Little Ones

Little Ones

Matthew 18:1-20[1]

Anyone who knows me knows that I have a soft spot in my heart for children. And as my (now grown) children will attest, my grandchildren have me wrapped around their little fingers. There’s not much I wouldn’t do for them. And that’s generally true of my attitude toward children. I learned when my own children were young that it’s important to say “Yes” to them as often as possible, so that when you say “No” they understand two things. First, that you mean it. And second, that it’s not a rejection of them. That basic approach has carried over to the way I tend to respond to children in general.

I’d say that most of us tend to have a soft spot for children. What’s interesting to me is that this is a relatively recent development in the history of the world. Children were viewed as mouths to feed, as a burden unless they were able to contribute to the work of the household. That view goes back to time immemorial, and there may be some of you who remember that was still true when you were a child. For most of history, children have been among the least and the last and the left out, not the center of attention and affection that we have made them.

I think it’s crucial to understand that if we’re to make sense of our Gospel reading for today. Children were among the least valued people in the world of Jesus. They were also among some of the most vulnerable people in that day, because they had no rights. So when Jesus’ disciples come to him and ask him about who is the “greatest” in the Kingdom of God, his answer is that they are thinking about it all wrong. Instead of trying to be “greatest”, he says that becoming a part of
God’s kingdom means seeking to become “least,” like children were in that day.

I find it instructive that in Matthew’s gospel, Jesus proceeds to speak to his disciples about how they treat the “little ones who believe in me.” Now, given the introduction to this chapter, we might be forgiven if we assume he’s still talking about children. I don’t think that’s the case here. I think he’s talking about all those who were the “least” in his day: the outcasts, the “unclean,” the poor, the foreign residents—in short, all those who were last and left out in Jewish society.

Jesus speaks rather pointedly about how those who follow him are to relate to the “little ones.” He warns them against causing the “little ones” to stumble. I think the idea here is that the worst thing a follower of the kingdom can do is to treat the least and the last and the left out in such a way as to make them feel that God does not think of them as his beloved children. In fact, Jesus uses some uncharacteristically harsh language to warn his disciples that they should do everything possible to avoid causing harm to these “little ones.”

We see the positive side of this in the analogy of the shepherd who leaves the 99 sheep to go out and find the one who is lost. Rather than shunning the least and the last and the left out, Jesus teaches his disciples to make it their mission in life to seek them out and to bring them back to the place where they can experience God’s love. In fact, Jesus says that this is God’s will: that “none of these little ones should perish.”

Unfortunately, I’m afraid that central idea gets lost in the shuffle of questions about whether Jesus is threatening that his disciples might wind up in hell. Or questions about how we’re supposed to go to fellow believers and be reconciled with them. Or what it means that Jesus says if they will not be reconciled, we’re to treat them like “gentiles and tax collectors.” I think most of that is an exercise in missing the point. The point of this passage is that the quality of our discipleship is measured by the way we treat the “little ones” in our world.

I think that the truth of the matter is that there are all kinds of people in our world who are the “little ones” Jesus spoke of. If you take a good look, you’ll find that there is a lot of pain and suffering. Some people are treated as “least” because of their appearance. Some people are treated as “last” because their life experience doesn’t fit our ideas of what’s “normal.” Some people are “left out” because their position in society prevents them from accessing the luxuries that we consider to be necessities. I could get more specific, but then you might think I’ve stopped preaching and “gone to meddling.”

In fact, I think I would have to say that a Scripture passage like this is positively intended to “meddle” with us. It’s so easy for us to stay comfortable in our own “circles” and not really pay much attention to those who are “outside” or “other.” I think Jesus makes it clear in this passage that if we want to follow him, we simply cannot do that. We must open our eyes and our hearts to those around us who are the least and the last and the left out. If it’s God’s will that not one of them should “perish,” then it seems to me that constitutes a clear call to all of us to embrace all the “little ones” in our world.

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[1] © 2020 Alan Brehm. A sermon delivered by Rev. Alan Brehm, Ph. D. on 9/6/2020 for Hickman Presbyterian Church, Hickman, NE.