“Who Is the Greatest?”
Mark 9:30-37
Ever play “King of the Mountain” when you were a little kid?
It doesn’t take any equipment.
All you need is, like a big pile of dirt or maybe a snow mound.
Then, several children will run up the mound and try and push the others off.
Whoever is able to push all the others off the “mountain” while standing at the top is the greatest, or the “King of the Mountain.”
I learned that game when I was, maybe 4 or 5 years old, how about you?
From an early age, most of us, whether it is done intentionally or not, are taught that greatness implies power, strength, fame, wealth and all the other things that allow us to make things go our way.
A person is often thought of as a great success if they have a lot of money, drive an expensive car, live in a big house and it goes on and on.
Recently, I was having a conversation with a very wealthy person.
She owns four multi-million-dollar homes, is a top executive at a Fortune 500 company—makes and spends lots of money.
The conversation we were having was about God and what God calls us to do with our lives; she was trying to figure out what God was calling her to do…
At one point in the conversation, I asked, “Do you feel God calling you to help poor people?”
She looked at me as if that was the craziest question she’d ever heard.
“No. Not at all,” was her answer.
I didn’t push her, but I wonder why?
That’s one of the things that Jesus repeats over and over and over again—we are to help the poor, the needy, the vulnerable—and she reads the Bible.
(pause)
What makes people great?
This is a question that has been on people’s minds, probably, since the beginning of time.
What constitutes greatness?
That question is at the heart of our Gospel Lesson for this morning.
Having just heard Jesus tell them that He will be betrayed, killed and resurrected on the third day, the disciples remain clueless as to what Jesus is talking about and, therefore, clueless about what Jesus is really about, and what true greatness is about.
And so, they are walking on a path.
And on that path, they start arguing with one another about which one of them is going to be the greatest in God’s Kingdom.
Perhaps they are boasting about which one of them has spent the most time with Jesus, or maybe which one has seen the greatest miracle or perhaps performed the greatest miracle.
We don’t really know.
What we do know is that Jesus is not impressed.
And so He tells them, “Anyone who wants to be first”—that is the greatest—“must be the very last, and the servant of all.”
This had to have confused them even more, because, it wasn’t what they had been taught—and if we admit it—it’s not what we have been taught either.
Again, the world’s standards of greatness are usually yoked with power over others, wealth, control, status, and influence.
But that’s not what Jesus says.
And to drive His point home, He scoops up a young child into His arms and tells them that whoever welcomes a child like this welcomes Him.
And suddenly it seems like Jesus has gone from saying something a little odd—to be first you have to be last—to saying something that sounds, well, kinda crazy.
In the First-Century World children were viewed as socially inferior and kind of invisible.
Oh, of course, their parents loved them, but they had no rights, no influence, no standing.
They were utterly dependent, utterly vulnerable, utterly powerless.
So how could caring for a child count as greatness?
It’s crazy.
Or is it?
Think about it for a minute: What if Jesus is right?
I mean, what if we imagined that greatness isn’t about power and wealth and fame and all the rest, but instead greatness is measured by how much we share with others, how much we take care of others, how much we love others, how much we serve others?
What kind of world would we live in?
Can you imagine if people were regularly trying to out-do each other in their deeds of kindness and service?
What if there were nationally broadcast competitions to see who is willing to be last so that others can go first?
Imagine Reality T-V Shows that follow people around as they try and help as many people as possible.
What kind of world would we live in?
I think it would be a pretty great world, what do you think?
A new study has found that drivers of flashy cars are less likely to stop and allow pedestrians to cross the road than drivers of, say, less flashy cars.
The likelihood people will slow down for a pedestrian decreases by 3% for every extra $1,000 that their vehicle is worth.
Researchers from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas speculated that the expensive car owners "feel a sense of superiority over other road users" and are less able to empathize with lowly sidewalk-dwellers.
They came to this conclusion after asking volunteers to cross a sidewalk hundreds of times, filming and analyzing the responses by car drivers.
Isn’t that interesting?
Could it be that the richer we become, the more money we spend on ourselves rather than using our resources to help and serve others—the more blind we become to the needs of others, or the less we care about the most vulnerable members of society—the homeless, the hungry, the down and out, the marginalized, the hotel maid, the person who serves us food at a restaurant?
Study after study has shown that it is usually not the people with the most money who give the most to the church—or give the highest percentage of their income.
Quite often it is the folks who don’t make the most money who give the most money.
Imagine what the church could do for the world if all the richest members were to tithe—give ten percent of their income?
But selfishness, greed, looking out for number one seems to have a snowball effect on us.
It’s a slippery slope, a dangerous playground…
…because the more we put ourselves above others, the more callous we become…
…the more greedy…
…the less empathetic we continue to become to the needs of others.
And that tends to make the world a not-so-great place.
When we have the have’s driving—coldheartedly—past the have-not’s on their way to their million dollar mansions, steak dinners and expensive bottles of wine…
…when we have people who make more money in an hour or a day than the average Joe or Jane makes in a year and things aren’t being shared…
…we are living in a cold world.
The definition of greatness Jesus offers us may seem crazy initially because it is so completely and utterly counter-cultural.
He tells us that true greatness is found in service…
…by taking care of those who are the most vulnerable—those with little influence or power, those who are least likely to be able to pay us back, those the culture is most likely to ignore.
How are you, how am I doing at measuring our success, our greatness, not by what we take in but by what we give away?
Not by the influence we have, but by the selfless service we offer?
Not by accumulating more, but by sharing what we already have?
Not by being first, but by being eager to work hard in order to see others move ahead?
Make no mistake.
This is hard stuff; it’s absolutely and totally different than what the world—whether we live in the 1st Century or the 21st Century—tells us.
It was hard for the first disciples and it’s hard for us.
The disciples didn’t understand what Jesus meant, and so they fell into the trap of trying to put themselves ahead of others.
And I often do the same, how about you—looking out for myself rather than others, trusting less in God for my security than I do money or my own strength, shutting others out rather than inviting them in, seeking my own welfare rather than that of those around me.
But here’s the thing: the road the disciples are traveling with Jesus when they fall into their petty arguments about who is the greatest…is the road to Jerusalem.
Even while Jesus’ disciples misunderstand, don’t believe or just plain ignore what Jesus is saying, Jesus is walking the road to Jerusalem and the Cross—willingly--in order to sacrifice everything for them and for us!
“While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
“While we were yet arguing on the road to the Cross about which one of us is the greatest—Christ died for us!”
Amazing and beautiful at the same time.
You know, true greatness is to be like Jesus, a TRULY POWERFUL PERSON, Who valued Himself not because of power but because of His being and doing the will of God—which meant lowliness, humility, self-giving service and following the path to the Cross.
Jesus turns the world’s values upside down.
He is the King, but He wears a crown of thorns.
He is the Christ—God in the flesh—but is broken on the Cross.
True greatness, we learn from and through Jesus Christ, is determined by humility and vulnerability.
It’s determined by service and sacrifice, truthfulness and faithfulness.
And as Christ’s followers, Christ’s Church, Christ’s Body on this earth…
…We are called to live, to embody His kind of greatness, so that the world can witness the true meaning of greatness which is born out of LOVE.
Sometimes I think there are three short prayers that can pretty much sum up the Christian life; they are incredibly helpful to pray when we think about Jesus’ teaching and example.
The first is in response to Jesus’s radical counter-cultural command that the first must be last and the true greatness is found in service.
It’s as short as it is simple: “Lord help us.”
The second comes when we fall short, giving in to insecurities and fear and looking out for ourselves first: “Lord have mercy.”
And the third is when we realize that even when we fall short, Jesus still died for us, still lives for us, still loves us more than anything.
That prayer is “Thanks be to God!”
Jesus does not give up on His fumbling disciples—not the fumbling disciples of the 1st Century nor the fumbling disciples in this room right this minute.
Jesus still offers us a different vision of greatness than the world offers—and this different vision can and will eventually lead to a totally different world.
So, hear these words once again and know that they are still directed at Jesus’ disciples, both those gathered around Him in Capernaum and those gathered around Him in this very room—that’s you and me.
“Sitting down, Jesus called the disciples and said: “Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all.”
In response to Jesus’ Word’s and Jesus’ call on our lives can we pray together?
“Lord help us. Lord have mercy. Thanks be to God.”
Let’s try it together: “Lord help us. Lord have mercy. Thanks be to God.”
Amen.
