Matthew 18:1-3: Becoming Like Children

“Unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven,” Jesus in Matthew 18:3

The upshot of it all is, then, this: that the Kingdom of God is not taken—acquired—laid hold of; it is just "received." It comes to men, men do not come to it. And when it comes to men, they merely "receive" it, "as"—"like"— "a little child." That is to say, they bring nothing to it and have nothing to recommend them to it except their helplessness. They depend wholly on the King.  (Benjamin Warfield, 'Conferences' in the Oratory of Princeton Seminary, p. 79)
 

In 1962, Swiss theologian Karl Barth was lecturing at Princeton Theological Seminary. According to church lore, he was asked to summarize the theological meaning of the millions of words in his book Church Dogmatics. Barth thought for a moment and said: “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.” 

The lesson of the past several chapters has been learning to walk by faith in Jesus.  This theme continues in chapter 18.    These lessons here in the heart of Matthew’s gospel parallel the believer’s journey with Christ.  First, our journey with Christ begins when we come to know him for who he truly is.  Peter proclaimed to Jesus, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God,” (16:16).  Second, through testing we learn to trust him, as the disciples went through various trials that strengthened their faith in Christ (16:21-17:27).  

Third, as we learn to trust him, we also learn to love one another as Christ has loved us.  This is the theme of chapter 18.   The commandment to love your neighbor as yourself is second only to the Greatest Commandment: loving (i.e., learning to trust) God with all our heart, soul and mind (22:37-39).  

Mark included a few verses in his parallel narrative that serve as a prequel to this passage.  While in Capernaum and likely at Peter’s house, Jesus asked his disciples, “What were you discussing on your way here?”  (Mark 9:33)  At first there is only silence “for on the way they had argued with one another about who was the greatest,” (Mark 9:34).    At this point Matthew picks up the story with a chronological time stamp: “At that time,” (v. 1).  Although we don’t know the amount of time, we do know that the disciples’ question in verse 1 comes quickly after the end of chapter 17. 

“The disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”  The question seems preposterous.  But wait.  Jesus does seem to show favorites.   Peter was directly praised (16:18) and only three disciples went with Jesus up the mountain while the rest failed an exorcism.  Even though Jesus spoke of our need to deny ourselves and take up our cross (see 16:24), this does not happen naturally, as the disciples’ question illustrates. 

The male ego breaks easily and constantly needs to be stroked.  As a male, I understand why the disciples asked about who is the greatest.  When my ego is bruised, I often compare myself to others and I want to know where I fit in the pecking order.  Jesus, aware of our fragile egos, uses an object lesson to answer the disciples’ question. And as usual, he totally turns upside-down the expectations of his disciples and breaks the world’s paradigms.

And calling to him a child (perhaps Peter’s child) he put him in the midst of them and said, “Truly I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven,” (vv.2-3).   There is no room for the boisterousness of human achievement, or as John calls it, “the boastful pride of life,” (1 John 2:16, NASB). 

Recently the mayor of a large city in America proclaimed, “When I get to heaven I’m not stopping to be interviewed. I am heading straight in. I have earned my place in heaven.”   As alien and prideful as this may sound, it is not uncommon for people to believe that “I’m not such a bad guy; God will surely let me in.”   But Jesus calls us to turn and repent from that attitude.  He wants us to trust as a child, not boast about ourselves.