Luke 9:46-50 "The Greatest"

Just a couple of days ago, Jesus had picked three of the disciples to go on a really special field trip with Him. “Let’s see… Peter… James… and… enie meanie mynie… John!” Those three got to see Jesus in full glory, meet Moses and Elijah, and have God the Father speak to them. No one else got to go. How do you think it made them feel? You think maybe they felt a little left out?

No! These are the disciples of Jesus, they’re not petty like that. They wouldn’t be so shallow. Right? They’re not like us.

This would have never happened these days. We’d be like, “It’s not fair if only three of us get to go. Either we all go or none of us can. We’ll just cancel the Transfiguration if we have to.”

Then they come back down the mountain and it’s just one disappointment after another. First, the nine disciples who were left in charge had forgotten how to cast out demons. They tried to do it without prayer—do it on their own. Peter, James, and John were probably feeling pretty smug about that one. “Gosh guys! How can you be so dumb? I guess we know why Jesus picked us for the prayer retreat! You guys don’t even know how to pray! Back-sliders!”

And you might think I’m being too hard on them, but the very next thing that happens is this, verse 46:

An argument arose among them as to which of them was the greatest. (!) But Jesus, knowing the reasoning of their hearts, took a child and put him by his side and said to them, “Whoever receives this child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me. For he who is least among you all is the one who is great.” Luke 9:46-48

Prayer: Father in heaven, we turn to Your Word that is above all earthly power. We turn to the beautiful, powerful name of Jesus who holds us at His side and receives us for Your sake. We humble ourselves to hear what You have to say to us and ask that You would lift us up. AMEN

Don’t think for a minute that Peter, James, and John weren’t part of this ridiculous argument. It’s not even going to be the last time they argue about it. In Matthew, we find out that James and John’s mom goes to Jesus and asks if her sons can sit beside Jesus when His kingdom comes in fulness. I guess you can’t blame a mother for trying but Jesus shuts her down pretty hard and the rest of the disciples get really mad about it. At the Last Supper, it comes up again. 

How could they fight over something so foreign to the whole idea of the teaching of Jesus and the kingdom of God? I mean, it’s really missing the point. And right after the Transfiguration? Right after Jesus gives them His body and blood in the Last Supper?

That night He stripped down to almost nothing and showed them what humility is supposed to look like by washing their feet like a servant. “In My kingdom, if you want to be great—serve other people. Don’t try to sit in the seat of honor. Don’t lord your authority over people. Always act like you’re the least important person in the room. Humble yourself. Lift other people up.”

We’re pretty awful at this, too. 

Anyway, so they start arguing over which of them is the greatest and Jesus waits until they’re back at His house where they can talk privately. Keep them from falling into the trap of envy, jealousy, pride, and hatred. Jesus picks up a baby and says, “you want to know which one of you is the greatest? This one.” The word used for “child” here is the Greek word for “young child.” It’s the word for baby or infant.

Was it because the kid was some extraordinary progeny? Spelling bee champion? Learned to play Mozart before he could talk? Even though it was 1,700 years before Mozart was born? No, there was nothing special about the kid. That was the whole point. It was a helpless baby.

Jesus wants us to think of the least important person in the room—the one, if you were honest, you wish would just go scream and cry and stink up someplace else—He wants us to think of that person as Him. He identifies with the rejects. The outcasts. The unwanted. The weak and powerless.

He says when you receive those kinds of people, you’re receiving Him. 

This story happens right after Jesus told them He was going to be rejected by the great, important people and killed. So now He’s saying anyone who receives the unwanted, helpless rejects of society receives Him, and anyone who receives Him receives the Father who sent Him.

You want to be great in the kingdom of God? Stop trying to push people down to make yourself look better and start lifting up people who can’t lift up themselves.

What does all this make you think of? Who came to mind? Who have you rejected? Shut out? Not received? Who should you have helped but you blew them off?

I guarantee you that’s what the disciples were thinking about as Jesus was saying all this. 

For example, verse 49:

John answered, “Master, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he does not follow with us.” But Jesus said to him, “Do not stop him, for the one who is not against you is for you.” Luke 9:49-50

Jesus hears the disciples arguing about which of them is the greatest, He corrects them by explaining that’s not the way it works in His kingdom. And John is reminded of a guy they tried to shut down because he wasn’t one of the Twelve. He wasn’t one of the special certified demon casters.

Probably someone they met on their mission trip when they were going town to town healing people. Might have been someone they cast a demon out of. It was definitely someone who got it. They weren’t one of the Twelve but they were actually casting out demons in Jesus name. Actually doing it. Helping people.

But John, and whoever he was with, tried to shut it down because the guy wasn’t one of the Twelve. 

Now John is starting to think maybe that wasn’t such a good idea after all. 

We know there’s a bunch of Scribes and Pharisees standing around listening to all this. That’s exactly what they keep doing to Jesus and the disciples—try to stop them from doing the work of God because they see them as outsiders and a threat to their status as the religious leaders.

The church is not supposed to be like that. Jesus said so, but…

All these churches on every corner with their clever little names and branding strategies. All puffing up their chest like their the only game in town. How many of them would try to shut down anyone who wasn’t one of them? It’s gross. It’s not the way of Jesus. It’s been a temptation of Jesus’ followers since the beginning—but it’s not the way of Jesus.

“Do not stop him, for the one who is not against you is for you.” Luke 9:50

We have to fight the impulse to be this way. I know I do.

I get really frustrated with churches that find some way to draw in big crowds of people—people who either had never been to church before or hadn’t been in a long time. Then they preach watery sermons that are more like self-help TED talks. Tiny passages of Scriptures taken out of context to say whatever they want to say. The teachers have no theological training. Everyone on staff is called a “pastor.” So the people come for a while until they figure out there’s no real depth, it’s all superficial, when they come to a hard place in their life, or when one of the leaders has a moral meltdown—they leave the church, they stop going. And this is the part that frustrates me—they truly believe they gave Jesus a shot. And He failed. The world is filled with people who think they know everything they need to know about Jesus and His pathetic church.

I also get really frustrated with churches that think they’re doing everything right. They sit in their mostly empty pews, half-heartedly walking through a worship service that’s filled with words of life and hope, but they read everything and say everything like they’re choking on dust. They’ve pretty much given up on the idea of sharing their faith with anyone outside their walls. If people wanted to come, they’d come. But everything they do screams “we’re a private group, you can join us but you won’t like it and you won’t understand it, it’s probably not for you.” I get really frustrated with churches that act like private bomb shelters for Christian VIPs—and at the same time appear to be bored and apathetic to the things of God.

Where can you find a church that preaches uncompromising faithfulness to God’s commands, His holy standards, along with the high cost of true discipleship?

Where can you find a church that also preaches His unconditional love, grace, forgiveness, and the sacrificial mercy of the Gospel?

Where can you find a truly great church?

There are as many ways to do church wrong as there are churches. 

We’re no exception—as much as we try not to mess everything up, we’re just people. Just followers of Jesus. Just like the disciples. We’re not Jesus. We’re not the point. No matter how tempted we are to think so, we’re not supposed to think of ourselves as the greatest church in the world—we’re just supposed to receive people in His name and let Him lift them up. Humble ourselves in the sight of the Lord and let Him lift us up. Lifting up ourselves, bragging, pride—those are tricks of the world. Tricks that only pull us away from God and the good life He wants for us.

Jesus has called His church to be in the world but not of the world.

He brought the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of God, when He came in the flesh. At the Transfiguration, we saw those two realms overlap. The church exists in that overlap. The mysterious place between the kingdom of the world and the kingdom of God. In the world but not of the world—the church is like a foreign embassy from heaven planted on earth.

We really only have one job, let people know the kingdoms of this world have fallen and the kingdom of Christ has come. Get ready, the King is coming! The old rulers no longer have any authority here. The world, the flesh, the devil—they hate this. They continue to fight. But they’ve already lost.

We can strike them down with one single Word in Jesus’ name.

That phrase, “in Jesus’ name” is usually thought to mean “in His authority,” but that’s not the only thing it means. The most obvious sense of “Jesus’ name” is just how Jesus‚ how God, is known. His name is His revelation. To receive someone “in Jesus’ name” is to receive them on the basis of how God has revealed Himself in Jesus.

If we see someone else speaking against the world in Jesus’ name, even if they’re not one of us, even if we don’t like the way they’re doing it, if they’re not against Jesus then give them a high-five and get back to your own work. 

When Jesus says “the one who is not against you is for you,” it means the same thing as when He says in Matthew “He that is not with me is against me.” Those who do the work of Jesus are with Him and those who don’t do the work of Jesus are not. Faith always leads to faithfulness.

What does faithfulness look like? Receive people in Jesus’ name. Help the helpless, the weak. Speak life into the dead and dying. Rebuke evil, speak against demonic powers, but always speak the truth in love—which means with gentleness, kindness, patience, and self-control. Do to others what you would like them to do to you. 

Love the sinner, hate your own sin.

As I was saying all this, what did it make you think about? Like when Jesus held up the little child, and John was reminded of a guy he tried to shut down. What did it make you think about—in your life—that you should have done differently? Something you need to do differently going forward.

There’s been this guy living in a white SUV with his girlfriend and his dog in my neighborhood. On really hot days—which is pretty much all we’ve had lately—they’ve been stripping down to their underwear and laying in the grass beside their truck in the shade. Obviously, I don’t want them living like this in my subdivision. I’m pretty sure they don’t really want to be living this way, either. I feel for them—I didn’t want to call the police—all they’re going to do is chase them off to somewhere else. I just let it go. 

Reading this passage and getting ready for today’s sermon—I kept thinking I should do something to help them. At least go talk to them, pray with them, tell them about Jesus, try to hook them up with Hope Impacts. Something.

But someone else beat me to it. Thursday morning the police showed up and made them go somewhere else. I didn’t get a chance to talk with them—but maybe I’ll see them again. I’ll try to do better next time.

That’s how this is supposed to work. We hear God’s Word and it corrects us, challenges us, redirects us. Maybe there’s someone you need to talk to—apologize to—let them know you’ve been thinking you did them wrong. Maybe you need to repent of the attitude you’ve had toward some other church or some Christian who rubs you the wrong way. True belief and true repentance starts with hearing God’s Word. It starts with His kindness toward us.

Jesus receives you the same way He picked up that little child. You didn’t do anything. Your diapers are probably full and you were probably crying and driving everyone crazy. He picked you up and said you were great. His love is what makes you lovely. His greatness is what makes you great—because He put His name on you. You’re His. Anyone who receives you, receives Him. 

Which means anyone who blesses you will be blessed by Jesus. Anyone who curses you will be cursed by God. He’s not playing. You represent Him.

And here’s the other side of that. Now you get to pick up people and receive them in His name. Which is really good for the people you receive but it’s also really good for you. Because when you receive someone in Jesus name, someone helpless, someone who can’t offer you anything—Jesus says you’re receiving Him. When you receives Him, receives the Father who sent Him. There is nothing greater than that—to receive God is to receive salvation and life itself.

It’s not about any inherent qualities or talents we possess in ourselves. It’s not about our status in society or in the church. It’s about being received in Jesus’ name. Being connected to Him.

The Son of God who was just shown in His full glory in the Transfiguration. The One that God said was His beloved Son, to listen to Him. 

If you want to be great in His kingdom, come to Him like you need Him. Like you trust Him. Come to Him like a little child—a baby.

Whatever we do in this life is to be done by faith in Him. In His name. Not faith in anything else. Not our intellect, our education, our wealth, our talent, our status—like a baby, we trust in the One who is holding us. We’re safe because He has lifted us up. We’re only “great” because we’re with Him. 

This passage today is the end of Jesus’ Galilean ministry. The next verse will completely change everything. From now on, every step Jesus takes is a deliberate step toward His cross and His resurrection. We’ll pick up next time at verse 51.

Prayer: Father in heaven, let Your Word dwell in us. Receive us in the name of Jesus. Show us what You would have us do in response to this message, and remind us that we are not condemned because we’re being held by Jesus. AMEN