At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
“Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.
(Matthew 18:1-6 ESV)
As Jesus was preparing His followers for the journey to Jerusalem, He had to keep pointing them far beyond the events that would take place there. They kept getting stuck in this world. They did so again on the occasion when they began debating who was greatest. To some it may have seemed so obvious - three of them had just been up on the mountain seeing transfigured, while the others were wallowing in self-pity unable to deliver a demon-oppressed boy. But Jesus hit to the core of each one when He attacked their attitudes toward children and those who were spiritual children. They were missing the point of the Kingdom - it was not a scramble to the top stepping on others, but a journey together, bringing along as many as possible. Throughout the remainder of this chapter Jesus deals with other issues that distract his followers, like not dealing with temptation in our lives and our failure to forgive as we are forgiven. As we look ahead to the Kingdom Coming, we need to be looking at ourselves with self-examination, and others as fellow forgiven followers.
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