The disciples asked Jesus "who then is the greatest in the kingdom". Why did they ask this? Maybe because it had become clear to them that the religious leaders, who people would have presumed to be the "greatest" in God's sight, did not rank very high in Jesus' estimation.
Perhaps they were hoping that they would assume the exalted place that the Pharisees and Sadducees had. If so they were in for a shock. The kingdom of God is not like any human kingdom, it operates on very different rules.
Jesus calls a little child, someone regarded as of no account. Then, before answering there question directly tells them "unless you change". This is a principle that applies to us more often than we like. We frequently encounter situations and circumstances in life that cause us to question, that we do not like or do not understand. God's answer often is that we need to change. The disciples needed to have a change of attitude, a change of heart.
If we are to enter the kingdom we need to become like children.
To be "great" in the kingdom we need to become humble. In fact we need to rid ourselves of all thoughts of greatness, they will only lead us astray. Instead we need to focus on love, trust and obedience. And we need to change our attitude towards other people. We need to stop treating people differently depending upon whether or not they have status in the world (including status in the church). Only when we do this will we truly find the kingdom of God, and truly get to know Jesus.
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