True Greatness

“But it must not be like that among you. On the contrary, whoever is greatest among you must become like the youngest, and whoever leads, like the one serving.” (Luke 22:26 CSB)

Some folks are great in their own minds, and some give the appearance of being great. Some will even “jockey for position” in seeking to be the greatest of the great, that is, the supreme leader of all.

Interestingly, a discussion of this nature took place during the Last Supper. We would like to think it was all just friendly banter, spoken in jest, about who was the greatest among them, other than Jesus of course, but more likely this was a serious discussion as they were trying to establish the pecking order for the kingdom.

Jesus made it clear at the last Supper that the kingdom of God was immediately at hand, that something major was about to happen. The disciples’ thinking had been shaped by their culture, by the popular belief about the Messiah. That means they were expecting a fight to take place in which the Messiah would summon supernatural forces, along with the sons of Israel, and lead them in the overthrow of the Gentiles, the Romans, to expel them from Israel, and then lead in setting up the kingdom of God in Jerusalem. In that scheme of things, the kingdom would have to have leaders to oversee the kingdom, leaders ranked down from Jesus, from the greatest to the least. Thus, the discussion about who was the greatest.

Jesus tried to correct their thinking. Their thinking was the world’s thinking. The greatest is the one who serves other. That was the point Jesus made. The world tends to think that idea is foolish. Yet, Jesus pointed out that He, the Son of God, was among them as One who serves.

True greatness is, thus, in serving others. Luke does not record it, but John points out that Jesus washed the feet of the disciples to demonstrate that those who lead must be those who serve others. Leadership is servanthood. And that is the basis for true greatness.

Lord, Help us to not be concerned about position, but rather, help us to focus on serving You and serving the needs of others. Help us to follow Your example. Amen.