The Way To Greatness Series

The Way To Greatness

Series: Encountering Jesus (through the Gospel of Luke)

March 1, 2020 – Brad Bailey

Intro

I want to begin by asking…

What kind of greatness do you believe in…and seek?

I know that is a big and broad question… but it’s worth a moment to think about. For many of us… it’s not as clear as we might want to think.

If you’re like me… you might find that your mind can try to respond in two different ways… we try to consider and give the right answer… but if we consider the real answer… it may not be so simple.

If you are like me…there is a response that comes out of my self-centered desire to have power of my own…and another that TRIES to see a greatness that is centered in God.

As we continue in our series Encountering Jesus through the Gospel of Luke… one of the living testimonies of Christ… we are brought to the issue of our pursuit of power and greatness.

And how fitting that we should come to this at the launch of the Lenten season.

The 40 days of Lent is reminiscent of the 40 days in the wilderness at the start of Christ’s ministry. Just as the Father in heaven declares his blessing on Jesus as his beloved son… we are tod that he is lead into the wilderness for 40 days…where he fasted… and there the Enemy of God… came with temptations. What were the temptations that the enemy brought to him?

The Enemy of our very lives… seeks to take hold of Jesus in the same way he took over the nature of human life… with the lure: “I will give you power if you serve me.” When it failed… one was now loosed who would begin to declare that a new power was at hand… not rooted in self-consumption of this world’s prestige…but in giving oneself to the rule of God.

Even before it’s climatic juncture as Jesus would give himself… soon declaring “not my will but Yours be done”… and then as he died upon that cross… and he would surrender his spirit….this conflict of power comes to the forefront.

Luke 22:1-6 (NIV)

1 Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread, called the Passover, was approaching, 2 and the chief priests and the teachers of the law were looking for some way to get rid of Jesus, for they were afraid of the people. 3 Then Satan entered Judas, called Iscariot, one of the Twelve. 4 And Judas went to the chief priests and the officers of the temple guard and discussed with them how he might betray Jesus. 5 They were delighted and agreed to give him money. 6 He consented, and watched for an opportunity to hand Jesus over to them when no crowd was present.

As Passover approaches… a force is rising up against Jesus.

The religious leaders gather to get rid of him.

Why? Because as we read… “they were afraid of the people.”

Thousands of excited pilgrims crowded in and around Jerusalem during that week Passover celebrated freedom… a rather loaded celebration that caused the Romans to always be nervous about possible uprisings.

And even more directly… the people were drawn to Jesus. If the tried to seize him publicly… the people might turn against them. [1]

The conflict was ultimately one of power: They had been taken by a form of this world’s power… that of prestige…of social recognition and respect… of material blessing….and it controlled them.

They may have thought that they held such forms of power… but in truth… such forms of power held them.

And Jesus was reflecting the corruption as the one who stood outside of it. Jesus was not given to serving the vanity of self-serving power…and greatness.

It is the culmination of the confrontation that Jesus brought to bear with the religious leaders.

In essence…they were faced with losing power.

Was such a desire for social power and greatness vain?

Yes….but not in any way we can just project onto them.

As noted before…this is depicted in the JR Tolkien Lord of the Rings…

The ring was dangerous but hard to get rid of –an embodiment of power and the corrupting effects of power. often summed up by the Lord Acton quote: “power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely”.

It enabled the source of such self absorption…the evil Sauron to bend the will of others to his own. In seeking to exalt themselves, they became his slaves.

It echoes what the Scriptures describe as the state of our own lives…as described in the events of that first Garden of Eden.

Evil power meets human pride… result is that of life becoming enslaved and self-consumed. (Our now independent selves are actually lost… enslaved.)