{This little child} (	outo to paidion). As Jesus spoke he
probably had his hand upon the head of the child.  Mt 18:5  has
"one such little child." The honoured disciple, Jesus holds, is
the one who welcomes little children "in my name" (epi t(9369)
onomati mou), upon the basis of my name and my authority. It was
a home-thrust against the selfish ambition of the Twelve.
Ministry to children is a mark of greatness. Have preachers ever
yet learned how to win children to Christ? They are allowed to
slip away from home, from Sunday school, from church, from
Christ. {For he that is least among you all} (ho gar mikroteros
en pasin humin huparch(936e)). Note the use of huparch(935c) as in
 8:41  23:50 . The comparative mikroteros is in accord with the
_Koin(825f) idiom where the superlative is vanishing (nearly gone in
modern Greek). But {great} (megas) is positive and very strong.
This saying peculiar to Luke here.