True Greatness—Luke 9:46-50

(Image courtesy of http://schools.archomaha.org/)

Please read today’s passage here: Luke 9:46-50

People are fascinated by discussions about who is the best or the greatest in every area of life. My wife and I like to watch sports on TV. It doesn’t make much difference what the sport is: baseball, football, basketball, tennis, golf. We like watching both college and professional athletics. In individual sports like golf or tennis there are world rankings. In team sports there is always discussion about who is the best individual athlete on any team. Is Tom Brady a greater quarterback than Eli Manning? There are even arguments on talk shows about who was the greatest quarterback of all time, or the greatest basketball player of all time. We seem to always have to rank people.

Some people even like to rank Christian writers or speakers—"So-and-so is the greatest preacher I've ever heard"—a practice that seems to me to go against the very principles of Christian discipleship. In the passage we study today a question arose about ranking in God’s kingdom. Comparing the way the incident is told in the gospels of Matthew and Mark with the version in Luke, another aspect becomes striking. In Matthew the question seems more abstract and detached: “Who is greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven?” This might even apply to the Old Testament figures, although probably Matthew understands the motivation for the question. But Luke (and probably also Mark) makes that motivation much clearer. Luke says they were discussing (or arguing) about which of themselves was the greatest. This seems almost incredible. How could Jesus own personal disciples have been driven by such crass selfish ambition and to even argue about it as they traveled? The very fact that they argued showed how wrong their attitude was.

Now it must be admitted that we do not know that each disciple argued that he was the greatest. Maybe there was simply a discussion in which two or more opinions were voiced: one group favoring Peter and another James. Luke’s words “which of them” shows, at any rate, that they were not including John the Baptizer. Perhaps they had remembered Jesus’ words that “he who is least in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than he [i.e., John]”. But they didn’t really get Jesus’ point. For they merely equated those who are "in the Kingdom of Heaven" with the Twelve. No one else counted.

Another way in which we might try to “sanitize” the disciples’ argument is to say that they were merely interested in which of them should be responsible for which duties, the “greatest” merely meaning the one who would undertake the most difficult duties. We play this game ourselves at times in order to justify our hidden craving for importance. “I have more free time than you. Let me relieve you of the extra work. I’ll be the president.” But Jesus sees through all pretense. He saw the raw ambition and pride that underlay this apparently “innocent” discussion.

So he took brought a child into their midst. Not any particular child—just a child. Then he said something unusual: “Whoever receives this child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me. For who is least among you all is the one who is great.” Matthew records that Jesus also said—perhaps at this point in time; perhaps at another time, but pertinent to this incident—“Unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven” (Matthew 18:2-4).

Matthew’s version makes a lot of sense. Certainly the disciples’ quarreling over rank and greatness was a denial of the essential condition for entering God’s Kingdom: namely, confession of one’s own unworthiness. Countless teachings of Jesus reinforce this idea. The story he told of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector at prayer is a vivid example. The Pharisee boasted to God of his works, while the Tax Collector wept and cried out for mercy to God because of his sinfulness. Jesus said the second man entered the Kingdom, and first man did not.

But Mark and Luke do not include that saying. Do they too assume it? Or is there more to how they saw Jesus’ strange words? Taken at face value, Jesus’ words have to do with “receiving” another person. Yet on the three levels of Jesus saying—God, Jesus, child—is there any truly common element? When one wishes to “receive” God or Jesus, one is accepting their claims on one’s life. One is expressing a willingness to serve and follow them. Is Jesus saying that each believer should be willing to accept the claims of the humblest and least important member of their community upon their service? Is he suggesting that at times they might even need to listen to the leadership advice of a simpler follower of Christ? I do not wish to dogmatically assert these possibilities. It seems to me at least likely—in view of Jesus’ words on another occasion to the effect that “if you do a kindness to the least of these my ‘brothers’, you have done it to me” (Matthew 25)—that he means that there is no possible ranking of people within the community of believers that justifies failing to meet the needs of any fellow believer, because he or she is less well-liked or admired. Everyone in the flock of Jesus has a claim on the others for love and support.