Most of the time our culture is impressed with titles, positions and locations of an office. Are you the President or the CEO? Are you the head honcho and have many people report to you? Is your salary the largest in town that features stock options and bonuses? Is your office located in a prestigious building on the top floor in the prime corner with lots of windows? Do you have a PhD or “only” a Master’s Degree? How many people does anyone have to go through before they talk directly to you? Often these are the indicators of a person’s position and power. And if we are not alert to the signals, as a Christian, we could fall right into the mold of trying to impress the rest of the world with our own position and power. That idea is not new to the 21st Century, either.
One day, the disciples of Jesus had been hearing Him teach, watching Him joyfully accept children and seeing Him heal and instruct a young wealthy man about his possessions. The Bible just says these disciples were amazed. His instruction, so contrary to the accepted culture, produced amazement in them and fear in the rest of the crowd that followed Him. I sometimes wonder if the twelve were really paying any attention to what Jesus was saying. Their lack of concentration reminds me of me. Sometimes I miss what Jesus has to say because I am so distracted by something else, that I don’t get it. Does that ever happen to you?
But that doesn’t mean that we don’t get caught in the culture of achievement and success so much that we want the position of recognition or power. The disciples had the same problem. James and John wanted to have Jesus promise to give them position. . . right next to Him on His right and left. They aspired to greatness and wanted the position closest to Jesus “in His Glory”. His answer to them revealed that He was not going to answer them the way they wanted. Instead, He used the occasion to recognize their question and know that the rest of the disciples were angry with those two men. The answer would shape the profiles of greatness from then on. Here is how He did it:
- Jesus acknowledged that the rest of the world, (the Gentile world) did in fact show their position and power by “lording it over” others. What kind of dominance or pressure or intimidation that implied, we don’t know.
- Jesus instruction was surprising for anyone who might aspire to greatness or position or power. The path to position was to be completely opposite of what the Gentiles practiced. Jesus’ words were clear: “It shall not be so among you.” The rest of the world would not be the pattern for greatness, according to Jesus.
- Jesus teaching would specifically and boldly declare that anyone who wanted to be great must first be a servant. Serving others was the key – not in having them serve you. Then came the example – His example: For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many. (Mark 10:45)
So, while the disciples of Jesus had the desire for greatness in the world and especially in their relationship to Jesus, the other disciples did get angry for their personal, exclusive request for position. Instead, Jesus used His example as a servant in attitude and in action to model His own teaching. History shows that Jesus carried it out by being a servant who would die for the sin of the world. He offered the sacrifice. He was the sacrifice. He was the suffering “servant” that the world had never seen before. His example was seen when He came “down”, giving heaven up, to lift us “up”. He humbled Himself to become a man. As a result, God lifted Him up and gave Him a name that is above every name. Savior! Redeemer! King! What an inspiration Jesus still is.
It’s fairly easy to identify Jesus followers who profess to be His servants. They serve. They serve willingly, gladly and without any resentment. You’ll be able to tell if you really believe in being a servant by the way you respond when somebody treats you like one. Our challenge is to accept Jesus’ model of greatness instead of the world’s model of greatness. Here’s an idea: For the next five days, serve someone in an intentional way. You may just be amazed.
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