True Greatness

We were talking about Alexander the Great in Western Civ one day, and I asked the students how many more people they could think of down through history who had been given the nickname “the Great.”

They did well. They named “Alfred the Great,” “Peter the Great,” “Catherine the Great,” “Frederick the Great.”

And then one very wise, very enterprising student called out, “Mark the Great.”

Well, yes. But it is interesting how we humans view people in history. Every one of the above named individuals (except “Mark the Great”) were butchers, had oodles of blood on their hands, and oppressed about as many people as they could put a cage around—the ones they didn’t kill, that is.

Peace and goodness aren’t very interesting, folks. Wars and wickedness are what make the history books. Historians are a strange lot, given the kind of people whom they think are “great.”

But, come to think of it, it’s not just historians. It’s humanity in general and it afflicted even those who walked with Jesus: “Then He came to Capernaum. And when He was in the house He asked them, ‘What was it you disputed among yourselves on the road?’ But they kept silent, for on the road they had disputed among themselves who would be the greatest. And He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, ‘If anyone desires to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all’” (Mark 9:33-35). Jesus knew what they were talking about, and His patience is astounding. Notice: “He sat down [and] called the twelve…” He took the time to explain one of the most supreme lessons in the world: in God’s eyes, true greatness is not how many people you can kill or how much territory you can rule over…but how well you serve others.

At another time, the Lord indicated that He was well aware of how humans thought. The mother of James and John came to Him with a request: “Grant that these two sons of mine may sit, one on Your right hand and the other on the left, in Your kingdom” (Matthew 20:21). She had no idea what she was asking, of course; she, like just about every other Jew in Jesus’ day thought He would establish an earthly kingdom and rule with a rod of iron from Jerusalem. And if He was going to be a King like David, a great Monarch ruling over the world—“Jesus the Great”—then she wanted her two sons sitting in the seats of honor, one on His right and one on His left. Then they, too, would be “great.” Jesus' ultimate answer no doubt was a complete puzzle and shock to His disciples: “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave--just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many” (vs. 25-28). Jesus was not here to be served. Indeed, if anyone on this earth ever had a right to BE served, it was He. But He came to show us the way the godliness, the way to true greatness in the eyes of Jehovah. You want to be great? Jesus asks. Then you'll have to learn how to deny yourself (Luke 9:23), humble yourself as a little child (Matthew 18:4), and serve others.

This is not the way “the rulers of the Gentiles” think. Nor is it the way historians reckon. Or many of the rest of us, for that matter. We all desire a certain amount of notice and adulation from others, whether we want to be known as “the Great” or not. And probably nobody reading this will ever be known in history as “the Great.” But every one of us can be great in the eyes of the One who really counts. Let’s not concern ourselves about what the world thinks of us, but start giving due consideration to what the Lord thinks of us.

You know, I do hope, in the ultimate history book, the one written in heaven by the only Author whose opinion truly matters…I hope, in that book, a “Mark the Great” exists. But if there is, he’s going to have to be a servant of men, not a conqueror of them.