Bible reading
46 An argument started among them as to which of them might be the greatest. 47 But Jesus, knowing what they were thinking in their heart, took a child and stood him by His side, 48 and said to them, “Whoever receives this child in My name receives Me, and whoever receives Me receives Him who sent Me; for the one who is least among all of you, this is the one who is great.”
49 John answered and said, “Master, we saw someone casting out demons in Your name; and we tried to prevent him because he does not follow along with us.” 50 But Jesus said to him, “Do not hinder him; for he who is not against you is for you.”
51 When the days were approaching for His ascension, He was determined to go to Jerusalem; 52 and He sent messengers on ahead of Him, and they went and entered a village of the Samaritans to make arrangements for Him. 53 But they did not receive Him, because He was traveling toward Jerusalem. 54 When His disciples James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” 55 But He turned and rebuked them, and said, “You do not know what kind of spirit you are of; 56 for the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.” And they went on to another village.
Source: Luke 9:46-56 (New American Standard Bible)
Parallel passage: Mark 9:35-37
Bible Study summary
What is greatness?
In this passage, we see the disciples arguing about who of them might be the greatest. Why would they suddenly have an argument about who is the greatest? From the very beginning we have already seen that God had purposed Jesus to establish God’s kingdom on earth.
In Chapter 9, Jesus had sent his disciples to proclaim the gospel (Lk 9:2). Jesus was taking his disciples towards Jerusalem, presumably to claim Jerusalem for God. With this in mind, the disciples would have expected themselves to become a minister of some kind in God’s kingdom, and so naturally a discussion, which usually turns into an argument, about who will claim ‘top’ job would arise.
When we think of greatness, what do we consider as greatness? Usually we will think of greatness in terms of worldly success. We would think of figures like Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, and other rich and famous people.
In Lk 9:47, Jesus’ is aware that the matter of greatness was embedded in the heart of the disciples. This shows us that the world’s concept of greatness has been so greatly embedded in us that we might not even be aware of it, and we need someone like the Lord Jesus Christ to help see things from a different perspective.
If we do not have the spiritual concept of greatness, then in due time, even the church will follow in the world’s version of greatness.
So Jesus tells his disciples the secret to greatness in the kingdom of God, and that is to be the least.
What does it mean to be the least?
Does it mean to have low self-esteem? Does it mean to be humble? What does it mean to be humble?
To be least means to be like a child, as well as receiving a child.
Jesus uses the child to illustrate what it means to be the least, and from the example of the child, we can see the following points:
1) In vs 48, Jesus says that if you receive this child, then ultimately you are receiving God. Being the least has something to do with drawing our attention back to God. This world derives success from the praises of people. We find success in how many ‘likes’ we have on social media, but in the kingdom of God, our focus should be on what pleases God.
2) The child was considered as a nobody in the past. They had no voice. They were cute, and everyone loves them, but when it comes to status, they had none. Being the least, means that we are willing to be a nobody in this world.
3) A child was also someone who was totally dependent on their parents. Every child wants to be an adult, because they want to be able to do whatever they want. They want financial freedom, so that they can buy whatever they want, and if they have enough money, they can control as many people as they want. Being the least means to be totally dependent on God, just like how a child is to his or her parents.
4) To be great in the kingdom of God is related to receiving a child in Jesus’ name. As we have seen, a child is someone who is a nobody. If you give them something, they can’t give anything back to you. We often like to give to people who can give back to us, however, to be great in the kingdom of God is to have the attitude to give with expecting to receive anything back.
5) To receive a child also means to receive someone who is least in your eyes. We may think the person who is least in our eyes are the homeless, and the needy. However, many times, the person who is least in our eyes are those that we look down on. These people could be people who are very close to us, e.g. our colleagues, classmates, or family members.
6) In the parallel massage (Mk 9:35-37), to receive means to serve. In this world, the one who is served is the greatest, but in the kingdom of God, it is the one who serves that is great.
7) When we receive in Jesus’ name, it means that we are representing him in receiving and serving those around us.
Jesus’ example of being the least by letting go of his right
As Jesus’ was discussing about the matter of greatness and being the least, John, in vs 49 informs Jesus that there were people who were not Jesus disciples, casting out demons in Jesus’ name. However, Jesus replies to John, telling him not to hinder them.
Here we can see Jesus demonstrating what it means to be the least. The people who were using Jesus’ name to cast out demons were using his name without his permission. Not only did they not get permission from Christ, their action would have drawn people to them, instead of Jesus. Jesus had every right to stop those people. He could have at least claimed some compensation from them, but he didn’t. In fact, he allowed them to go ahead unhindered. From Jesus action, we see that he demonstrates what it means to be the least, which is the willingness to give up one’s right so that the kingdom of God can advance.
Jesus had every right not to die for us. He was the only sinless person in this world. Yet he chose to give up that right, so that you and I may be saved. Jesus’ death on the cross is the ultimate demonstrate of what it means to be least in this world, yet the greatness in the kingdom of God.
‘With’ Christ vs. ‘For’ Christ
On a side note, we saw that Jesus says in vs 50, “He who is not against you, is for you”. We saw that there are two groups of people; 1) The disciples, who were with Christ 2) Those who didn’t follow Christ, but were simply ‘for Christ’ In Lk 11:23, we see that those who are not with Christ, is against Christ, and they will scatter. This is a reminder to us Christians, “Are we ‘with’ Christ, or are we simply ‘for’ Christ”?
What’s the difference between these two? Those who are ‘with’ Christ, are those who are willing to suffer and die ‘with’ Christ, while those who are ‘for’ Christ are those who simply just cheer on the Lord Jesus Christ, but only as spectators. Nowadays, there is a culture of Christians who seem to focus mainly on Christ dying for them, rather than them following Christ into suffering and death.
As Christians, which one are we? Remember, those who are not ‘with’ Christ, though they may be ‘for’ Christ in the beginning will eventually turn against him and scatter. But those who are truly ‘with’ Christ, these are the ones who suffer and die with Christ, but will also be raised into life with Christ (Rom 6:5)
Finally, Jesus prepares his disciples to go into the towns of Samaria to preach the gospel. However, there were villages that did not accept him.
At this time, John and James wanted to cast down fire from heaven to teach these people a lesson.
To be rejected is a humiliation!
Jesus went out of his way to preach the gospel to the people of Samaria, but he was met with rejection. Once again, from Jesus’ response we see what it means to be the least.
To be willing to be rejected for the sake of God’s kingdom, is what it means to be the least.
To sum up, Jesus’ wants us to be great! And the key to greatness in the kingdom of God is to be the least.
Bible study by Pastor Stanley
Summary by Pastor Stanley