May 01, 2019

BIBLE READING: MATTHEW 18

1 At the same time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?
2 And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them,
3 And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.
4 Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

“Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”
I guess the disciples had allowed themselves to relax and speculate out loud about positions in the kingdom of God. And then they asked this famous question. I want to stop right here just for a moment.

Am I the only one that sees an obvious problem with their statement? It was not that they were jockeying with each other and comparing each other to try to figure out which of themselves were the greatest. It is not the fact that they had overlooked others, even children, when assuming the greatest would be one of themselves. My problem is that they even had to ask that question. How in the world could they not have seen and known that “Jesus” would be the greatest in The kingdom. Am I the only one seeing the obvious? How ignorant to not immediately proclaim that Jesus would be the greatest in the Kingdom. How could they not see that? So concentrated and full of themselves, they had overlooked the greatness of their Savior.

That is why each of us must “humble himself as this little child”.

May I say that the greatest in the kingdom of heaven will not be me, it will not be you, it will not be any other person other than our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Let’s not be so convinced of our own greatness today that we overlook the true greatness of our Savior.