Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, “Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all.”
Mark 9:35 NIV
How do you measure greatness in people? It could be the size of a person’s financial portfolio; their position in the corporate or political world; how many follow them on Twitter or Facebook; or their athletic ability. All of those, and many more, are measures of greatness in our culture.
But those measures that are meaningful in this world are meaningless in the kingdom of God. In this passage, Jesus turned the definition of greatness on its head. The standard of greatness in Jesus’ day was measured by the number of people who served you in some fashion. But Jesus’ definition of greatness was measured by how many people you yourself served. According to Jesus, the one who would be first must become last, the servant of all.
According to Jesus, it is not the pastor of the mega-church with a large staff and extensive campus who is great. Rather, it is the nursery worker who wipes noses and bottoms. The one who serves not only the little ones, but also their parents, allowing them to be a part of Bible studies and worship.
Don’t get me wrong here. I am not dismissing those whom God has placed into leadership roles within his church. But even they have been called to serve. Even Jesus, the Son of God, served His disciples and set us an example of service (John 13:12-17).
What I got from reading the verse and your comment is that greatness is equal to service in the kingdom of God . Therefore as children of God we should intentionally understand that when we serve others we are great in the kingdom . And above all we can only do service in the strength of the holyspirit.
I believe you are correct. Although I might add that we need to guard against pride in our service. We do not serve to become great. We serve because we are following the example of Jesus.
Thank you for this insightful message! This was really helpful, and made me understand on a deeper level what Jesus meant.
I’m glad it was helpful to you. Thanks for sharing that with me.