Some of you recognize the young Cassius Clay in the above picture. He once said: “I said I was great, even before I knew I was.”

In Luke 9:46-48 Jesus teaches that we must all be great in order to qualify as a Kingdom-of-God citizen. Here is another example of the need to add theological thinking to your exposition (see August 13, 2013 post) and to thicken your sermon with theology (see October 7, 2013 post). Like many of Jesus’ parables (and I take it that this instruction is a quasi-parable), Jesus ends the teaching in a way that forces us to evaluate whether or not our faith is well-executed. In this case a well-executed faith replaces arrogance and ambition with true humility. This is required of all true Believers and we must explain this to our listeners so all of them can be counted among the great that get into God’s Kingdom.

This requires us to show the connection between saving faith and a certain kind of lifestyle, something that occurs throughout Jesus’ teaching. According to v. 48 anyone who receives a child in Jesus’ name receives Jesus, which is equal to receiving God (“…receives him who sent me…”). By the way, virtually no one in our churches thinks of being saved as receiving God. Most all think of receiving Jesus. The attitude and accompanying action of receiving a child in Jesus’ name is synonymous with being “least.” And being “least” is being “great” (according to God’s criteria of greatness). Craddock writes, “Whoever welcomes the lowliest has shown humility appropriate to the kingdom.” The humility authenticates our faith in Christ. The humble are great in God’s Kingdom.

I think most of us preaching Luke 9:46-48 would do fairly well explaining why the disciples’ argument about who was the greatest among them was ugly and completely inappropriate. I think we would explain the significance of receiving the child. I hope that we would also preach in such a way that our parishioners would feel compelled to make the same choice Jesus’ hearers were forced to make: “Am I going to be great by grace that makes me least?” If you follow Jesus’ theology and logic, you will inevitably urge the proper response that constitutes worship during the teaching time.