J. J.
May the words of my mouth, and the meditations of our hearts, be acceptable in Thy sight,
O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
“One is the loveliest number”
Our gospel reading today is in three parts. It opens with the disciples asking Jesus, yet again, who will be greatest. After explaining to them the need to be like a little child, the reading continues with a warning about sin, and the perplexing words of Our Lord, to “cut off” the offending member of our bodies. This selection then closes with a brief parable about a shepherd, who searches for a lost sheep.
Now, on the initial reading, this strikes one as an usual collection. The three sections don’t seem to go together. Yet, as we will see, they have one thing in common.
As our reading opens, the disciples come asking about being the greatest. Nothing new really. And we are still doing that today. The greatest ball player. The greatest country singer. Mohammed Ali called himself “The Greatest.” So the disciples are wanting to be the greatest disciple, the greatest in Christ’s kingdom. How does Jesus answer them. He calls over a child, and says be like him. More precisely He says turn and become like a little child. Turning precedes the becoming. What kind of turning?
Literally, “about face.” You disciples are heading in the wrong direction. Stop going that way. Stop thinking that way. In fact, unless you humble yourselves, you won’t just not be the greatest in the kingdom, you won’t even BE in the kingdom. Humble oneself? How?
The disciples, like the Pharisees, were seeking a position of importance. But being in the kingdom means seeking a low estate. In that low estate, when we are not trying to build ourselves up, God picks us up, and uses us for His purpose and His glory. As Mary said when she heard from the angel Gabriel that she would be the mother of the Savior, “He has regarded the low estate of His maiden, and done great things to me.” (Luke 1)
The picture humility is a little clearer when we consider the last part of this section. It’s actually down in verse 10. We can miss it because of the intervening discussion about the woes of sin. But after that, and just before the parable of the shepherd and the lost sheep, Jesus returns briefly to this illustration of the little child. We can see that this sentence is a follow-up to our opening section, because Jesus again mentions, “these little ones.” So what does He say? “Be careful not to despise them.” Now, despise here does not mean hate or dislike. It means to disdain, to actively look down on, to disregard. To consider unimportant or unworthy.
Who are these little ones? They are not just children, but the “little ones of faith.” That is what it says in verse 6, the little ones who believe in Me: Those new to the faith, those weak in faith, those who are still learning the faith. Don’t despise, look down on them.
Instead of trying to be number one and being the greatest, seek rather to be one. To be one with them, one with each other. Don’t disconnect but connect. The little ones are connected to God. For their angels are always beholding the face of God. And if they are important to God, who are we to regard them as unimportant.
In the second section, Jesus talks of the woes of sin. He tells us, “If your hand sins against you, cut it off.” For it is better to go into life with one hand, then go to hell with two. What is this? Jesus is not telling us to cut off our hands or put out our eyes. Don’t leave here with than mistaken notion, or listen to anyone who tells you that. Well, then what is He saying? It looks like those are the words.
Look closely and carefully, Jesus said to do that, “if your hand sins against you.” But your hand does not sin against you. We may use our hands to sin, but it is us, we, who are doing the sinning, not our hands. So cutting off our hands won’t cure the problem. You and I will still be there, and our sin will still be with us. If amputation were the solution, Christ would not have been crucified. God the Father did not send His only Son, Whom He loves, to execution and death for nothing. We cannot separate ourselves from our own sin. Christ took our sin, the sin which separates us from God, and separated us from it. That we might be one with Him and the Father. Not number one. But one. United. Together.
Jesus is illustrating two points. First, that sin is real and serious business. And that we ought be willing to pay any price to be rid of it. Isn’t humility an easier price than amputation? Yet our pride won’t let us do that, will it? I know my pride can get in the way, especially when I least expect it. Thanks be to God, that He has paid the price for us.
The second point is that God values our unity as His church. We would never cut off our hand, cut off a member of our body, because we value our body. And our body is only our body as long as it is in one piece. United and together. So, if we value our human body as to not cut off a member, then how much more ought we to value the Church, the body of Christ, and not cut off a member? Other fellow members are not sinning against us. They are not the cause of our sin, any more than my hand or my eye is the cause of my sin. I am the cause of my sin, and you are the cause of your sin. If we would not cut off our hand or poke out our eye, then let us not cut off, disdain, or look down or our little brother or sister in Christ.
Notice the warning about that. If we cut off our hand, we are crippled, but still enter into life. If however, we cause a little one of the faith to stumble and fall away, then we would be better to have drown in the sea.
That brings us to the parable of the shepherd. He has a hundred sheep, one is missing. He goes and finds the sheep, and rejoices greatly. More so than over the 99 he still has. Why? Is it because that particular sheep is so much more valuable than the others? No, each sheep is valuable. You and you and you, each are valuable to God. The shepherd rejoices because the sheep was not where it should be, but now it is back. It is united with the shepherd and with the sheep. The flock is unified, it is one again. One, not number one. Trying to be number one, and doing what it wanted to do, what I want to do, what we want to do, is what got that sheep lost in the first place.
Does this sound familiar to you? It should. When the prodigal son came home, and Father ran to greet him, and bring him in, there was much rejoicing. He killed the fatted calf. There was more rejoicing than over the 99, the older son, He had with him. And the older son did not get it. He complained about all he had done. He was still trying to be number one. Instead of being one – with his Father and with his brother – he wanted to be the one. And found himself by himself. Alone.
Some have said, It’s lonely at the top. And in seeking to be better than others, to be number One, we can find that one is the loneliest number. But Christ has redeemed us, Church. He has taken the sin that separates us from the Father, and from each other. That by His grace and love, we may love Him, and love one another.
One body. One flock. One shepherd. Yes, one is the loveliest number.
S. D. G.
