Greatness | Devotion by Pastor Tim Smith

Mark 10: 35-45:  "James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came forward to him and said to him, "Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you." ³⁶And he said to them, "What is it you want me to do for you?" ³⁷And they said to him, "Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory." ³⁸But Jesus said to them, "You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?" ³⁹They replied, "We are able." Then Jesus said to them, "The cup that I drink you will drink; and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized; ⁴⁰but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared."
⁴¹When the ten heard this, they began to be angry with James and John. ⁴²So Jesus called them and said to them, "You know that among the Gentiles those whom they recognize as their rulers lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. ⁴³But it is not so among you; but whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, ⁴⁴and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. ⁴⁵For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many."

Everything gets turned upside down in the kingdom of God that comes to us in the person of Jesus.  In Mark’s gospel in particular, I find a strange comfort in the disciples’ cluelessness.  Jesus tells them over and over again that his earthly fate will be suffering and death and that everyone who follows him must take up their cross as well.  Each of the first two times Jesus is explicit about this, a discussion as to who is the greatest ensues among the disciples.  They just don’t get it.  James and John, the sons of thunder, rumble along hoping for the places of honor in the fullness of the kingdom.  Were Jesus into sarcasm, he might ask, “Now just what part of ‘deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow me’ do you not understand?”  Apparently very little of it.  I get that part all too well.

Jesus is re-defining greatness and power.  In verse 43 Jesus says, “Whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all.”  Martin Luther King, Jr. drew on this counter-intuitive wisdom when he said, "Everyone has the power for greatness, not for fame, but greatness, because greatness is determined by service."

The greatest power of all is the power to be vulnerable, to care for others, to be so secure in oneself—or better said, in the God who claims us—that we don’t have to assert ourselves over against others for fear that they may get ahead of us.  We need not see life as a competition where “I’m getting mine even if I have to step on you.”  Jesus has told the disciples over and over again, and they just don’t see how it could be so.  They don’t believe it.  They don’t want to believe it.  Surrender and change don’t come easily for them, or for us.

PRAYER:  Lord God, we confess that we approach your world more as if it were a competition than an opportunity for service.  Remind us that though we are in this “winners and losers” world, we are not of it.  Re-form us daily in your image and in your service.  We pray in Christ’s name.  Amen.