December 3 | The Training

Jesus needs to get his disciples’ attention. They just argued about who is more important, missing so much of what Jesus is teaching them. He pulls a young child into the group. He tells his disciples, “Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me” (welcome is a key word you likely starred). The disciples argue about being the greatest, and here Jesus tells them to be nice to someone as low on the first-century social ladder as a child! A first-century child represented a massive need with minimal status. They weren’t old enough to work the fields or even be a shepherd. They only used community resources, not produced them. Jesus tells his disciples that when they welcomed someone like that, they were welcoming him. It’s like that person is standing in for Jesus.

It is easy to overlook the people at the bottom of the social ladder today. We focus on people who can do something for us, whether that is a friend who can get us a discount, a co-worker who can help us get a promotion or an influential teammate. Our relationships are often about helping us move up or doing something for us. Jesus wants to challenge that thinking. Instead of focusing on who can help us, we can focus on those who don’t get noticed. Jesus encourages us to look for those people who may feel unimportant or uninvited and roll out the red carpet for them. While we may not be able to invite people into our homes or take them out for dinner right now, there are things we can do to help our hearts focus on those who may feel unimportant.