Monday, March 16th

I don’t know about you, but how do you interact with “greatness”?

Think about it in a couple of different ways. First, how do we define greatness? Or even what is the greatest?

We have greatest of all time lists. Greatest actors of all time? Greatest musicians of all time? Greatest leaders of all time? We have lists for athletes; greatest basketball player of all time- Jordan, Kobe, Lebron? Greatest QB? Obviously, the greatest team of all time is the Green Bay Packers.

Muhamed Ali said he was the greatest. Actually said, he was great before he knew he was great. Which I think is interesting, because I would argue, most of us wouldn’t say that about ourselves. I don’t think most of us go walking around seeing ourselves as “great”. We don’t aspire to see our name in lights or the top of any list. We just want to live life more than just surviving, we want to have a purpose, a direction, a level of impact or influence, even if it is small. When we talk about greatness, I think we slink back a bit, watch and see what happens.

Until you are around greatness. Something changes when you are around greatness. Take a look.

I find the passage we are going to look at today fascinating, because it really shows the humanness of the disciples, the fact that they didn’t get it with Jesus much of the time. It shows Jesus’ patience and it shows how Jesus came to redefine life.

Let me set the scene. Jesus is preparing to come to Jerusalem for the Passover meal, the last week of his life. Tensions are rising across the land, Jesus knows his time is close and just before this passage Jesus tells his disciples, a third time, that he is going to have to suffer and die.

Notice Mark 10:35-38- 35 Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him. Teacher,” they said, “we want you to do for us whatever we ask.” 36 “What do you want me to do for you?” he asked. 37 They replied, “Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory.” 38 “You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said. “Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?”

What are they asking? Jesus, we see that you are great. We hear that you are going to overcome the Roman government and establish a new regime. We want in. We want to be great, we want to have the power of sitting on your right and your left. They were around greatness and they wanted to be great.

Even though Jesus just got done saying, he was going to have to suffer and die at the hands of the chief priests and teachers of the law. James and John didn’t hear that, they knew where they came from, lowly beginnings and they wanted to be great.

How does the story continue. Jump to vs. 41- 41 When the ten heard about this, they became indignant with James and John.

I love that. Let’s not just throw James and John under the bus. The disciples were upset with one another, not because James and John asked, but because they thought and didn’t ask for themselves. But notice how Jesus responds to them all.

42 Jesus called them together and said, “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. 43 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. 45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

I think this is a beautiful picture. Jesus, patiently brings them close, maybe a sadness because of their thick skulls, but he is patient and gentle.

He models what the Gentiles go after and the way power and greatness is used with them. But notice the impact of vs. 43- Not so with you. Jesus is saying, that’s not the path you are to take. Greatness isn’t about how high you rise, greatness is about how low you serve.

And then we have Jesus’ infamous line in verse 45- For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.

The greatness of who the Son of Man is, who they were looking for, wasn’t about Jesus being served, it was about him serving. According to Jesus, serving redefines our life.

If you have a study bible, you may have a note on vs. 43 that says, “The life of discipleship is to be characterized by humble and loving service.” Or in our sermon series, Faith
Essentials, discipleship, being with Jesus, being like Jesus, and doing the things of Jesus, the author is saying your life should be marked by humility and service.

Serving redefines greatness through humility. Serving redefines our pride, by laying our lives down. Paul says something similar in Philippians 2, If you want to be great, you will humble yourself and lay your life down.

When we choose to serve others, out of humility, it chips away at our pride our selfishness, our picture of “better than”. I know it may be hard to hear, but if you don’t have a humble servant mindset, you have to ask yourself why? Why don’t you want to do as Jesus says, and be a servant?

would argue, pride gets in the way. Your time, resources, and expertise is valuable and you want to be strategic in how you use it.

Jesus is saying, “not so with you”. You want to be my disciple, then you need to do what I do, humble yourself. Serving redefines greatness through humility.

How have you seen “greatness” in your life? How have you seen great leaders? Great coaches? Great teachers? How many times do we want to rise to “greatness”?

What does it mean to see Jesus redefine greatness through humility? How do you wrestle with that? How does it push against your pride, insecurity, selfishness?
Sit with God around that engagement.