Before Greatness

Read: Matthew 20:20-28

Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant. Matthew 20:26

IN WORD

Everyone wants to be great. That doesn’t mean everyone wants to be rich, famous, or recognized for greatness, but deep down, beneath whatever wounds and resignation may obscure their true desires, everyone wants to accomplish something significant and do life well. And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that longing. When James, John, and their mother asked for a privileged position, Jesus didn’t rebuke them for the desire to be great. He simply corrected their perception of how to make it happen.

One of the paradoxes of the Kingdom is that the way up is down. If you want to become great, you need to get low and become a servant. That’s what Jesus did, leaving His privileged position in glory and living among us as a human being destined to die. And as Jesus indicated on more than one occasion, His followers are to be like Him. If we’re trying to work our way up the ladder to greatness while claiming to follow the one who descended from heaven to wash our feet, we’re contradicting ourselves. Following Jesus means adopting the same attitudes and heeding His words. We take on the character of one who is exalted over all because He emptied Himself of glory and died.

IN DEED

That’s the path to greatness, and it’s a shocking paradox. Not many in this world can accept that the way up is down, although some might concede the point if you redefine greatness as a matter of principle. But Jesus, both by words and example, made it clear that His way to greatness leads not only to the admiration of others; it leads to actual, meaningful exaltation and glory in God’s Kingdom. This isn’t something we have to do but rather something we get to do. It’s a stunning opportunity. We aren’t simply acquiring a great character trait; we’re acquiring a greater position in the Kingdom governance. The more we serve, the more God elevates us in the social structure of His realm. And no form of upward mobility is greater than that.

ADDITIONAL READING: John 13:1-17

The most radical social teaching of Jesus was His total reversal of the contemporary notion of greatness.

RICHARD FOSTER