Day 22: Kingdom Greatness
“...’What were you arguing about on the way?’ But they were silent, because on the way they had been arguing with one another about who was the greatest. Sitting down, he called the Twelve and said to them, ‘If anyone wants to be first of all, he must be last and servant of all.’ He took a child, had him stand among them, and taking him in his arms, he said to them, ‘Whoever welcomes one little child such as this in my name welcomes me. And whoever welcomes me does not welcome me, but him who sent me.’” Mark 9: 33b-37
For the past couple of Sundays Nathan runs into my room after Hope Kids and says “Fey? You gweat.” I suspected this was prompted by his parents but it’s of his own accord and I don’t know where it came from. All I know is it turns my heart into a puddle, especially because he has zero idea if I’m great, he just wants to encourage. As humans we love to be ‘gweat’, whether it’s in the eyes of a toddler or in the eyes of the world. But what is our measure for greatness? What or who does greatness make you think of? Put aside your Sunday school answer and think about your gut reaction. Who is your model of greatness for life? Or business? Preaching or teaching? What about in parenting, lifestyle, beauty, or spiritual things? Is there someone you look to as the model and aim for who you want to be? Today’s passage talks about greatness in God’s Kingdom way and like many of God’s ways, it looks a lot different from ours.
In today’s verses Jesus directly tells the disciples that he will be killed and rise again. This is the third time in Mark’s gospel Jesus directly talks about this and, equally, three times the disciples don’t get it. Peter outright rebukes Jesus the first time which doesn’t go so well for Peter. At the transfiguration Jesus repeats it and the three disciples present ponder “what ‘rising from the dead’ meant.” In these verses, once again, Jesus is clear and even goes further: he is going to be betrayed, killed, and rise again in 3 days. The disciples don’t get it and they’re afraid to ask.
But this doesn’t keep them from talking about something. Rather than pondering what Jesus has said, rather than asking their teacher who they’ve seen to be faithful, true, and commanding of creation, they change the subject to… status. Who is the greatest? It makes you want to blush. It also reminds me how easy it is to hear a good sermon and immediately talk about lunch. The disciples have literally just heard the heart of the gospel, and they start talking about who might be the greatest. Awkward. Cringey. And way too close to home.
As they arrive in Capernaum Jesus asks the disciples what they were talking about, giving them opportunity to fess up. Mark says they were quiet because of their conversation topic. The implication is they recognize the foolishness of their talk. Jesus sits, which is what Rabbi’s did to teach, and gives them a picture of how to be the greatest. And he chooses a child.
It's important to note that this is not a cutesy choice. It’s not Nathan running into my room with heart melting encouragement. Nor is this about summoning your inner child or the innocence of children (if you’ve been around children for any length of time, you are probably more acutely aware that original sin has definite evidence.) In Jesus’ time children would not have been esteemed. We’ll see this in Mark 10 when the disciples rebuke the children coming to Jesus (apparently this teaching time didn’t sink in very well.) In this society children are seen as weak, dependent, least. Jesus is saying, if you want to be great in the Kingdom’s culture, you need to receive ones like these; you need to receive the least, the ones who can’t give you that raise or boost in social standing.
Jesus doesn’t point to one of the apostles and say, ‘that one, he is doing great, you follow him.’ He takes into his arms a kid who needs nappies changed, boogies cleaned, cheerios cleaned up and says, accept this one. Accept those who can do nothing for themselves, and who cannot give you social climb, and who are vulnerable and needy. To accept Jesus, you need accept the structure of his kingdom and it is topsy turvy to ours. Rather than striving for that top rung, you’ve got to seek out those on the bottom. And this is how Jesus came to us. Jesus, the ultimate person of greatness, Creator of the universe, came to us as a helpless baby. God came in flesh in an unknown manger, dependent on a teenager and carpenter for sustenance, in order to be our sustenance. To save us he stooped to be with us. If the King did this for us, surely, as his servants we are called to no less.
If, like the disciples, you want to be great, where are you looking for greatness, what are those areas and models you thought of at the start? Are you aiming to be a Spurgeon or Jen Wilken of Christian teaching? Do you wish you could be a Paul Tripp parent? Is instagram your measure for the good life? If you are a Christ follower greatness means walking in the footsteps of the Greatest, making your measure by the Kingdom’s standard. Our King Jesus, who gave up greatness to take up residence in human flesh; Jesus, who took our punishment on himself; Jesus, despised by the world and crucified; this Jesus is our model of greatness.
This makes me uncomfortable. It’s easy to write from the comfort of my room but this is not the way I strive for greatness. My pride wants a greatness that the world measures as such, but this is not my call. If I want to follow Jesus, I have to let this world’s measure go. Let us pray today that Jesus would lead us to be like him, that we would learn to be last, learn to follow greatness in the Kingdom way. We can’t even do this without his help so let’s confess our need and ask for his great help today.
Written by Faith Whitacre
Passage for today: Mark 9: 30-41
A thought to remember: Kingdom greatness does not look like the world’s greatness.
A question to ask: Where is God calling you to lay down pride and take up the lowly?
A song to sing: Jesus, I My Cross Have Taken