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Greatness

February 28, 2024

Jeremiah 18:1-11, 18-20  |  Matt 20:17-28  |  Psalm 31: 9-16

“but whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be your slave; just as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve”. – Matthew 20:27-28

There he goes again. Turning everything on its ear. The world has lived for 2,000 years since Jesus walked among us, and for most of them the religion we built around him has dominated Western culture. So when we hear such surprising concepts, like whoever wishes to be first among you must be last, that the meek shall inherit the earth, or that we should turn the other cheek – it doesn’t phase us. Not that we come even close to living up to these teachings – but they do not surprise us.  We forget just how radical these ideas were. Radical: relating to or affecting the fundamental nature of something. From the Latin word “radic” meaning “root”. Or to borrow an olde-timey phrase from Jospeh’s and my favorite ride at Disney World, “Carousel of Progress”, Jesus “sure knew how to get to the core of the apple”.

As familiar as this idea of the least among us being the greatest is, we sure don’t live our lives much that way, do we? Look at how pervasive competitive sports are in our world. Not to say this is a negative thing (in fact it is great that we found a way to harness our competitive nature without killing one another), but sport’s popularity points to our human drive to overcome and reach the top. At work we seek the corner office, the titled position, the recognition, the better pay, the dominance over the competition. In popular culture we idolize the famous, the thin, young, and beautiful, the successful. We want to be like them. 

So what on earth was Jesus talking about? If we want to be great, we must be servants? This is what I love so much about Jesus. He snaps us out of our default thinking and points us toward just the opposite. Toward what really is important. Because the fact is, as essential as competition and struggle and achievement is to our personal and collective growth, as important as it is to innovation and improvement, it sure is not everything. By its very definition, there is room for only a very few at the top. That leaves most of us somewhere else. And usually not feeling very great about it. And we’ve all heard stories of how unfulfilling that pinnacle can be if the pinnacle itself is the only goal. And to become the greatest by trampling over others – well that’s not so great, is it.

But Jesus was on to something. And living amongst all of you at St. Luke’s, I know you are on to it too – I’ve seen it in the way you live out your faith. Serving others brings a fulfillment far deeper and lasting than any worldly success. Serving others just for the sake of the good it brings, not for any recognition – this is what truly fills our hearts. These are the living waters that really quench our thirst. And this radical, servant-love – Jesus modeled it for us during his time here on earth. He didn’t just preach it – he lived it.

So in the midst of life’s daily striving and healthy struggle to succeed, let’s not forget the core of the apple. Remember what Jesus taught us and how he lived – and so painfully died. In serving, in loving one another, in placing others above ourselves – this is how we succeed, how we are fulfilled. This, paradoxically, is how we become great.

Gary Schweizer