We come this weekend to yet another of those stories in which Jesus takes a person who is ignored or rejected by almost everyone around him, and then brings that very person right into his inner circle.  If you’re new to the reports about Jesus in the New Testament, you may not know that he did this over and over again.  Jesus did it with a man filled with leprosy and not even allowed to come near residential areas, with a woman known to have lived immorally, with a tax collector who seemed to be a traitor to his own people but still wanted a new life…  Jesus did it over and over again.  So, if you’ve come today and wonder if there is a chance that the Jesus who is the head of this church would welcome you, just come right on it!  That’s what he does.  But for those of us who think, “Well, of course, I fit right in.  Everyone knows I’m a good person…”  Well, you should be on guard!  Jesus had a way of turning our values upside down.  He said, “I’ve come for those who know they are sick or lost.  He who will be great in my kingdom, must be willing to be the least of all.”

       The one Jesus welcomes in Matthew 18 is a little child who was being excluded by the older people.  They may not have even noticed the child was there.  Or, if they noticed, they didn’t think he should be there. It's hard for us nowadays to understand how any civilized society could ignore children.  But when we open the pages of our history books we quickly discover that there have been plenty of days when people doubted the importance of children. 

        In Jesus’ Roman law gave no protection to a child.  If a Roman father wanted to, he could kill his offspring without any fear of prosecution.  And as for the Greeks, a 1^st C. Greek workman in Egypt concluded a letter to his pregnant wife when he was away from home:  "If it is a girl," he wrote, "throw it away."  Those were the days that Jesus was living in.  That’s what made this episode in Mt. 18:1-4 so shocking. As he did throughout his life, Jesus taught that people, all people at any age or in any situation, have value. In Matthew 18, Jesus doesn’t just voice humanistic platitudes about caring for the “least of these” in society.  He provides us with underlying moral reasons for the value of all people.  We’ll see at least two lessons today:

1. The “least of these” teach us about going to heaven (18:1‑4).

2. The “least of these” teach us about who is important to God (10‑14).

Reason 1:  The “least of these” teach us about going to heaven – or -- those who are devalued in the eyes of the world often are God’s gifts sent to teach us the most important lessons of life (18:1‑4).   

       Read vv. 2‑3.  Jesus is saying that people often ignored are in this world not only that so that we may teach them or minister to them but that they might teach us.  In general, I think most people don’t really believe that – not deep down.  We think that when we’ve had a lot of formal education or have had success in our career, we become the ones who do all the teaching.  I’ll warn you:  The moment we enter into any relationship thinking that we know it all so that we’re the ones to do all the teaching, then we’re the ones who may miss the most important lessons about God and life and our reason for existence.

       Thus, the person who has no interest in people like the child in vv. 1-4 ‑‑ in being with them, in talking to them, and even in learning from them ‑‑ that person is not the kind who will know how to go to heaven.  It really is as serious as that.  Why?  Let me first tell you two reasons why it is not:

Misconception #1:  Jesus’ lesson is not that some people – like this child – are completely innocent before God. That’s nowhere in the text, and it’s nowhere in the Bible.  All people need God.  People are not perfect before God with no need of salvation simply because they are poor or sick or from a different social group or – even because they are children.  I'm quite sure that children are not as innocent as some want to believe.  I wonder whether any parents of young people agree with me about that!

       You may know that many behaviorists believe that children are blank slates at birth and all their corruption is due to the influence of home and society.  But the Bible never allows us to hold to that sort of social determinism.  The Bible teaches that all of us are born into sin.  Theologians debate what that means but it means, at least, that all of us are born with a strong tendency to do wrong.  (I believe it means more than that but I’ll take that up another day.)  This evil is planted deep down in every one of us "from birth".  Every newborn baby born of Adam’s race has that sinfulness within so I'm sure that Jesus knew better than to pretend that children were innocent.

Misconception #2:    Jesus’ lesson is not that we are to emulate the simplicity of people like this child.        

       Many interpret the text that way saying that Jesus wants our faith to be as unquestioning as a child.  I'm not at all sure that children's faith is really as unquestioning as some think.  If you have been asked some of the questions I have been asked by children, you would think that they are the most profound theologians in the world.  But that aside, I don't think the Bible generally does commend naivety in matters of faith.

        The New Testament constantly calls us to learn of Christ and to grow up in matters of faith. You see, there are big questions, big problems,  and big doubts to be confronted by all who follow Jesus in this world.  The Bible nowhere tells us to run away from these tough issues and find refuge in gullibility.

So, what is the lesson?  It is that if we will enter God’s kingdom, the King must be king.  As long as we try to stay in control of our lives and think we don’t desperately need God’s mercy, we won’t ever surrender to God.  As Jesus put it, “We won’t even enter the kingdom of heaven” – because we’ll hold on to a part of the control ourselves.  Children are people who don’t pretend that they don’t need help.  Their size and lack of resources declare to all that they are dependent on others.  As we get older, we still desperately need to fall on God in faith and dependency but we often find countless ways to cover that up – even to deny it.  It’s just like Pastor Albert illustrated for us last weekend – If we’re in a room where the water is flowing, we won’t be able to change anything simply by using a mop!  No, the problem is bigger than that and we need to get at the heart of the situation.  And our problem is our sin and pride.  We’re not going to solve our problem by doing it own our own.  We need to be rescued!

       If we're going to grasp what Jesus is getting at here, then we're going to have to notice very carefully that this whole exchange about children is prompted by a question the disciples ask Jesus in v. 1:  Who is the greatest? That’s the kind of question grown ups like to ask today as much as they did back then.  We become habitually obsessed with status and prestige.  We wonder what other people think of us.  We want admiration.  We want to be "somebody." Jesus' response to that trait is to put someone the world often doesn’t even notice into our midst as a gift to us. 

       Jesus is saying that the values of heaven are the reverse of the values of this world.  All the things this world pursues‑‑fame and status and honor—will tend not to lead us toward heaven but away from it. We have to be willing to let go of this “somebody” that we've made of ourselves in the world's estimation in order that God may make us into somebody in His estimation.  We must learn to fall in dependent faith on our King in order to enter the kingdom.

       So the pathway to heaven involves a radical new beginning.  It's a "new birth", as Jesus calls it elsewhere.  It means going back and starting the process of growth all over again, but this time with different priorities and different goals and different ambitions.

       As long as we can pretend that we have everything under control, we will find it is hard to repent of our sins and start all over with God in control -- because we have so many years of self-centered patterns and so many ambitions to be abandoned in order to let God be God.  Jesus knows what he is talking about.  He knows how hard it is to begin again.  And that's what entering the kingdom requires of us.

       What do you think greatness is?  More cars, bigger house, more money, more prestige, more clothes?  Jesus said, “Let me bring a teacher into our midst.  I tell you the truth,” he said.  “Unless you become like this child, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven."

      I’m quite sure there are those in our church fellowship today whom God has given us as a gift – God’s gift to teach us about him and about his salvation.   If we are wise we will look for those we may not have noticed – and then for opportunities to sit at their feet and learn.

Lesson 2: The least of these teach us about God’s values – or – all people are important for an absolute reason: because we all matter to God (10‑14).

       Read v. 10.  I was given a cartoon when I lived in Germany that mocked the negativity in many churches.  In it, a little girl returned from church and her mother asked her, "What did you learn in Sunday School today, Sarah?" She replied:  "I learned that I'm a child of Satan." 

       Certainly, there are churches where the sinfulness of people and the wrath of God are stressed so much (or in a way that minimizes grace) that one could get this impression quite easily.  However, how does all that square with these rather haunting, if puzzling, words of Jesus in v. 10?  Can a child of Satan really have a guardian angel in heaven?  Is the young infant lost in the eyes of God?  Some find this verse so difficult that they say that Jesus is only referring to children who believe in him as having guardian angels.  However, I think that Jesus’ comment in v. 10 probably refers to all children having them.

       I will come back to this text on a weekend next year and take time to address the issue of little children’s standing before God.  It’s very important to me – to many of us who have lost our children in infancy.  This passage has taken on enormous significance to my understanding of how God sees the children of this world.  I need much more time to delve into Jesus’ words here.  But I will say this:  It's on the basis of texts like this one that I join with many theologians and Bible students to say that it's wrong to think of little children as being in immediate danger of hell.  According to Jesus, it isn't children who are in immediate danger of hell.  No, from vv. 5-9, it's whose who put stumbling blocks in the way of children who have to fear hell ‑‑ not the little ones themselves.  Isn't that the clear thrust of the passage?  The child is the one who teaches us how to go to heaven.

       The implication of this, of course, is that we can, on the authority of Jesus, offer words of comfort to those who have lost children in infancy.  It's my personal belief that such children are kept safe by God so I never hesitate to give grieving parents that assurance.  "It is not the will of your Father in heaven that any of these little ones should be lost," says Jesus.

       But the main point Jesus makes here is the value of “each one” to God.  Little as they are then, children should matter to us because they are the clear objects of God's protective custody.  And if he finds them so precious and values them so highly, how dare we ignore them or treat them as if they are of little account.  "See that you don't look down on one of these little ones," Jesus would say.  Children didn’t matter much to those who were with Jesus that day but they do matter to him.   And, of course, Jesus is saying that if people like this matter so much to God that He provides angelic protection, then they had better matter to us as well. 

       As the Bible so often does, it asks if we have the same values as Jesus did.  Do we see people the way Jesus sees people?  How many times have I said it in sermons:  When we surrender in faith to the Lordship of Jesus – to the kingdom of God – everything has to change.  One of the most basic changes is in our eyes.  Those who have fallen in faith-filled dependency on the grace of God given in Jesus have new eyes.  Those who know Jesus had to die in our place can never be proud.  We always know that if Jesus’ love and grace is sufficient for me – then it’s sufficient for all.  As Paul put it in 2 Corinthians 5:14-17:  For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all… And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.   So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation: The old has gone, the new is here!

       So, I must ask:  Who in our world might be ignored or devalued?  I do believe that the unborn child is one of those.  The unborn child is so often viewed as inhuman somehow – another body part. We have these discussions in society about when the life becomes human – but we all know that, at least from the time that implantation happens in the womb and that new life begins that process that leads to birth and ultimately to senior adulthood, there is a new life present in the womb that wasn’t there before.  What is it?  It is human.  Unborn children are so fully dependent on another – for everything.  Jesus says, “Unless you become just that dependent upon God, you won’t see the kingdom of heaven.”  And he would surely say, “Do nothing to harm that dependent child who is made in God’s image.”

       Some tell me that the older we become in American society, the less we are valued.  I guess I’ll find out in the not-too-distant future about that.  Is that devaluing because of the loss of physical capability – or mental capacity – or influence?  Is it all the above?  Each sheep, according to Jesus’ parable in vv. 12-14, is of infinite value to God.  He loves us as if we were the only one to love.

       And, I am told, that persons who have noticeable disabilities of any kind also sometimes are ignored, feared, or devalued in our world.  I’ve had a chance to talk about this with one of our church leaders, Pam Swanson who is leading our Beyond Barriers Ministry (I love that title).  And, all week, I’ve called and talked with my friends who have a variety of disabilities about that – and, while I know I still have much to learn, I think I have learned this week.  What have I been learning?  More than I can say – but let me start:

Lesson 1:  When people have a disability, it is only one part of who they are.  Believing, as Psalm 139 teaches, that all who are human are “fearfully and wonderfully made” and that, being made in God’s image, we are marvelously complex creatures with countless gifts, personality traits.  To define people by a disability is to miss the wonderfully complex person they are and to lose out as a community on what they have to offer – to teach – others.  This is what one friend called “the cultural aspect” of a disability.  He said, “We get viewed in a certain way so that people automatically think we can’t do this or that.  We often don’t realize that when one part of us is disabled, another part is utilized and developed into a strength.

Lesson 2:  We tend to put people with disabilities into a box – a box into which few fit.  This is what I felt when I left West Virginia to go to Chicago.  When people heard my accent, they immediately thought that I never had worn shoes, that all my cousins had gotten married at 14 years old, and that I probably couldn’t “read good”.  So, we meet a person with a disability one day who gets offended because he feels we think he can’t do anything.  Then, we think any person with any disability never wants any assistance so we never ask again.  No, just like it is with any person at any age and from any background, we need to get to know the individual as a person – and find out how different God has made each one of us.

Lesson 3:  People often seem to think that if people with disabilities did things right, their disabilities would go away.  “If you prayed more, you…”  “If you went to the right doctor…”  “If you took more vitamins…”  “If you hadn’t done this or that…”  You know what I mean:  It’s the “blame the victim” mentality that we often tend toward.  We fail to remember that the most faith-filled people, like the Apostle Paul, still had a thorn in the flesh that God chose not to take away.  We forget the pervasive biblical teaching that it’s through weakness that God’s grace and strength not only can be made know – but can be magnified.

Lesson 4:  When people with disabilities and those without immediately recognizable disabilities enter into relationship, great relationships begin.  How about that?  We need to do what Jesus did, i.e., draw people into the circle and say, “Here is an important person.”  I had a friend tell me, “All my life, when people look at me I find even well-meaning people are afraid of saying the wrong thing – or they’re afraid I’ll break somehow – or they’re just unsure how to deal with someone who is different.  But, when we break the ice and do some things together, everything changes.  Friendships begin.

As Pam Swanson has said, "Don't judge a book by its cover, take the time to discover what is truly on the inside and focus on what really matters the most. This same concept definitely applies when dealing with, working with, and having  a relationship with people who have a disability.”

       So, today, I want us all to make a commitment to take a step and enter into relationships with people who have a disability.  Already, I think we know that, when we’ve been ministered to by our own LAC people from the Beyond Barriers Ministry as we have been today, we know they are us.  We are part of a family.  We have much to learn from one another and much to teach one another.  We must do as Jesus did and go “beyond the barriers” that the world erects.  “We no longer look at anyone from a worldly point of view.”  We will look, as God does, on the heart.  Until the kingdom of God is complete and the lame walk and the blind see, we will walk with one another and serve one another until each one is complete in Christ.