Stories: Little Ones

At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who, then, is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” -- Matthew 18:1 NIV

What a question to ask! Jesus and the disciples had been busy. He had much to teach and they had much to learn. Can you imagine getting to follow Jesus around just soaking in everything He said and did? But at some point, they got curious. Who would be considered greatest in Heaven? Maybe some of them even thought it might be them! Jesus' answer had to surprise them...or even shock them.

He paused...called one of the neighborhood kids over and sat the child down in the middle of his group. Maybe he even bent down and put an arm around this child, and said (in verse 3):

“Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

He then tells them that to do something that might cause a child to do evil is bad enough that they would be better off hanging a stone around their necks and jumping into the sea than to deal with eternal damnation. To illustrate the point, he tells the group the story of a wandering sheep (verses 10-14).

“See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven. What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should perish."

The thing is, a child is truly precious. They speak honestly and they love unconditionally. But Jesus wasn't really just talking about our children. He was talking about us! When we believe in Jesus, we realize our design as God's children. What Jesus is really saying is that we need to not lead each other to evil, regardless of age. We're ALL equally important to God. He would gladly leave any number of us to go chasing after the one who wandered off.