Greatest and Least
- Gary Fritsch
- Mar 25
- 2 min read
I am not sure why we do this, but I feel as though, when we think of heaven, we think of it as a communal "everyone is equal" sort of setting. And since God loves us all and heaven is the place of God's love, it seems to make sense. Until you read today's Gospel.
Jesus makes some very clear distinctions. The first one that sort of perked up my ears is this: the person who breaks the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do so will be kicked out of heaven, right? No. Still in heaven, just considered the least there. That's actually comforting to me. As someone who regulars teaches and speaks on the Bible, I am always concerned that I might say something awry. Well maybe it won't keep me out of heaven, but I'll have to take a lesser place.
The fact that Jesus mentions gradients, variants in the nature of heaven is very interesting. It makes me think that we may need to abandon our pass/fail approach to heaven. I think very often when considering the moral implications of various actions (our own and others') we might be focused on will it keep us out of heaven? This is a fair question and a reasonable concern, but I think we might have to dig deeper. If this is life is say 90 years, and the next life is well, forever or infinity times 90 years, and I think that any small thing that I do here might affect the measure of joy that I experience throughout all of eternity, it would also be completely fair and reasonable for me to seek to amend my behavior. I mean if that is something I believe.
Well, we believe what Jesus says. That is at the core of being a Christian, and Jesus says there is a difference in heaven. I also think that we might miss a difference maker of a statement in Jesus' words. He is talking about what we believe and do, but He is also talking about us teaching others. The teaching of others about Jesus in a good, true and honest way seems to be the ticket to being among the greatest in heaven.
I will never make the Baseball Hall of Fame. I don't think I'll ever win a Nobel peace prize. I don't mean to sound defeatist, but I don't think I will be counted among the greatest at anything on this earth. It may sound like I've given up on dreams. Nope. I have a new one: being counted among the greatest in heaven. That is doable for me, and for you. "But whoever obeys and teaches these commandments." Keep striving.
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