OUR FATHER WHOSE SON IS THE KING OF KINGS
Matthew chapter 18 verses 1 - 5 records a debate question that the disciples of Jesus raised and the counterintuituve answer that the Lord Jesus responded to the question with.
1 At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who, then, is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”
2 He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. 3 And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
4 Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5 And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.
The disciples were trying to understand their place in the heirarchy of the kingdom of God and as such, wanted to establish who was at the top of the pyramid and thus would have the most authority and power in the coming kingdom that Jesus had been unfurling for them.
In the most cynical reading, one could infer that the disciples, given the name of the person who was at the top, could then begin currying favor with that person by being obsequious towards them.
In the most generous reading, the disciples may have wanted to know who was going to be at the top so that they could emulate that personˋs conduct because it was the currency of the new realm. If, for example, the person chosen to be at the top was extremely organized and well-spoken, they would try to develop and showcase their own organizational skill and practice their diction and speech making abilities.
Either way, the understanding of the kingdom of God being structured as a top-down command and control system in which gaining the favour of men or personal merit was the means of advancement, was incorrect.
The Lord Jesus cut through the false understanding of the kingdom of God by calling a random child and placing the child among them. Jesus said to them that unless they changed their machiavelian self-seeking ways and become like the innocent non-descript, unassuming child, they would never even enter the kingdom of God let alone being great in the kingdom.
Once prideful and selfish ambition was eliminated and the humble innocence of a child was adopted, a person could enter the kingdom of God and become great in the kingdom.
Jesus chose a child as the standard template for citizenship in His kingdom because a child is small, dependent and trusting and thus those who would be able to enter the kingdom of God would need to see themselves as small and insignificant, see themselves as dependent on God and be trusting towards God to care for them.
In that posture, a citizen of the kingdom of God is able to be taught by God (through service towards the Lord and others), to grow into faithful and responsible servants who are great in the kingdom of heaven.
Further to that, the Lord Jesus added an injuction that linked His humble servants (who unambitiously made themselves lowely) to Himself such that any person who welcomed these servants was in effect welcoming the Lord Himself.
The citizens of the kingdom of God can understood to be peculiar servant / king hybrids who are at once lowly servants and also mighty kings under the kingship of the Lord Jesus.
Amen.
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