You know, quite frankly, it really does seem like a good question, doesn’t it? “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” Evidently, in our gospel story this morning the disciples, talking among themselves, were arguing that question. And, before we can really enter into this story, we probably need to admit that we, too, wonder about the same question.

In fact, don’t we really ask it all the time? Who’s in line for the next promotion when there’s an opening? Who’s the best doctor in town? Who’s the best salesman on the force? Who’s the best attorney in the firm? Who’s the best accountant at doing taxes? Who makes the most money? Who gives the most away? Who’s gonna be the next board president? And so on and on and on…. So the question the disciples asked, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” isn’t strange or foreign or irrelevant to us.

Now, remember that each one of the disciples had given up home and family and job to follow Jesus. So, we can certainly understand the need behind the question: the need to know whether their efforts were appreciated; the need for job security; the need for some reward for their efforts and their need to excel - to name a few.

Really, their debate shouldn’t surprise us. But, how do we figure Jesus’ answer? Why couldn’t Jesus just give the disciples a straightforward answer to a simple question? Instead, Jesus makes a rather ambiguous reply. He puts a child in front of them and tells them they have to become like that child to be in the kingdom of heaven. What?! How can this be? How can an adult - after all those years of growing and changing; after all the experiences of life (good and bad) - become like a child again?

Or, take the way Matthew describes the scene. People were bringing children for Jesus to bless and the disciples blocked the way. Again, I think we can understand the actions of the disciples. They were simply being protective of Jesus’ time and energy. After all, Jesus had better things to do than go around kissing babies and holding hands of toddlers or listening to all those inane questions that children can ask. Jesus must have had plenty to do - sermons to prepare, the sick to heal, adults to talk to, and the disciples to get through to - all in all, a very difficult and demanding job.

Ok, perhaps it’s easy to see why the disciples wanted to tell the kids to “buzz off.” But, why in the world would Jesus tell his follower to “Let the children alone, and do not stop them, for it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs”? Really?? To kids? Runny-nosed, dirty little children? How could this be when they don’t know the first thing about theology or about the Bible or about Christ’s Real Presence in the Eucharist or about giving money to the church or about mature commitment? And, if the kingdom belongs to children, what about the adults? Are we left out in the cold?

What was it about children that so impressed Jesus that he picked them as good examples of the kingdom’s citizens? I mean, come on - it’s bad enough that Jesus’ statements and stories so often get under our skin and irritate us with clarity and forthrightness - like giving our hard-earned money to the poor and loving our enemies who have just ripped us off and then laughed at us. But, it seems worse here because Jesus never actually spells out the quality in children he wants us to imitate - that’s right: nowhere is it in the text. Yet, sermon after sermon given on this text has attempted to do just that: tell us what child-like quality we’re to have.

Throughout Christian history commentators and preachers have tried to zero in on the different things about children that Jesus wanted to emphasize. Some say that Jesus was praising the “trust” of children in that they wouldn’t have doubts about the reign of God as we adults do. Others said it was that children are dependent on others - especially upon adults - and we ought to be like children and learn again to be only dependent on God. Others said that children were playful, whereas adults are so serious & so up-tight (that was my sermon 3 years ago). Still others said it was because children are willing to learn and adults are so set in their ways and usually so stubborn about change (that was my sermon 6 years ago).

Well, this time when reflecting and re-reading the texts, it hit me that Jesus wasn’t lifting up children as the ideal citizens of the kingdom of heaven so much as he was trying to shock the disciples into realizing what they were really asking and really doing. You see, children, in Jesus’ day, were literally thought of as nothing. They were second, or even third-class, citizens. They were to be neither seen nor heard. So, Jesus’ words and attitude toward children were incredible and downright radical to the disciples and others. He thought children were of value. Those whom society considered useless and of no importance Jesus lifted up as of highest worth.

So, I wonder. Since we really don’t treat children the same as did the culture of Jesus’ day, if Jesus had been asked that question today about who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven who would he use to shock us? “Unless you become like THOSE people, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven.” Would Jesus go get Jackson and bring him in the middle of us? “Unless you become like the people on welfare…” Or, “Unless you become like the migrant worker…”

In other words, at bottom, Jesus was saying that the question of being the greatest in the kingdom was simply a bummer. It was foolish, if not fruitless, to be seeking power and authority - to want to be “top dog” in the coming kingdom of God. So, in essence, maybe Jesus, saying we’d have to enter the kingdom of God like a child, was telling the disciples (and all of us) that we would have to start all over again with an entirely new set of values!

If we are to enter the kingdom of heaven we are not simply to become children again - which none of us can do anyway. To enter the kingdom of God we must learn to see things differently - see life differently. And, sometimes to enter the kingdom of heaven is to be shockingly different from many of the values of our time & place and say that some of the ways we do things - some of the goals we have in life - are not really what they should be. To enter the kingdom of heaven is to realize that many of the values we hold in common are badly warped. For if you really think about it, it is astounding how much our American way of life is based on the assumption that war, separateness, competition, and violence are - and should be - a part of life.

To enter into the kingdom of heaven is to look at our own personal values and ask ourselves if they are the ones we really want. And, if our questions are those of the disciples - about being number one in our business or in the social swim or when the votes are counted - and, if those are our questions about ourselves, then we are not in the kingdom. We are being foolish and missing the boat.

Now, to some people - particularly in this country - this all sounds rather naïve, perhaps even absurd, in a world that operates by power, greed, hatred, and revenge. But, the values of Jesus don’t always tie in with those we are surrounded by in the everyday.

No, to enter the kingdom of heaven is sometimes to throw everything up for grabs. It is sometimes to flaunt the values of our society - getting and spending, hoarding and blowing it all as a way of saying we belong - and admit that this isn’t really the set of values that we want. In a sense, to enter the kingdom is sometimes to imagine ourselves coming from another planet and asking all kinds of ingenious questions about the way earth-people do things - why they run and run in order to try to stay even; or why they seemingly have to compete with their neighbors for the best lawn in the neighborhood or the latest in gadgets for their children & themselves.

To enter the kingdom of heaven is to pay attention to those things of little importance but of infinite worth. It is to pay attention to those people of no special account; to give to those who will not really help us to get the next promotion or the next citizen (or Christian) of the year award and who may even be standing in the way. To enter the kingdom of heaven is to attend to those who need us a lot more then we need them - the mentally impaired, the very poor, the senile, the helpless, the dying, the hungry, the incapacitated. And, not just to those, but to the sick friend, to the acquaintance who is confused, unhappy, depressed, discouraged.

It’s as if it boils down to this: To enter the kingdom of heaven is to believe, even though all evidence is to the contrary, that God is in us and in everyone around us.

So, perhaps the question of who is the greatest is a pretty good question. But, what do we think about the answer? “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.” Amen.

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