The Kingdom in which Insignificance Is a Big Deal

Read Matthew 18:1-14

      The disciples were trying to get Jesus to settle their longstanding argument – which of them would be the greatest in God’s Kingdom?  It must have been a let-down when Jesus said that they had to become “like children” to even get in at all. 

       We foist modern western values onto the text if we imagine that Jesus is talking about the necessity of supposed childlike virtues like trust or innocence.  The distinctive characteristic of children in the disciples’ culture was their insignificance.  When they looked at a child, they saw someone who had done nothing, had earned nothing, and had nothing to offer. 

      In 1969, upon winning the Academy Award for “Best Actress,” Barbara Streisand thanked “all the little people.” Seven years later, composer Paul Williams won the Oscar for “Evergreen,” which had become a number one hit for Streisand.  “I was going to thank all the little people,” he said in his speech, “but then I remembered that I am the little people.”  Williams stands 5’2”. 

      In God’s Kingdom, everyone knows that they are “the little people” – everyone recognizes his own poverty of spirit (5:3), everyone counts others more significant than himself (Philippians 2:3), and everyone is a servant to his fellow Christians (John 13:14).  In God’s Kingdom, we don’t outdo one another in seizing honor for ourselves, but in bestowing it on others (Romans 12:10).