18 At that time 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.
6 “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."
Yesterday I was listening to a podcast from Bridgetown Community Church titled "Unless You Change and Become Like Little Children", and John Mark said something interesting about the passage in Matthew 18:1-9 (please note this is all very loosely paraphrased from the podcast). He said that we often think about this verse and assume it is speaking about the nature of a child, how we view the good side of kids: their cuddles and innocence and vulnerability; but the passage is actually speaking about the status of children. Because in reality (we love kids but...) children throw tantrums, they can act quite foolishly and we romanticize the idea of them.
The status of a child in that day was pretty low, probably right next to slaves/ servants.
If we look at verse 1 of Matthew 18, we see the question "Who is the greatest?", to which Jesus then replies with the imagery of a child and in verse 4 he says "Whoever takes humbles (or takes the lowly position) himself..."
Jesus is saying that unless we turn ourselves, our hearts, all the way around and completely abandon our pursuit of being "the greatest" and we take on the low position (verse 4) freely and give ourselves away rather than grasping for more, we will miss out on the Kingdom.
But wait, there's more...verse 5 speaks about welcoming (hospitality) one child like this.
So the child just became a metaphor for all who are on the lower status of the hierarchy, those who are vulnerable. This could be new Christians, a slave, a woman, a child or someone who has experienced trauma, but still follows of Christ. Jesus then holds us, as Christians, accountable for these people and says that if we cause them to stumble or lose their faith then we are responsible. How do people trust God after people who represent Him betray that trust? Just like children.
But through all of that how do we become like children, how does this apply to us?
Verse 8- cut of the limbs that cause you to sin. If we are to become like children then we need to do everything we can to cut out the sin in our lives, specifically the exploitation of the weak, especially in the church. Status has increasingly become more important through social media, all the likes and dislikes and without knowing it, many times without accepting it, we are caught up in that. But what Jesus wants is that turn, he wants the humility.
Treating others with honour rather than manipulating them to treat us with honour.
A really hard pill to swallow.
John mark mentions 2 child-like characteristics that we can be looking at which may help us be more like children:
Children receive everything as a gift from their father or mother. They live in total dependence of their parents and when children remember that it make their parents happy. We should receive life as a gift from our heavenly Father, his mercy and grace- the perfect gift.
Children worked hard to serve other people, in Jesus' day. It is good for children to have chores, to contribute to the household. Rather than just consume. After receiving we should give this love to others, the love the Father has so freely given us.
How are you like this metaphorical child?
Can I suggest that we ask God to reveal the areas in our life where we need to be more humble? Where we need that turn around.
My prayer is that you, me, we, allow God to do the work.
-Caryn
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