Greatness and the Gospel
Mark 9:30-50
I. How does a story like this make it into the Gospels?
I suggest that this story shows up because:
It exposes how desperate our situation truly is
It reveals the stunning beauty of Jesus and the gospel
It does so in the embarrassing context of the disciples’ childish argument about who is greatest on a walk to Capernaum one day. It hardly gets more ordinary than this!
II. Our Desperate Situation
We actually have no idea how the conversation on the road actually went down. What is not surprising is that it went down! This kind of thing happens all the time with human beings! Nor is it surprising that they argued about who was the greatest! When we get honest with ourselves, we are always arguing about who is the greatest (while secretly cherishing the fantasy that the answer is “ME”)
If that were not bad enough, the ways we choose to go about pursuing greatness not only damn our own souls, but they do damage to the souls of those around us. Nor should we miss that Jesus takes this very seriously. He paints a grim picture of what it is like for those who squander their lives “arguing about who is the greatest” on the walk through this life.
III. The Stunning Beauty of Jesus and the Gospel.
The interesting thing to note is that Jesus does NOT rebuke them for pursuing greatness! Rather, he calls them to Himself and uses the embarrassing moment to equip them for pursuing true greatness. He is not discouraging their pursuit of greatness in favor of being bland and weak. Rather, He is encouraging their pursuit of greatness as if finally they are starting to hunger for something worth pursuing.
Jesus introduces them to the economy of the Trinity where each person of the Godhead endlessly and enthusiastically spends Himself celebrating and serving the greatness of the Other and none are diminished for doing so. Rather each is eternally magnified in the praises of the Others.
It has only and always been the lie of the snake that greatness is gained by grabbing, by transgressing, by trampling others.
In perhaps the most surprising turn of all, Jesus exalts the lowliest and most mundane occupation of the day - the job of the servant. The one who does for others what they ask. The one who provides for others what they need. The one nobody notices when they are doing their best work.
In the Roman world, the servants or slaves of the day were captive against their will. Poverty, conquest, or prejudice kept them in their places. It was much the same for the Jews, but the Jewish people did know of another Servant - the Servant of the LORD.
We know it changed them because everywhere they went they told this story on themselves - one of their most embarrassing days redeemed by the stunning beauty of Jesus and the gospel. We also know it from the way they referred to themselves from that day forward.
Peter, the Christ-rebuker, refers to himself as “Peter, a slave and apostle of Jesus Christ.”
John, the son of thunder, becomes John “the slave” of Jesus and brother of those being exiled and marginalized for proclaiming the gospel in Revelation.
Paul, the racist terrorist turned apostle to the Gentiles, whose writings undergird the entire Christian faith is always and only in all his letters “a slave of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle.”
