“Teacher, so, do I just have to be good to go to heaven?” This was the question asked by one of the six-year-olds in my Sunday School class one day. I was busy preparing their craft pieces to hand out to them. I had a lesson planned that day and just about ready to deliver it when asked this important question. “Everyone tells me to be good but is that all?” she went on to ask. The Holy Spirit spoke to my heart and led me to stop the previously planned lesson and put the brakes on what I thought would be a good lesson. Jesus reversed my thinking. “This child wants to know Me and you need to tell her” I heard Him whisper to me in that still small voice.
I explained salvation in first grade language. The Holy Spirit had already prepared her heart. We prayed together, first me by example then her. She had the faith of a child who was ready to believe, accept, and follow Jesus as the One who made her “good” enough by forgiving her of all her sins while helping her by His Spirit living in her with the hard stuff of life now with praise and rejoicing later with Him in heaven. She understood and could not wait to tell her mom and the rest of the church! She ran to tell them all!
When we come to Christ, our thinking is reversed from thinking selfishly like the world. We seek to do life more and more like Jesus taught and lived. We turn to God first to see what HE wants us to be and do each day of our new lives of relationship with Him. Kingdom of God thinking is the opposite of what our enemy would have us think. This is what Jesus calls the Great Reversal in our passage today.
“Let the children come to me…” –Jesus
Matthew 19, The Message
To Enter God’s Kingdom
13-15 One day children were brought to Jesus in the hope that he would lay hands on them and pray over them. The disciples shooed them off. But Jesus intervened: “Let the children alone, don’t prevent them from coming to me. God’s kingdom is made up of people like these.” After laying hands on them, he left.
16 Another day, a man stopped Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?”
17 Jesus said, “Why do you question me about what’s good? God is the One who is good. If you want to enter the life of God, just do what he tells you.”
18-19 The man asked, “What in particular?”
Jesus said, “Don’t murder, don’t commit adultery, don’t steal, don’t lie, honor your father and mother, and love your neighbor as you do yourself.”
20 The young man said, “I’ve done all that. What’s left?”
21 “If you want to give it all you’ve got,” Jesus replied, “go sell your possessions; give everything to the poor. All your wealth will then be in heaven. Then come follow me.”
22 That was the last thing the young man expected to hear. And so, crestfallen, he walked away. He was holding on tight to a lot of things, and he couldn’t bear to let go.
23-24 As he watched him go, Jesus told his disciples, “Do you have any idea how difficult it is for the rich to enter God’s kingdom? Let me tell you, it’s easier to gallop a camel through a needle’s eye than for the rich to enter God’s kingdom.”
25 The disciples were staggered. “Then who has any chance at all?”
26 Jesus looked hard at them and said, “No chance at all if you think you can pull it off yourself. Every chance in the world if you trust God to do it.”
27 Then Peter chimed in, “We left everything and followed you. What do we get out of it?”
28-30 Jesus replied, “Yes, you have followed me. In the re-creation of the world, when the Son of Man will rule gloriously, you who have followed me will also rule, starting with the twelve tribes of Israel. And not only you, but anyone who sacrifices home, family, fields—whatever—because of me will get it all back a hundred times over, not to mention the considerable bonus of eternal life. This is the Great Reversal: many of the first ending up last, and the last first.”
WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?
It is natural for us to want to be first, be the best, clamor for attention while pushing and shoving our way to the top. Is it hereditary of environmental, (the great debate) that causes a first grader to run, knocking down anyone who gets in their way, to be the first in line to go anywhere? As a public school teacher of first graders, my observance of this behavior daily caused me to grieve over all the ways these little ones did that caused harm to each other—just to be first in line. It didn’t matter where we were going, the fight was on at the sound of the bell—like Pavlov’s dog! They were conditioned to fight for position!
But, isn’t this act by six-year-olds just a microcosm of what the world teaches and demonstrates to us daily? We are bombarded with phrases such as “Be you, be the best, be the leader, do it your way, have it your way, be first, listen to no one but yourself, you know what is best for you”—and worst of all—”follow your heart.” God says our hearts deceive us so that is not a good choice at all! (Jeremiah 17:9-10, Proverbs 4:23, Romans 14:13)
The Great Reversal of thinking is to seek others interest ahead of your own. Wait, what?! Yes! See Philippians 2 for the Greatest Example of Reversed Kingdom of God thinking and behaving. Here is a portion…
“Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.
You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.
Though he was God,
he did not think of equality with God
as something to cling to.
Instead, he gave up his divine privileges;
he took the humble position of a slave
and was born as a human being.
When he appeared in human form,
he humbled himself in obedience to God
and died a criminal’s death on a cross.
Philippians 2:3-8
Follow God’s heart! For only God is good!
Matthew, Mark, and John all quoted and they expounded this “first shall be last and last shall be first” teaching of Jesus! So, it’s probably pretty important for us to learn, moving away from what is natural, hereditary and environmental to what is spiritually healthy and appropriate for Kingdom of God living!
“Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”—Jesus
(Matthew 20:28) See Matthew 20, Mark 10 and John 13 for the complete parable describing yet again the great reversal of thinking and behaving that will become a part of all who believe and follow Jesus by giving all of ourselves to Him.
The little girl who came to Jesus that day in Sunday School would later suffer a few months later from a pain in one of her legs that would not go away. Her parents took her to the doctor. Through many tests for validity, they would discover an aggressive, fast-growing cancer in that leg. From the knee down that leg was amputated to prevent the death of this precious child. She would go through months of chemo, losing her long beautiful hair, going to school and church faithfully while weakened by the chemicals in her body used to fight the disease.
She fought fearlessly, for she had Jesus—her Savior and Lord. Everyone who met her, remarked about how courageous she was, always smiling and joking as she went through a time of suffering that would have tested the faith of a person much older than she was. I admired her and told her with every visit.
Let the children come to Me, says Jesus, “God’s kingdom is made up of people like these.”
Ah, The Great Reversal! The Kingdom of God is made up of people with childlike faith!
Jesus changed the mind of his disciples but did not change the mind of the rich man. Has Jesus changed your mind? Think about it, I am. Let’s take all the time we need to evaluate how we think with how our thinking affects our behaviors.
EPILOGUE
I recalled Jesus’ words one day as I watched my first graders clamor for position to be first in line. I didn’t say a word, but just waited until the scrambling was done. First graders notice more when you are silent than when you are reprimanding repeatedly. So, I just stood there. I calmly took the hand of the victor of first place in line and said, “Follow me.” I turned the line around putting the first at the back with the order reversed. I then said, “the first will be last and the last will be first today.” “Let’s go.”
Nothing more was said. They got it. There was less shoving and pushing to be first because they never knew when I would do the great reversal of line order.
However, after a while, some would fight to be last—just in case. Ugh. Teaching and learning never ceases. None of us have arrived.
Lord,
Thank you for never giving up on us, always teaching us by your example. We are not perfect but we certainly perfectly forgiven. Thank you for showing us what it means to love fully, serve cheerfully, and give all we have joyfully. This reversal of thinking brings me peace. The Greatest Reversal trading hopelessness and helplessness for the Hope and Help I have in You! Thank you, thank you, thank you! And thank you for all the experiences of life, good and bad, that teach us and draw us even closer to You. We see what you doing here…to prepare us for eternity with you.
In Jesus Name, For Your Glory, Amen
Daily Manna (Coffee with Jesus) 