True Greatness
Who’s the best?
Who’s number one?
Who is the greatest?
All questions we ask in our culture…all very important questions.
As a coach, I’ve spent much time and much energy trying to persuade
young people to work in order to win a game, to determine who is best on a
playing field.
Ask almost anyone in America who is great and they will answer with names of
those who score touchdowns, hit balls a long way, and slam dunk basketballs…
people who sing great songs or are great actors… strong people … powerful
people who tell others what to do… people who can have anything they want, go
anywhere they want to go and do anything they want to do.
Such is greatness of today.
And then along comes Jesus and everything changes.
In
the tenth chapter of Mark, Jesus is describing His death… how “the Son of
Man will be handed over to the chief priest and the scribes, and they will
condemn him to death; then they will hand him over to the Gentiles; they will
mock him, and spit upon him, and flog him, and kill him; and after three days he
will rise again.”
Pretty strong stuff!
What is more amazing are the verses that follow.
After this detailed description of His own death, Jesus is approached by
James and John who want Jesus to do anything they ask him to do and who actually
request that they sit on either side of Him in His glory.
When the other disciples learn of this, they become angry.
An argument soon follows on who is the greatest.
Jesus’ statements about His death seemed to have fallen on the deaf
ears of men more concerned with their own achievements.
Jesus quickly puts their thoughts of greatness to rest and along with them our
own. Speaking
of greatness in verse 43, He says, “But it is not so among you; but whosoever
wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and who ever wishes to be
first among you must be slave of all.
For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give His
life a ransom for many.”
To
be a slave to all!
To be a servant!
The words of Jesus.
The definition of a winner.
We
have a long way to go, don’t we?
But in Christ…in His love, there must be a way.
May we all start today to move towards true greatness, not as we see it,
but rather through the eyes of
Jesus.
Billy