Grace, mercy and peace be unto you from God, our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. Our text is the Gospel reading from Matthew 11, in particular, verse 11: [Jesus said,] "Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he."

What makes for greatness? Who sets the terms? In our world, we call great those who are rich, powerful, famous, talented, and beautiful: great athletes, great leaders, great philanthropists, great actors, great managers and executives. Many of us long to be great; to achieve greatness in the eyes of the world. But not all of us are so ambitious. Some will settle for being a great mother or father, husband or wife, student or employee. Either way, we desire to be great in the eyes of those around us. And all of us sometimes succumb to the sin of pride, being great in our own eyes?

What about greatness in the Christian church? Churchly greatness must be better or holier than worldly greatness. Today, the model for being a great church involves appealing to the masses, getting them in the door, and keeping them there. Greatness supposedly comes to the church that gets out into the public eye and does all sorts of noble good works and sets the community ablaze with love for the Lord. And being part of this great church is supposed to make you feel great, since it provides uplifting worship and unites you with a group of like-minded people who will shower you with friendship and love. Of course, the great church has to have a great minister, who is witty, entertaining, likeable, and accommodating, a great "people person," just like everyone else in the great church. That's what folks want in a church and minister—greatness—right?

But listen to Jesus for a minute. He says, "Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist." Well, Jesus, you must be mistaken. John fit none of the world's criteria for greatness; he was not talented, attractive, rich, or powerful. Quite the opposite, really. John was a religious radical—certainly not a sign of greatness these days, even in the church—and he dressed in homemade, scratchy, camel-hair garments, had wild hair full of brambles, lived out in the wilderness, and scavenged for meals of locusts and wild honey. He drove off most of his own followers by sending them to follow Jesus. After a short ministry he ended up in jail, and soon lost his head at the wish of a dancing girl. John sure wasn't great, according to worldly standards. Yet the words of Jesus still stand: "Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist."

But what about according the more modest standards of today's church? How does John stack up? Well he certainly had mass appeal, with crowds flocking out to hear him preach, but then his message drove so many away. "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. Every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cast into the fire." The urgency of his call to repent puts us off, doesn't it? His religious fanaticism would have him labeled a madman in today's genteel church. His message was unsettling; he called for people to face up to God's judgment without pulling any punches; without saving face—never a popular theme. His message did not uplift the emotions; he did not organize any mission trips or service projects; the only thing his audience had in common was their sinfulness; he was just not witty, entertaining, and accommodating, a great "people person" as everyone wants in a minister. So not only by the world's standards was John not great, but also by the church's standards.

But the Lord Jesus calls John the greatest of men, and what the Lord says is always true. We can't fit John into our standards, but since when have our standards mattered? Jesus sets the terms for all our discussions of greatness, since He is the Lord, and He defines reality.

Then what really made John great? The better question is, "Who made John great?" Who made John great was the One who sent Him, God the Father. John was sent to blaze the way for the Father's Son, the One coming after John whose sandals John was not even worthy to untie. The Lord made John great for His own purposes, in His own way: more than a prophet, John was the herald of the dawning of a new Day. He was great because the Holy Spirit had filled him even in the womb. John's name was found in the Old Testament—Elijah—and John was the great Elijah who would come to call God's people back, to call them to repent and recognize the day of their salvation.

And we can actually see John's greatness in his humility and lack of concern for himself. You know the sayings, right? A truly rich man has no need to speak about his wealth or live ostentatiously. A truly beautiful woman never alludes to her beauty. And truly great persons do not have to promote themselves, but just confidently go about their business. John never promoted himself, but came promoting another One: "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29). John's finger was always pointed away from himself and toward Jesus. Lest anyone get the impression that John wanted to make something of himself, John exalted Jesus, saying, "I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before Him…He must increase, but I must decrease" (John 3:28, 30). That was John's greatness: that he pointed to the Messiah, the Savior of the world.

Do you want to be great? Then be like John: keep your eyes steadily fixed on Jesus, and your finger pointed in His direction. Of course, you might lose some respect from the world if you do this, or you might even lose your head, as John did; but you would be walking in the path of greatness, following behind the Lamb of God who carries away your sins and the sins of the whole world.

Now that we have seen the greatness of John the Baptist, at this point, we still need to answer one more question about our text: who is this one who is "least in the kingdom of heaven" yet is greater than John? Jesus said, "Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he."

Jesus became the least in the kingdom of heaven, the one greater than John the Baptist. Now let me be clear about what this means: Jesus was truly born of a woman, just like John was. What Jesus is defining here is two differing periods of time: when He refers to those born of women, He is pointing back into the Old Testament period before the Kingdom of God arrived in the person of Jesus. John always preached that the One who was coming after him would be greater, and that greater One was Jesus. And now that Jesus was here, the Kingdom of Heaven was at hand, as John and Jesus both announced at the beginning of their ministries: "Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand." That Kingdom came in Jesus, and John was the one heralding that kingdom.

But what's really surprising is that Jesus would be the least in the Kingdom of heaven. I mean, if Jesus is truly the only-begotten Son of God, the Sovereign, Almighty King in the Kingdom of heaven, then how is it that He called Himself the least? This is where you have to shut your mind off to the world's way of thinking about greatness and accustom yourself to God's ways. His ways are not our ways; they are higher; or better, lower. They are greatest; or better, least.

In two weeks we will celebrate the birth of Jesus, and folks will dream of how charming and awesome the event was, maybe because of the serene nativity scenes they have in their houses and the idea of a host of angels singing in the heavens. But it just wasn't so tidy and lovely that night as we might imagine. This was long before running water, indoor toilets, labor and delivery rooms, and home security systems. It was a politically unstable world with high infant mortality and low life expectancies. And the food; well, even a humble potluck meal today has more variety and flavor than even a king's feast did two thousand years ago.

And that was the world your Lord and God was born into. Not too practical, or sensible, was it? Not really all that great. Only a few people knew about his birth at the time, a few smelly shepherds being the most notable of the bunch. And when the child grew up He was not so different than other boys His age. When He took off to begin His ministry, He went out without a penny or a place to lay His head. His brothers and sisters consistently thought He had lost His mind for becoming an itinerant preacher and begged Him to come home and lead a respectable life. And He regularly disappointed the expectations of His handful of followers when He did not enter the world's political scene by force and make it big. Eventually He wound up crucified next to two common criminals, the most shameful fate a Jew could ever imagine.

And you want to tell me that Jesus was great? Maybe we could buy that He was greater than John the Baptist, but does it even seem that Jesus could qualify as least in the Kingdom of Heaven—could He be part of the Kingdom at all? Again, you must drive all your expectations about what God is like out of your mind and listen only to what God says.

In Psalm 22:6, Jesus is described as "a worm and not a man, scorned by mankind and despised by the people." He became the least, but this worm would rise again and later be bowed down to by all people, living or dead (Psalm 22:29-31).

Isaiah 52:14 says that the appearance of Jesus was hideously marred and 53:2-3 says that He had no majesty or beauty that would appeal to people. Yet the same passage says that after He would die for the sins of the world, taking the punishment of hell in our place, God would highly exalt Jesus and the kings of the earth would be silenced by His greatness.

Philippians 2 says that Jesus Christ is God, but made Himself nothing, less than the least, by taking the form of a servant, being born of the Virgin Mary, and humbling Himself to the point of death on a cross. Therefore, God has given Jesus the name that is greater than every other name, so that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

And finally, Jesus told His disciples that He was least in the kingdom of heaven when He said, "Whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." (Matthew 20:27-28).

For us men and for our salvation, the eternal Son of God became the least, a humble Suffering Servant. Jesus came with utmost humility since He had nothing to prove; He was not dragged down by the oppressive need we sinners have of serving ourselves, promoting ourselves as special, convincing others of our greatness, wisdom, or piety. Jesus needs none of those things; His only desire is to serve you, suffer for you, and die for you. He need not tell anyone of His greatness; He just is.

And now for you to become great in the eyes of God and members of the Kingdom of God, you need not strive or strain to prove our worth before Him, since Jesus has already died and risen to forgive your sins and declare you worthy of the Father's presence. In your Baptism God has united you with His Son and granted you entrance into His Kingdom. And this has tremendous implications for the way we now must live our lives. We must be like Jesus in His humility; we must become servants of all. On Judgment Day Jesus doesn't commend the righteous, saved ones for any greatness they achieved in this world, but He says: "Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these My brothers, you did it to Me" (Matthew 25:40). We have no need to promote ourselves above one another, since the Suffering Servant has exalted us into the kingdom of heaven.

Jesus comes to us poor, lowly sinners and lifts us up out of the grave of sin and death. He does not come with trumpets blaring, to forcibly subject us to His greatness, but He comes in the quiet voice of the Gospel, and in the least impressive ways imaginable: under a little water, words, bread, and wine. Yet Baptism, the Lord's Supper, and Absolution are the greatest gifts our Lord Jesus brings to us, since they deliver forgiveness of sins, eternal life, and salvation from the devil. They unite us with the one who became least in the kingdom of heaven for us but in His state of exaltation is greater than all, wielding all authority in heaven and on earth for the good of His disciples.

So even though in this life we disciples of Christ may seem to be the least powerful, least impressive, least of all, yet the Word of the Lord has spoken, saying that the Christ has come down from heaven with healing and pardon. Jesus said, "The blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by me." You may never have worldly or churchly greatness, my friends, but you are blessed if you take no offense at the lowliness of Jesus and His unimpressive means of salvation. Repent and believe the Gospel. Christ has done everything to save you, to grant you everlasting life in the Kingdom of Heaven. That's the greatest gift you could ever receive. In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

And the peace of God which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus unto life everlasting. Amen.