Title: Who Is the Greatest? (The Courage to Be Humble, Serve, and Welcome Others)
Scripture: Luke 9:46–48
Today’s passage is quite short. But its meaning becomes alive only when we consider it within the broader context.
Especially, it presents a striking contrast with the preceding paragraph.
That contrast is precisely what allows us to hear the voice of God speaking through Luke.
Jesus had just foretold His death, but the disciples were focused on something else entirely.
In many ways, their thoughts, concerns, and actions were the exact opposite of Jesus’.
Even though they had lived with Jesus, preached with Him, and cast out demons in His name, they could not fully abandon their human nature.
In simple terms, the focus was not on their power to cast out demons, but on the cross—Jesus’ death.
This shows that the starting point of their thoughts was fundamentally different.
And when people continue down a path based on a different premise, the end result becomes a wide chasm—like heaven and hell.
Jesus pointed out a few key differences in thought:
The first statement:
“Whoever welcomes this little child in my name welcomes me.”
The second:
“Whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me.”
To summarize, “Whoever welcomes this little child in my name is actually welcoming God.”
And Jesus supports this with the central teaching of the passage:
“For it is the one who is least among you all who is the greatest.”
Here, we need to ask ourselves: “Why were they so concerned about being the greatest?”
Why were the disciples—and why are we—so fixated on greatness?
Perhaps it’s because we live in a world where the great rule over the small.
The small look up to the great, admire them, applaud them.
This thirst for recognition, for honor, may have been the real reason.
The desire to be great likely stemmed from the inability to resist that temptation.
In contrast, what was Jesus focused on?
Not the rule of the great over the small, but lowering oneself to serve and to sacrifice—and it all begins with welcoming others.
That’s not an easy mindset to adopt, let alone put into action in daily life.
You might be taken advantage of. You might be hurt.
But perhaps that’s precisely why Jesus said: the one who does so is the truly great one.
We may be afraid:
“What if I welcome someone only to find out they mean me harm? What if they’re more powerful than I am?”
That’s why a heart ready to serve must come before the act of welcoming.
Before we welcome, we need the courage and faith to overcome the fear of the unfamiliar and to overcome ourselves.
So what about our own mindset?
Do we feel uncomfortable around strangers?
Are we afraid to take the first step toward them?
The church is a gathering of people who have welcomed Jesus as their Lord and God.
So we must rethink what it really means to welcome Jesus.
Is our understanding of “welcoming Jesus” the same as what Jesus meant?
Welcoming Jesus means humility—it means He came down from heaven to earth, from the universe to a small planet.
It means receiving, honoring, and embracing.
He overcame the fear of difference and came near to us.
But our flesh, wanting to be great, seeks to go from earth to heaven, from smallness to greatness.
It naturally fears and rejects what is different.
If we welcome Jesus without letting go of this human nature, our welcome may be hollow.
What good is it to say we welcome Jesus if we cannot even welcome one small child?
If this is the case, then we must examine what our sin is and where we went wrong—by going back to the Word.
We must repent and turn away from worldly values, thoughts, and fleshly tendencies.
If we have truly welcomed Jesus as our Savior, we must ask:
Are we ready to become small like a child? Do we have a heart that longs to serve?
Even if we manage to become “big” in the world, it’s just a comparison among acorns.
And if our desire for greatness is based on the wrong motives, it becomes a burden—meaningless and exhausting.
Instead, like Jesus taught us, let’s humble ourselves, seek to serve, overcome fear, and have the courage to draw near and welcome others.
Let’s also confess that we cannot do this by our own strength.
But we recognize it is God’s will—so we can ask the Holy Spirit to help us follow that will.
What matters is not how great we can become in the eyes of the world,
but how well we serve—like Jesus did.
Amen.
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