Matthew 18:1–14

Who is the greatest?

Disciples of Jesus must be willing to be of no importance. Then they will be really great.

• Little children do not relate to people in the same way that adults do. Status (to be important) or colour do not mean anything to them. But they often see a person’s real character. Adults learn to judge other people. Children ignore the standards that adults use. In the ancient world, children did not have any worth. But they often came to Jesus. It did not matter what a child might be like. Jesus always welcomed each child. And he expected his disciples to do the same (Matthew 18:5).
• Jesus taught another lesson. It is in Matthew 18:6–9. The ‘little ones’ may refer to his disciples. They should have attitudes like little children. Jesus had just been speaking about this. So, he could be warning about when one Christian does wrong things to another Christian. That is a serious matter! Or, the ‘little ones’ might have been children. (A child was standing among them.) Jesus gave a severe warning. It was against all those who do bad things to children. This is a wonderful statement. It was common to do bad things to children in those times. But the ‘fire of hell’ waits for all those who do bad things to ‘little ones’. (Read Matthew 18:8–9.)

How terrible!

Someone can do bad things to a ‘little person’. That ‘little person’ might then lose his or her faith in Jesus. There will be an awful punishment for a person who causes this. Jesus described what it would be like (Matthew 18:6).

First, Jesus spoke about a millstone. It would be round that person’s neck. A millstone was a huge stone. It had a hole in the middle. It was so heavy that a large animal must move it. Then Jesus spoke about that person when he would be drowning. For a Jew, to drown was one of the worst ways to die. It was even worse if it happened far from Jewish land. So, it would be a terrible death. That person would not be able to escape it. Jesus even said that this kind of death would be better than his punishment!

Someone might have said, ‘There will always be people who are like that.’ In Matthew 18:7, Jesus may be replying. He said, ‘Things like this will always happen. But how terrible it will be for the world. How terrible it will be for someone who does bad things to a little person.’

The words ‘how terrible’ were often used by OT prophets. That was how they would start a prophecy about God’s final judgement. Jesus did that here. People may claim to be his disciples. But they may not have faith that is like a little child’s faith. If so, they will have God’s judgement. They will not share in his glory. To cause other people to sin is very serious. Jesus emphasised this. (Read Matthew 18:7–9.)

Jesus ended his teaching with a story. He told a parable about sheep. He wanted real disciples to show the character of God. God’s gentle care is for all ‘little ones’.

• Jesus said that children have angels as their friends. In those days, people thought that children had no worth. But this was wrong. (Read Matthew 18:1.) The Jews of Jesus’ time believed that nations had angels. But they had never suggested that children had them too. This included one child or a group of children.
• In the parable, God is like a shepherd. (A shepherd is someone who looks after sheep.) God looks for any ‘sheep’ that is lost. He is very, very happy when he finds it. In just the same way, he does not want to lose any ‘little ones’. Real disciples should have the same attitude as the father in heaven.

Questions

• Do you want to have an important position among your Christian friends? Think about ways in which you try to become more important. How can you avoid these ambitions?
• How could you cause someone to lose his or her faith in Jesus (Matthew 18:6)?
• A non-Christian might visit your church. Would he or she want to become a Christian?