Our Sermons

Bible Passage: Matthew 11:2-11
Pastor: Pastor Berg
Sermon Date:  December 11, 2022

Muhammed Ali loved to talk. He loved to try and intimidate his opponents before they even got in the ring with him. In the days before his 1964 World Heavyweight bout with Sonny Liston, Muhammed Ali gave us one of the most memorable quotes of all time. He said, “I am the greatest.” People will spend hours debating who is the G.O.A.T, the Greatest Of All Time. And it’s not just in boxing or the sports world. Across all avenues of life, from literature and art to politics and world history, people love to talk about the greats and try to determine who is the greatest.

It almost seems like Jesus got caught up in the hype in our account here in Matthew chapter 11, doesn’t it? He waxes poetically about the ministry of John the Baptist. Just look at what he says in verse 11: “Amen I tell you: Among those born of women there has not appeared anyone greater than John the Baptist.” John was the greatest of the prophets. Not Elijah, not even Moses was greater according to Jesus. He even pulled out his trump card to end all debate. He says, “Amen.” Amen I tell you! But then Jesus throws us a curveball. He says something that causes us to stop, maybe makes our jaws drop just a bit. After confirming without a doubt that John the Baptist was the greatest of the prophets, he says, “Yet whoever is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.” 

Whoever is the least,whoever is the smallest in the kingdom of heaven is greater than John? What in the world is Jesus talking about? Who is Jesus talking about?

So what brought this topic of greatest and smallest up anyway? Listen again: “While John was in prison, he heard about the things Christ was doing. He sent two of his disciples to ask him, “Are you the Coming One or should we wait for someone else?”” Scholars have debated who was really looking for answers to this question. Some feel that John sent his disciples out to find Jesus for their benefit. They had seen their master, their teacher put in prison for speaking the truth. They had heard him say how he wasn’t the Messiah, how he was simply preparing the way for the Messiah to come. They had seen him point to Jesus and heard him say, “Look the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”  The recoiled when Jesus was getting more publicity than John but then heard John say frankly, “He must increase, I must decrease.” It would be perfectly natural and pastoral of John to send his disciples to Jesus, who was the true Rabbi for Israel, the true Messiah. 

However, there are just as many scholars who believe that John sent his disciples to Jesus for his own personal benefit. John had been in prison for quite some time already. He had predicted great things about Jesus. We heard his harsh words to the Pharisees last week: “Already the ax is ready to strike the root of the tree…” John prophesied stern judgment for Israel. Matthew says, “When John was in prison, he heard about the things the Christ was doing…” John heard all the wonderful reports about Jesus, but where was the judgment? Where was the retribution? As John languished in prison, it was only natural for him to have doubts about what was happening outside those walls. It seemed like evil was winning! John, like many of the Jews, may have had an image of Messiah in his mind that Jesus just wasn’t fitting. Certainly those unmet expectations were part of the reason John sent his disciples. 

Can you and I relate? I think we can. How many of us haven’t run into unmet expectations about the Christian life, the life of following Christ? Many of the “Christian” messages out there proclaim a prosperity gospel. If you are a true Christian, a true believer, if your life is right with God, then you’ll be successful and prosperous in whatever you do. You want to have more blessings? Live better! And maybe because that teaching is so prevalent, we start believing it without realizing it. We think that because we’re Christians, because we’re trying our best to live our lives according to God’s plan for us that we should be blessed more than everyone else. And by more blessed we mean financially and physically. SO what happens when we’re not? What happens when we continue to struggle just to make ends meet? What happens when we have to live paycheck to paycheck? What happens when tragedy strikes and troubles linger and it seems like those who don’t care about God at all are the ones prospering? Don’t we find ourselves questioning and doubting  whether this whole Christian thing is the right thing? Don’t we ask the same question as John? Is Jesus really the way, the truth, and the life? Is Jesus really the Messiah?

Though doubts may assail us, though they may attack our faith; having doubts, having questions doesn’t mean we don’t have faith. And when we have doubts, we should do the same exact thing John did with his doubts. He took them to Jesus. And notice how Jesus reassured John. He didn’t just simply say, “I am the Messiah.” Listen to what he said: “Jesus answered them, “Go, report to John what you hear and see: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the gospel is preached to the poor. Blessed is the one who does not take offense at me.”” Jesus pointed to the evidence in his ministry. All of the things he mentioned referred to prophecies made in the Old Testament about the Messiah. The blind receiving sight, the lame walking, leprosy cured, the deaf hearing, the dead rising were all miracles found in Jesus’ ministry multiple times! The evidence that Jesus was the promised one to come was overwhelming. No, the judgment wasn’t there, yet. But Jesus didn’t come the first time primarily to judge, but to save. And the only way that people are saved is by hearing the gospel.

When doubts and questions about our Christian life arise, we also should take them to Jesus. And just like with John, he points us to the evidence of his works in our midst. No, we won’t find such charismatic miracles as curing blindness or making lame people walk, but every time we gather around the Word, miracles abound. The penitent are forgiven, children are baptized, faith is created, Jesus comes to us and gives us his very body and blood, in, with, and under the bread and wine. Charismatic, no, but no less of miracles!

And that’s how God has chosen to work among us. He works through things that most would find insignificant and unimportant. Jesus explains this by using John himself as an example: “As these two were leaving, Jesus began to talk to the crowds about John. “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? What did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? No, those who wear soft clothing are in kings’ houses. So what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you! And he is much more than a prophet. This is the one about whom it is written, ‘Look, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.’ Amen I tell you: Among those born of women there has not appeared anyone greater than John the Baptist. Yet whoever is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.” 

There’s a long list of prophets from the Old Testament that could be considered great. Moses, Elijah, and Elisha probably top the list. Yet, Jesus says that there’s one prophet who rises about them all. It’s John. John was the greatest of the prophets. “Among those born of women there has not appeared anyone greater than John the Baptist.” John was the greatest because of the mission he was given, to prepare the way for Messiah. John is the greatest, argument settled. Until Jesus says, “Yet whoever is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.” 

Who is the least in the kingdom of heaven? There are a couple of ways to look at this, both equally valid, both equally meaningful. One way, is to see the least one, the smallest one, as Jesus. Who would consider a baby, lying helpless in the manger as the greatest? Who would consider a man the greatest who is down washing his disciples feet? Who would be considered the greatest who is despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, a man familiar with suffering? Would not the one would was mocked and mistreated and unjustly put to death on the cross be the least, the smallest? Yet, in all of those things, Jesus proved himself to be the greatest! By making himself the least, the smallest, by making himself nothing and taking on human flesh, by taking on the form of a servant, Jesus proved himself to be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. By his humiliation, by setting aside his greatness, Jesus saved the world. By coming as that baby in Bethlehem, Jesus removed all doubts and fears about our eternity. Jesus is the greatest by becoming the smallest. 

And so are we, my friends. Time and time again, who does Jesus hold up for us as an example for our faith, what our faith, our life should be like? Isn’t it a little child? Isn’t it the smallest in the eyes of the world? He says time and again: “Amen I tell you: Unless you are turned and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” What do little children, the smallest in the world do? They trust completely. They don’t look to themselves or depend on themselves for anything. They depend and trust completely on someone else. Our greatness in the kingdom of heaven, in the Church is not measured by our works or the size of our faith. Our greatness is measured by our smallness. How much do I depend on Jesus? How much do I trust in Jesus for everything? By depending on Jesus alone, by making ourselves small, God makes us great. He gives us everything that is Christ’s.

Ask yourselves this morning, Am I the smallest? Am I the smallest that I can be? Am I looking to myself or am I looking to Christ? Am I trusting myself or am I trusting Christ? Am I looking for glory or gratitude or recognition for my work in the church, or do I deflect everything to Christ? 

As we draw ever closer to the cradle, that small bed for the smallest in the kingdom of heaven, may we make ourselves small by trusting in that little child like a little child. May we place our faith, our trust, our hopes and dreams in Christ alone! Then we can rightly boast, I am the smallest. Amen.

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