Welcome, or Look Down

Matt 18:1-10

 

1. Today we will visit Kalamazoo Deacons Conference in downtown area. It is a historic event for our congregation to go to the poor and needy people. We live in the same city, and we have quickly passed by such people and such area. We feel uncomfortable to talk to them. But today we approach toward them, though we do not directly meet them yet.

2. God will be very pleased today because of us, because we are about to obey His difficult command to love and care the poor and the needy. Some of you might have already touched and helped them, but today we obey God as a congregation. Like the Good Samaritan, today we approach and visit them. It is more significant that this is not one-time activity or tour, but opening door and starting point for our ongoing ministry.

3. We bring some gifts for them, but the most essential and valuable gift that we have to carry is our love for them. As 1 Corinthian 13 pointed out, “If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.”(3) We should not forget that this is an act of obedience to God command to love our poor neighbors. What any human being really needs is not only food or materials but our genuine and humble love.

4. Whenever we meet a human being, we either welcome or look down. Jesus asked for us to welcome the little ones, saying that “whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me.”(5) Here a little one means not only a little child but also the weak and poor. Welcoming is to be glad to meet and hug, smile and even shout, joyfully approach and make fellowship. To welcome is to love. It is not easy but precious both for them and us. It is a process of salvation and curriculum of training for the Heavenly Kingdom. Our welcoming love will cheer, encourage, and empower their pessimistic and painful souls.

5. On the other hand, Jesus asked for us not to look down on them: “See that you do not look down on one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven.”(10) If we look them down simply because they are poor and dirty, Jesus said that it will cause them to sin. Every human being is created in the image of God and therefore whatever condition one is in he or she should be respected. If one is despised or looked down, he or she is angry so as to develop hate and revenge. We should be very careful not to offend them by our careless attitude or loveless language. Then, we may not approach them. If that happens, it will be a serious crime and tragedy. So, Jesus condemned such behavior severely: “if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. If your hand or your foot causes you to sin cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire. And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.”(6-9) It is all because we do not approach them with love. We should be very careful not to offend anybody including our children or any people weaker than us. It is a grave sin of all because it destroys soul: “Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to sin! Such things must come, but woe to the man through whom they come!”(7)

6. What makes this world more sinful and dark is not poverty or ignorance itself but ignoring and despising our fellow humans. All this happened in the sinful spirit of competition and superiority complex that God does not approve, as seen in the background of the text: “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”(1) The answer of Jesus totally invalidates human struggle to be superior: “whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”(4) God’s viewpoint and judgment is totally different from the secular ones. Let us go down to our poor brothers and sisters with our value fundamentally upside down: Look down us not them. Then, we will be a wonderful instrument of God to deliver the love of Jesus Christ to them!