Life Project Blog

“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.

Matthew 18:10-14

When we left off last time, Jesus was using a little child as an illustration of the greatest citizen of the Kingdom of heaven; in this passage, the “little one” transitions into the metaphor of sheep which represents someone in the Kingdom. Verse 10 is the transitional verse; we must not disdain or “despise” one of these “little ones”.

What this means is that we must never have an attitude that would devalue anyone, for they are precious, sacred really, in God’s sight. The reason given is that they have an angel in heaven with direct access to the Father. Unfortunately, this concept isn’t developed here into a “doctrine” and we are left to figure out exactly what Jesus was referring to, and the result is that there are many ideas on this subject. The old Jewish tradition has a complex doctrine on angels; angels are directly associated with the nation of Israel. In the New Testament, angels are associated with individual churches in Revelation 2-3, and are referred to as “ministering spirits” by the author of Hebrews. This particular verse (18:10) is the one cited by those who believe in the concept of “guardian angels”. However you might view this, one thing is certainly clear; if we devalue our brother or sister, our action will come to the attention of the Father in heaven.

Jesus goes on in the remaining verses to underscore this using the metaphor of a shepherd and a wandering sheep. In the parable, a sheep wanders off from the flock, and the shepherd leaves the flock to find the lost sheep. When he finds the sheep he is filled with joy for the lost sheep, having more joy over finding the lost sheep than he does for the remainder that didn’t wander off.  The message is clear enough; God does not want a single one of His children to perish, and He is concerned with even the least of His children. If we are the cause of another to fall away or wander from the “flock” God will not be amused.

On a practical level, there is quite a lot for us to think about here, in fact, there is some sober reflection that we should engage in on this subject. Do we treat our brother or sister as sacred? Are we attentive when they are hurting? Do we demand that others agree with us on every issue? Do we pass judgment on the circumstances of others as a means to avoid reaching out to them?

I suppose that we can add quite a few questions to this list of things we should ask ourselves, but the bottom line is: Do we treat others as God’s sacred “little ones”?

“If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to stumble! Such things must come, but woe to the person through whom they come! If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire. And if your eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.

Matthew 18:6-9

Be careful − this passage isn’t hanging out there all by itself; the scene has not changed from 18:1-5, this is Jesus continuing to speak to their question of who will be the greatest in the Kingdom. In case you missed the last section, they asked the question and Jesus called for a little child to join them and told the disciples that unless they become like that little child they cannot enter the Kingdom, and then He goes on to say the words in our passage above. Thus, the “little ones” are those who have become like a little child so they could enter the Kingdom.

It would also do us well to recall the larger context in which Jesus is trying to teach the disciples about His messianic mission, which was to die for the redemption of Mankind, and how His example would be one of selfless devotion to the will of God, setting self and selfish motives aside completely in doing so, and of course by extension, He is telling them that they should do the same. With all of this in mind, read the verses again, and they are easy to understand…

OK, you’ve got me; it is easy to understand if you realize that He was using just a touch of hyperbole.

A person in the Kingdom who sets self-centered motives aside to serve God may well appear to be weak in the eyes of this world, but this world would be mistaken, for such a person is acting with the strength of God, which is quite different than the world’s strength. A person who is not of the Kingdom may try to cause the “little one” to stumble along the way, and they may well succeed, but in doing so, they will encounter the very wrath of God in the process, and things will become dire for them in the end.

If we, the “little ones” should find that anything in our lives causes us to stumble, then it is to our great benefit to cut that thing off from our lives, even if that would seem to be a great loss, even if that seems to be very painful or difficult, and it is here that Jesus uses the hyperbole of body parts. Of course, He is not teaching the disciples to mutilate themselves! He is trying to make His point, and this is not the only place He uses hyperbole in doing so. What is His point? “Self” has got to go!

At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who, then, is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”

He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.

Matthew 18:1-5

Considering the last scene about the temple tax, Matthew’s thinking becomes clearer as to why he included that particular anecdote, for Jesus and the disciples now move squarely into the subject of self and selfless. It would seem that to be the greatest in the Kingdom, we should consider leaving high offices, fancy costumes and worldly displays of our greatness behind.

I’m guessing that the disciples might have been hoping to hear Jesus mention their names when they asked this question, but the answer they received to their question was quite different; they needed to become like little children.

For a little bit of perspective, let’s remind ourselves that this scene took place long before children had “rights”, long before any parent was likely to let a child run the show, long before people were concerned about a child’s “self esteem”, when children did what they were told, kept quiet in the presence of adults, and worked hard around the house or the farm.

Don’t leave unpleasant comments on this score; I’m only reporting how it was in those days…

A child had no office, position, rights or say in anything, and according to Jesus, we must be like that to enter the Kingdom of heaven. With that in mind, a child is also innocent, and capable of great faith with few of the questions and struggles that many adults deal with today. When you put it all together, the greatest in the Kingdom is the one who will put self aside to serve God’s purpose in faith, by serving the needs of others.

When they came to the crowd, a man approached Jesus and knelt before him. “Lord, have mercy on my son,” he said. “He has seizures and is suffering greatly. He often falls into the fire or into the water. I brought him to your disciples, but they could not heal him.”

“You unbelieving and perverse generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me.” Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of the boy, and he was healed at that moment.

Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?”

He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”

Matthew 17:14-21

There are many parallels between Matthew’s account of the transfiguration and Moses’ account of his encounter with God on Mt. Sinai, and this scene following the return of Jesus and the three disciples from their mountaintop experience is one of them that may remind us of what Moses found after his return to the camp when he came down from Sinai in Exodus 32. Moses found a rebellious and idolatrous people; Jesus found an “unbelieving and perverse generation”.

He was approached by a man who was begging for deliverance for his poor son who, as it turns out, was possessed by a demon. The disciples had attempted to deal with the demon, possibly the nine who did not accompany Jesus up the mountain, Matthew doesn’t make this clear, but in any case, they had been unable to deal with it.

Jesus drove out the demon immediately.

Previously I’ve pointed out that in this section, the disciples are the ones who Jesus is teaching, certainly they are His primary focus, and we see that clearly in this passage. In verse 11 He addressed the people around Him in general terms, maybe even showing a slight amount of frustration, but the real lesson isn’t His rebuke of the demon or of His generalized remarks in verse 11, but what follows in private with His disciples beginning in verse 20. That scene is set by the disciples’ question in 17:19: Why couldn’t they drive that demon out?

Fair question, they’ve been handling demons for some time now.

Jesus responds in very simple terms: “because you have so little faith.”

He goes on to add that if they have faith as small as a mustard seed, they can order a mountain to move, and it will move, for with a little faith, nothing will be impossible. You know what everyone says at this point: Mustard seeds are the smallest of seeds and they produce the largest of plants, so if you only have a little faith, you can do great things; Jesus has made that point earlier in Matthew’s narrative, and yet, here we are again; can the disciples be so dull, or is there something we have missed?

This is the point where we must make a shift in our focus, a shift from systematic theology into applied theology. Are you ready?

First, here’s a question: Are you a follower of Jesus Christ?

If your answer is “yes” then here’s the next question: Are you His disciple?           

(Hint: if you answered “yes” to the first question, then your answer to the second needs to be “yes” as well.)

So, if you are His follower, then you are His disciple, and like the original 12, you (and I) are in training, “at the feet of the Master” so to speak. Take verse 20 out of the abstract and historical (i.e. Jesus once said this to the Twelve) and think of it as Jesus sitting there with you saying this same thing to YOU. So, let’s look at the verse again: Here we are you, me and Jesus sitting around the kitchen table. We ask the question (verse 19) and He says:

“Don and (your name), it’s because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”

Does it look different now?

Have you ever prayed for someone’s healing, for example, and had a little voice in the back of your mind saying something like “he’s not going to be healed”? If so, may I be the one to point that that isn’t “little faith”, that is NO faith at all.

You, and I right along with you, may well wonder how we get past that little voice of doubt in the back of our minds….

Well, stay tuned, because we are now in school with Matthew, Andrew, Thomas and the whole gang, as Jesus teaches us how to follow Him and truly become His disciple, and from this point on, we are in the crucial part of that instruction.