Year 9, Day 192: Matthew 18

Theological Commentary: Click Here

I love the opening story in Matthew 18.  Over the last few days, a challenging concept has arisen.  How does the follower of Christ balance their human understanding with their inability to fully understand God?  How does a person simultaneously live in the realm of science and logic while also living in faith in the unknown?

As a demonstration, Jesus marvelously answers the question about the greatest person.  The disciples wonder who the greatest is, expecting Jesus to pick one of them.  Instead, Jesus seeks out a child and lifts up the young one.  What is Jesus doing besides risking malcontent among His followers?

Jesus is making a point.  What is it that a child does better than an adult?  Children are masters at surviving in a world of unknown.  Children actually know very little.  They don’t really understand food preparation.  They don’t know where their clothing comes from, much less how to make it.  They don’t get economics, science, legality, the complexity of human interaction, the implications of humans upon the environment around them, etc.  Children don’t get quite a bit; yet they thrive.

What is Jesus’ point?  Children do what they can.  They also readily put their faith in people who understand more.  Yes, they make mistakes, but they rebound well and aren’t typically very afraid.  The truth is that if you want to look at a person who lives in both the realm of understanding and the realm of non-understanding, look at a child.  This is why Jesus says, “Whoever humbles himself like this child is like the greatest in the kingdom.”  Those are Jesus’ words.  It’s a gravely challenging concept to most adults.

Much of the rest of the chapter is about sin, temptation, and forgiveness.  Woe to people who lead others astray.  Woe to the person who is unable to have joy when a sinful person comes into relationship with God.  Woe to the person who cannot find it in their heart to forgive.

The last two are especially troublesome.  Human beings love to harbor grudges.  We hate the ethical implications of things like deathbed confessions.  How many of us struggle to think that a despicable person can be reformed simply by experiencing God?  We love to condemn people for their past without seeing their present.

Don’t get me wrong.  Human beings can be incredibly deceptive.  I’ve seen people fake repentance just to take advantage of those who desire to be forgiving.  However, fear of being taken advantage of is no excuse for human inaction or forgiveness.  If we really believe in an afterlife, if we really believe in a gracious and generous God, can a person take me for more than God can give?  If I forgive and a person isn’t truly repentant, can not God deal with that?  On the other hand, if I withhold forgiveness and a person is repentant, what does that say about me?

Life really is simpler as a child.  The child is the greatest in the kingdom.  We make life so much more complicated with our adult need to understand.  We complicate life with our fear, especially our fears when it comes to dealing with other people.  Can it be any wonder that when Jesus is asked about the greatest that He lifted up a child in their midst?

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