Sept. 6, 2026 - Matthew 18:1-20 - Proper 18

How people view children varies quite a bit based on culture and history. In modern America, the popular opinion is that children are mostly there to keep you from having an adventurous and fulfilling life. They come with a lot of responsibilities that you probably don’t want and are a big drain on the time and money you could be spending on things you’d probably rather be doing. It’s become a new phenomenon, as people pride themselves on their status as DINKs (dual income, no kids). They show pictures of the kind of trend-setting life that those saddled with the tedious responsibilities of parenthood can only wistfully dream of. Oh, to have no children and to have your days be free and easy.

The abortion industry fuels this idea. Abortion providers want nothing more than to paint kids as far more trouble than they’re worth. The life of a parent is mundane and unimportant. Go, and be free from your responsibilities! The fact that it was most likely your irresponsible behavior that got you in this position in the first place is not even worth mentioning. You choose the life you want to lead and abortion can be one of the tools to get you there. The fact that Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers have a vested interest in convincing you to get rid of your children is also not worth mentioning. They’re just explaining the reality of the situation, which should be obvious to everyone. Though, for all of the altruistic advertising, they want nothing more than for you to keep making irresponsible decisions. That’s how they get paid.

Thankfully, that part of our culture isn’t the only one that speaks. More traditional church bodies continue to champion the cause of children. The Catholic church has always been known for pushing its members to have large families. Many Catholic parents joyfully have many children and support various pro-life causes. But, the official motivation of the Catholic church isn’t so much Gospel as it is Law. God’s command to Adam, Eve, and all of their descendents was “to be fruitful and multiply.” Thus, if you aren’t actively trying to have kids, you’re shirking your duty.

The culture of ancient Rome was more of the former than the latter. Kids were to be seen and not heard. The average working man in the Roman Empire treated kids much like Mr. Banks in Mary Poppins. He would get home after a long day of work, kiss his children goodnight and expect them to go directly to bed. That assumes the children didn’t go into whatever the family trade was. In which case, the kids would start working from a young age, learning the business and being useful however the could, farming, tanning, clothmaking, whatever it was. Most families couldn’t afford to treat kids purely as mouths to feed. They had to start earning their keep as soon as possible. But, those children would always be a long term investment. Until they were older and more skilled, they would still be a big drain on the family’s time and money.

The scene in the Gospel readings today is a familiar one. Jesus shares this message several different ways, using a few different themes. In this case, Jesus shares this message in response to a problem the disciples also have a few times throughout the Gospels. “Who is the greatest?”

It’s a familiar question, not because the disciples ask it several times, but because we ask it ourselves. Who is the greatest? Men or women? That question in particular is one that comes up in our modern culture repeatedly. But, you can also ask that question in a more narrow sense. Who is the greatest? The man who makes six figures at a high powered job, travels the world and denies himself no luxury or comfort and maintains no permanent attachments? Or the man who gets up early and works long days in some boring, no account job just so he can put food on the table for himself, his wife, and his children? Who is the greatest? A women who lives her own high-powered life, proving she’s the equal of any man in the corporate world, who holds authority over hundreds of employees in a multimillion dollar business, who needs no help from any man and certainly doesn’t need children weighing her down? Or the woman who tends to the needs and affairs of a poor, working man’s home, doing tedious chores and caring for needy children, who has to learn to be content with simple things and occasional comforts because there isn’t the time or money to have much more than what’s needed?

Those are obviously two extreme examples, but they highlight all sorts of ways we might gauge whether side is greater than another. Presented with two of the options, any random person might pick one or the other, entirely based on what they consider greater.

The disciples aren’t really interested in the men vs. women debate. They aren’t asking about whether it’s better to be rich or poor, or whether it’s better to be parents or to intentionally remain childless. The disciples’ question is a spiritual question. It’s also a question that makes you wonder whether they’re really thinking about the things they see and hear at all. Each of the synoptic Gospels records this little debate amongst the disciples. But, in order to put it into perspective, you need to back up a little bit. At the beginning of chapter 17, Jesus led Peter, James, and John up the mountaintop, where he pulled back the veil that shrouded his glory just a little bit. Even that little sampling of Jesus’ divine majesty was enough to dumbfound Peter. Jesus is a man, and yet clearly he is also something much, much more. He has a glory no human being has or could ever hope to attain. It should have given the disciples a reason to trust everything Jesus said at face value. But, when he reminds them again that he will suffer, die, and rise again shortly afterward, we know that they heard the words but didn’t believe them.

Who is the greatest spiritually? We can look around at other people we know, rotten, good for nothing people. They are cruel and vindictive. They like to tear everyone down and make it their life’s mission to make the world a more miserable place. They’re clearly not the greatest. There are those who, as Luther would say, worship their bellies. They are utterly self-serving hedonists. If you provide some kind of fun or entertainment to their lives, they’re happy to have you around. If you don’t, they want nothing to do with you. The world’s only purpose is to give them pleasure. They’re clearly not the greatest either. There are the authoritarians, those who want to have power and use it freely. Whether they are born into authority or whether they fight for it tooth and nail, that’s what they want and that’s where they believe they should be. You don’t have the power they do and they’ll make sure you know it. They’re not the greatest, despite what they think. There are those who are just bent funny. The sociopaths and those who take open joy in destruction and pain. They delight in fear and chaos, in tearing down anything that they can cause to crumble. They aren’t going to end up as the greatest either.

You probably don’t fall into any of those categories, at least not to the extent that others do. But there are always comparisons to be made. The disciples could easily make them among themselves. Peter, James, and John probably thought of themselves as greater. If Jesus was only going to bring a couple of people with him, inevitably, they were the three chosen. We don’t know a whole lot about the rest of them just from the history recorded in the Bible, but you can still see some other comparisons. Simon was described as a zealot, a band of very devout Jews who tried to bring change to Judea, sometimes violently. Someone who was obviously zealous for the faith could see himself as greater. Matthew, a tax collector, likely had the biggest swing in terms of profession. Where many of the others were fishermen, which was an honest, if humble profession, tax collectors were reviled everywhere for their theft and extortion. Was Matthew guilty of any of this? We don’t know, but he was surely tempted to, given the power of his position. Now he has left that behind. Going from tax collector to disciple would be a great sacrifice and must put him in the running as well.

Our comparisons to each other run similarly, “I’ve been at this church longer. I give more. I talk to my friends all the time about Jesus. I have to put up with more grief in my life.” Who is the greatest? In this case, Jesus answers the question with a different statement entirely. He doesn’t just say, “People like children are greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” He says, “Unless you turn and become like children you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” If you’re arguing over who is the greatest, you’re already on the wrong path, one that leads to destruction. There is no good answer to be found that direction. If you even think that question is important, you have already disqualified yourself from the running.

“Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” That’s what the disciples ask. They are looking at each other and trying to compare their various spiritual gifts. Jesus answers, not by pointing to any of them, but by pointing to another, one who is overlooked, discounted, and generally thought to be unimportant. What to the world is a nuisance, an inconvenience, as something to be shooed away, is to God a precious treasure.

Anyone who seeks to be great is running the wrong direction. Anyone who seeks to be great is aiming to be at the very top, to take the place of God himself. Anyone who seeks to be great will want to be affirmed by everyone around him, and be rid of anyone who disagrees. Anyone who seeks to be great is ultimately seeking to be alone.

“Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.” (Is. 53)

God shows us a different path. To be great, but to throw off all of the trappings of greatness. To be great, but instead of seeking praise, offering service. To be great, but instead of demanding honor, giving life through suffering and death.

The disciples ask the question, not really realizing that the one who is greatest in the kingdom of heaven is standing right there with them. They don’t realize it, because Jesus has not come in glory and power. He has come in humility and service. Our desire for greatness brings pain, isolation, and death. Jesus’ service brings joy, unity, and life.

Jesus chastises the disciples here, and rightly so. He has more to say about temptation and the death it ultimately brings. The warning is for us as well. Your own pride and desire to be acknowledged by all as the greatest, acknowledged even by God, means that you will eventually be acknowledged as great by the only one who will ever live up to your standards: you.

Jesus flips everything around. Greatness is found in service, in giving one’s life, giving one’s pride, giving everything to build up, not build yourself up, but build others up. It is because of Christ’s service, his sacrifice, that you are saved from the fate that you have set for yourself. He doesn’t just show you a better way, he creates it. Here at his table, he invites you. He is the king, worthy of all glory and honor, yet here he serves you. He doesn’t serve you because you are great, but because you are weak and lowly, because without his service, you will perish. He serves you here and you are given life, his life, his eternal life. More than that, you have a family to share it with. Through Jesus and through his service, you will never be alone, not now and not ever.

Come to his table, where the King of Kings serves his people out of love and mercy. Receive his mercy and let him extinguish your pride, the pride that would destroy you. Receive his life, the life you can only have through him. Receive the family that he has given you, the family that stands beside you and always will. Take what he has given you, take everything you have seen and heard and share it with the world around you in humble service. Let the world see that the greatness that truly means something is found in loving service, given to us by the one who is the greatest in all creation.