Upside Down: Greatness in a Child

The following is my humble and quick interpretation of an interaction Jesus had with His twelve closest friends, His disciples, as recorded in the Bible (Mark 9:33-37, Matthew 18:1-5, Luke 9:46-48)

“Who’s the greatest?” they argue. And the answers begin to fly around with convicted argument. The most popular. The one with the biggest boats and the most cows. The most attractive or intelligent, the most spiritual or accomplished. They whisper quietly among themselves, some boldy claiming a higher rung on the ladder, others just secretly wishing they had one.

And Jesus knows. He knows their conversation– though it happened in private. And He knows their hearts–though hidden behind whispers and masks.

And The Greatest Teacher of All gives a lesson none of these twelve grasping men will ever forget. He grabs the hand of a little one, a child. Was it a toddler with stumbling feet? A little girl wearing a shy smile? A 10 year-old boy with bare feet and a dirty face? In the midst of big strong fishermen and worldly-wise grown-ups, Jesus pulls a kid into the spotlight and asks the strong ones to look down. And He says empahtically as He crouches beside or maybe picks up, “This, guys, this is what you have to be and love to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, to be first. A child is

small and dependent,
trusting and innocent,
and imaginative.

A child
laughs easily and
believes big and
gives love freely.

This child-likeness is what makes true greatness. I want followers who serve, who humble themselves, who are like kids.” And the dozen bearded men notice the small arms and the wide eyes and the easy way of leaning back into Jesus, and their Leader whispers, “Just like this child, my friends.”

And maybe ruffling the dark hair of a little girl or tickling the tummy of a squirming toddler, the Rabbi adds another quality of greatness–”And, you follow Me best when you protect and treasure these little ones–the smallest and the weakest, the ones with the lowest status and the least chance of paying you back. ”

And I bet Jesus turned from his ladder-climbing friends for a minute and showed them in the flesh what He meant in His words by playing and listening and loving this child with which He had

quieted grown men and

flipped the ladder of success

upside down.

Thanks, Kelley from The Spill, for sharing this video first.

Tagged as: bible, children, humility, jesus, personal favs, quotes, videos