students so we can grow as disciples of Jesus and raise self-supporting missionaries to all nations.  We have a specific prayer topic to make America a kingdom of priests and holy nation.  We should not lose our identity to the mission for which God has called us.  At the same time we should not disregard brothers and sisters in other Christian ministries.  It is easy to focus on controversies and differences, but instead we should encourage each other to fight the battle against demons and advance the kingdom of God.  In this way we can be mature and grow to be great in the kingdom of God.

II.  The Great Cost to Follow Jesus (51-62)

            Read verse 51.  “As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem.”  Jesus had a clear attitude about his mission as the Christ.  As he had been telling his disciples, he would suffer and be rejected by the religious leaders, killed and raised on the third day.  Jesus was beginning his descent to Jerusalem for the fulfillment of his mission with clear resolution.  Coming from the north in Galilee, it was necessary for him to pass through Samaria, which was hostile towards Jews.  Jesus sent messengers ahead to find places to stay, but the people refused to accept Jesus.  James and John (again John is mentioned) were highly offended at the rude reception they received.  They must have thought, “We are servants of Jesus.  How dare you reject us.”  They even asked Jesus for permission to destroy them with fire from heaven.  They sound like Al-Qaida members, not disciples of Jesus.  Maybe we secretly feel like them when we are rejected while fishing- God, strike them down.  Then they’ll be sorry they rejected me, I mean rejected you.  Jesus rebuked them.  They still needed more time to get the message.

            In verses 57-62 we have the accounts of three people who had an opportunity to be one of Jesus’ disciples.  But they had to know the cost of following Jesus in order to be truly great in the kingdom of God.

            Read verses 57-58.  “As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, ‘I will follow you wherever you go.’  Jesus replied, ‘Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.’”  This man wanted to follow Jesus and become a great man of God.  Throughout the time of his public ministry, Jesus traveled here and there according to the direction of the Holy Spirit.  He was like John Lee.  One week he’s in London, the next week in Seoul, then in Washington, and I heard he will be going to Miami soon.  John Lee has a place to lay his head, but Jesus did not always have that luxury.  Jesus wanted his followers to commit their future security problem to God by believing in his promise.  Mt 6:33 says, “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”

            Look at verses 59-60.  “He said to another man, ‘Follow me.’  But the man replied, ‘Lord, first let me go and bury my father.’  Jesus said to him, ‘Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.’”  This means the task of proclaiming the kingdom of God is the most important mission mankind has from God.  In order to follow Jesus, we must give first priority to Jesus.

            Read verses 61-62.  “Still another said, ‘I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say good-by to my family.’  Jesus replied, ‘No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.’”  This man said, “I will follow you Jesus, but…”  There are many people who say I will follow Jesus but…  This man wanted to have a farewell ceremony with his family.  Then he wanted to watch his favorite TV show one more time, and go shopping at his favorite store, and so on.  It refers to a life with a divided heart.  When Jesus is speaking about looking back while plowing it meant looking back with fondness on our old life.  When a farmer plowed behind an ox, he needed to keep a nice straight path to plant the seed in a orderly rows.  If he looked behind, the plow would go all over.  Sometimes we are serving God by routine, but our heart is somewhere else: with our school, job, children, secret ambition or agenda.  Then the problem hits.  We cry out to God:  Save me!  Then we are ok for a while, until we slip back again.  We need to learn from Jesus who was resolute in his mission without looking back.  We need to fix our eyes on Jesus and make a decision of faith to serve students with an attitude of commitment and resolve like Jesus. Then we can be great servants of God for his kingdom.

When I see these few men, and the disciples like John or James, I am reminded of myself.  I followed Jesus because I experienced his grace and forgiveness and new life.  I imagined Jesus would pour out so many blessings and give me an easy life as one of his disciples.  I just wanted to enjoy glory and greatness without the cost.  I wanted to be recognized for my career and as a servant of God.  I used to think, “One day I want to be like M. Jacob or M. Elijah.”  But I did not realize how much they served others and welcomed others like children, without expecting anything in return- including welcoming me!  God wants us to learn his heart.  God’s great servants are those who have God’s compassionate heart of humbleness and service- not like young John and James, but who are least like Paul or like Jesus.  May we learn Jesus and have the attitude to welcome children and be considered great in the kingdom of God.

Read key verse 48