The Path to True Greatness

The second half of the gospel of Mark, beginning in chapter 8, details Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem where he knows he will be delivered into the hands of lawless men and crucified. The shadow of the cross is looming large in our Lord’s mind now and that’s why, in verse 30, he pulls his disciples aside for the third time to tell them that he will soon be rejected and killed, but that on the third day he would rise again.

But again the disciples don’t understand what he means. We may wonder why the disciples had such a hard time understanding what seems so clear to us, but we need to remember that the disciples have a deeply embedded image of what the Messiah will do and look like, an image based on many OT passages that speak of the Messiah ruling from David’s throne in Jerusalem over a kingdom that has no end with a military might that shatters all Israel’s oppressors. So as Jesus and his disciples approach Jerusalem it’s almost as if they are heading in two different directions: Jesus knows he is descending into the valley of the cross, his disciples think they are ascending to the glorious moment when Jesus takes up his rightful throne and they will be right beside him! In part they don’t understand because they don’t want to understand.

So with the glorious image of the kingdom of God being established when they come to Jerusalem, it’s not surprising that they begin to speculate – and then to argue – about which of them is the greatest. Kingdoms need chains of command and Jesus has to have a number two man – and each of the twelve disciples argues that he is uniquely qualified to be that man. So the remainder to the journey to Capernaum is spent in self-promotion and jockeying for position.

Two paths to greatness

When they finally arrive at their destination in Capernaum Jesus, who wasn’t a part of the discussion, asks them “hey, what were you guys arguing about on the road?” And suddenly no one wants to say anything. Whereas they had been yelling at each other on the road, no one says a word. They are all embarrassed to admit that they had been arguing over which of them was the greatest. But even though they never do tell Jesus what the argument was about, Jesus knows exactly what it was about and so Mark says he sits down – which is what Rabbi’s did in those days when they were about to teach - and he called his disciples to himself and began to teach them about true greatness.

It’s a teaching that we all need to hear, because there is a way in which we all want to be great. We may not have any great ambition to be the President of the United States or discover the cure for cancer or be the next Billy Graham, but there is a desire in every one of us to be great. Deep down inside, you want to be great. I want to be great. We may not want to admit it, we may be silent like the disciples were silent, but it’s there. And we have all at times promoted ourselves ahead of others in order to jockey for position.

But notice that Jesus doesn’t rebuke them for their desire to be great, he tells them how to accomplish that desire. If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all. It’s not wrong to want to be great. In fact, I submit to you that the inner desire we all have to be great doesn’t flow from pride, it comes from God! I know that sounds weird and you might think that I’ve been reading too many books on self-esteem, but I don’t think the desire to be great comes from pride, I think it comes from God. God created us in His image and a part of being God’s image bearers is reflecting His greatness and so, as image bearers, God has hardwired a desire to be great deep within every one of us. Pride doesn’t create the desire to be great, pride just corrupts our God-given desire to be great. And it does that by pointing us in the exact opposite direction of greatness. It’s like the guy you stop to ask directions from and he gives you directions that, if followed, will never get you to your destination.

Jesus doesn’t rebuke his disciples for desiring to be great, he redirects that desire down a completely different path. Pursuing greatness isn’t our problem – pursuing greatness down the wrong path is our problem. Romans chapter 2 describes two types of people traveling down two very different paths in their search for greatness with two very different results:

He (God) will render to each one according to his works: 7 to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; 8 but for those who are self-seeking (that’s the direction they are taking – self-seeking) and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. Rom. 2:6-8

I think it boils down to this simple fork in the road: Christ’s path to greatness or pride’s path to greatness. Everyone takes one or the other. Let’s look first at pride’s path.

I. Pride’s path to greatness

Look again with me for a moment at what greatness has become to the disciples. They’re arguing about who’s the greatest but their pride has reduced greatness to nothing more than a pecking order: who will be number one, who will be at the front of the line? And this isn’t just a onetime conflict either; this fight for position is an ongoing source of tension among the twelve. Turn with me to 10:32-45.

James and John are very ambitious and decide to take matters in their own hands. They probably thought Peter was making a move for the number one position – after all, even though it was the three of them, Peter, James and John, were chosen by Jesus to go to the mountain where Jesus was transfigured, it always seems to be Peter that’s mentioned first. What’s up with that? Why isn’t it James and John and Peter? Doesn’t Jesus see that Peter has issues? He’s constantly putting his foot in his mouth – he’s more gaffe prone than Joe Biden – and didn’t Jesus himself call him Satan just a short time ago? So this is a really big deal as James and John go to Jesus confidentially and ask him to put them in at the number 2 and 3 posts. This isn’t about seating arrangements, this is about sitting in the 2nd and 3rd seats of power and authority in the kingdom. They’re asking Jesus to name them as the greatest disciples. And when the other ten hear about their request they are angry and offended. They can’t believe it: How could James and John be so arrogant? How could they be so shamelessly and selfishly ambitious? And why didn’t I think to ask first?

The pride of position is an ongoing problem for the disciples. And that’s what pride does. It turns the pursuit of greatness into a pursuit of personal promotion. Greatness is reduced to nothing more than me first! Pride’s path to greatness doesn’t need great accomplishments or lofty ambitions to qualify us for its twisted path. Our life’s ambition could be nothing more than lying on the couch watching TV with a bag of chips and yet still have this banging on our hearts: me first!

Pride’s path to greatness welcomes both the supercharged, self-confident person AND the timid, wallflower-who’s-afraid-of-their-own-shadow person because both people can be consumed with a me-first mentality. It welcomes the pastor who builds a multi-million dollar mega ministry and names it all after himself, and it welcomes the small town, small church pastor who looks with jealousy and suspicion at every church or ministry that is larger than his.
Pride is spelled with an “I” in the middle and pride’s path to greatness puts “I” at the center. What Romans 2 calls “self-seeking”. In other words, pride’s path to greatness bends everything in on that person – so that in their eyes and mind they are the center and focus of everything they do and care about.

From this angle, pride’s path to greatness isn’t limited to “great things” – it’s just pressing ourselves forward, number one, jockeying for the number one position. The person who lives for himself or herself is pursuing greatness as defined by pride: leave me alone and let me do what I want to do.

This path towards greatness leaves a trail of damage. Marriages are sabotaged by one or both spouses living selfishly. Relationships between parents and children are often damaged when a parent or child or both are consumed with their own perspective and desires. Churches can be torn apart by those who have self-promoting agendas, not only by laypeople but also by pastors who are driven by self-promoting agendas.

To the extent that we live selfish lives, no matter how small or unaccomplished those lives may be, to that extent we are pursuing our own greatness on the path of pride. And like the disciples, I think most of us can say, this isn’t just a onetime thing for me. This is an ongoing sin issue in my life. I know that the path of pride runs right through my heart, which is sinfully bent in on itself. I lobby for my greatness every day. And so do you – it’s the human condition because of pride. Our compass towards greatness points in the exact wrong direction. But we can take heart that Jesus doesn’t reject his disciples, or cast them away, he patiently corrects them in order to turn them to repentance, and as we consider Christ’s path to greatness, may the Holy Spirit do that in our hearts this morning as well.

II. Christ’s path to greatness

Jesus calls his disciples together and begins to teach them what true greatness really is and he begins by flipping the order of greatness around. Look with me again at the second part of Mark 9:35:

If anyone would be first…

Jesus begins with where the disciples are: they reduced greatness to rank who would be first among them.

… he must be last of all and servant of all…

Jesus flips the order. The way to the front of the line is to choose the back of the line. Pride’s path to greatness says you’ve arrived when you’re first in line. You’re great when others serve you. Christ’s path to greatness says you’ve arrived when you serve others. He says the same thing in chapter 10 where he contrasts how the Gentiles use their authority to lord it over others and authority just means that you have more and more power to get others to obey the “me-first” cravings of your heart. I’m always amazed at how cruel dictators can live in lavish luxury on the backs of their people living in abject poverty. How can a human being think it’s more important for them to have 500 pairs of shoes than for a starving man to have bread to feed his family? How can they live in sprawling palaces while millions live in broken down huts? The answer is that the path of pride says that dictator is great. Which just means that they’re heart’s cry of “me first” is now ratified by position, politics, and military might.

But Jesus says greatness is becoming a servant, and the more you serve, the greater you become. To illustrate this Jesus uses two living examples. In chapter 9:36-37, Jesus brings a child into the midst of the disciples, and then he takes the child into his arms (we see in the gospels that Jesus loves children – and children loved Jesus!) and he says, Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me, receives no me but him who sent me.

It’s a little harder for us to understand Jesus’ meaning in this because kids actually have a pretty high status in our culture, but in Jesus’ day children had little to no status. They had no “greatness” of their own and none to bestow. Pride’s path to greatness says it’s not what you know but who you know and it’s a pretty common thing to use other people to advance one’s own reputation, but Jesus is saying that his path to greatness is caring for (receiving) those who have nothing to give back. It’s not limited to children; it can apply to the poor, the outcast, the socially unlovely. When we open our arms and hearts to those who have nothing to give us and no way to advance our cause, we are opening our arms and hearts to Christ himself, and when we do that, we are opening our arms and hearts to God the Father!

And if we pause we can understand why this is right and appropriate. To God, no one is “great”, no one is impressive. None of us have anything to give to God or any way to get a purchase on His acceptance or affections. We can only relate to God as poor and needy sinners who need His help. And when we come to Him in that position, He loves to bestow grace.

But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word. Isa. 66:2

And that brings us to Jesus’ second example and I want us to turn to it in chapter 10:45.

Remember we’re talking about true greatness. Jesus is great beyond imagination, Jesus is God. But he veiled the glory of his greatness by putting on human flesh, taking on the form of a servant. He didn’t come to be served, he came to serve. In the upper room as the twelve disciples prepared for what we know as the last supper, Jesus took his robe off and wrapped himself in a towel and began to wash his disciples feet. He came to serve and that service reached its pinnacle of greatness when Jesus reached the depth of his humiliation. As he hung on the cross, mocked and scorned and humiliated and suffering, his greatness was most fully displayed. The greatness of his love. The greatness of his sacrifice. The greatness of his humility. The greatness of his obedience to his Father.

Conclusion

The gospel isn’t about our greatness, it’s not a motivational speech to stir us to great things. The gospel begins and ends with Jesus’ greatness, not ours. We have a great Savior! And everyone of us, like the disciples, is guilty of living self-seeking, selfish lives. Everyone of us. But Jesus didn’t reject them, he died for them. And he died for us so that any who trust in Jesus would be washed clean of our selfish, self-promoting sin. The ground is level at the cross: we all come empty and needy and poor and very, very “ungreat”. And Jesus promises to forgive us for that sin. So if you are convicted this morning of the sin of selfishness and self-seeking, the issue isn’t primarily what you do or don’t do, the problem is your heart. The path of pride runs right through our hearts. The Bible tells us to confess our sin to the Lord, ask him to cleanse us, and ask him to change us. Let’s take a moment to do that quietly. 

Anyone can be great

In the Pixar movie Ratatouille, Chef Gusteau says anyone can cook! Jesus says anyone can be great! Without becoming famous or prominent or noteworthy in any way. We can be obscure and unknown and live ordinary, unremarkable lives and still be great.

How? By serving others. By choosing to go to the end of the line and put others interests ahead of our own. By doing things for others without ever wanting the credit or even letting people know. By associating with those who have nothing to offer. By pointing people away from ourselves and towards Christ – the true Great One!

Jesus said if we are to follow him we need to pick up our cross daily and follow him. It is a cross uniquely designed to kill pride and selfishness so that the true greatness of servanthood and unselfishness might come alive in our souls. In the end, true greatness won’t measured by how many people applauded us or served us or admired us. It will be measured by One Man’s judgment, and there can be no greater greatness bestowed than to hear Jesus say those words we all long to hear, well done, good and faithful servant.