“True Greatness” (Luke 9:46-48)
True greatness is being nice to people who need extra grace and being childlike ourselves, being the servant instead of being the master, being the least and not the most important, and being humble. We don’t have to exalt ourselves because it is God who exalts and humbles down people.
There arose an argument among them about which of them was the greatest. Jesus, perceiving the reasoning of their hearts, took a little child and set him by His side and said to them: “Whoever receives this little child in My name receives Me. Whoever receives Me receives Him who sent Me. For whoever is least among you all, this one will be great” (Luke 9:46-48).
The Bone of Contention
There arose an argument among them about which of them was the greatest (46).
Of all the things the disciples could busy themselves in, it is in each other pointing out his merits and the others’ defects to argue for his claim of being the best among the rest.
We see here the disciples’ spiritual immaturity. They are like budding young plants which haven’t fully developed and still unripe for a promoted status. They are full of energy and ideas but still have the tendency to misuse those on petty activities such as the one they’re doing now.
This also serves as a proof that they really didn’t understand Jesus’ mysterious words which we have discussed in episode 2. Had they understood it, they would have behaved differently than how they’re behaving now here in episode 3.
The Messiah whom Jesus has unequivocally declared Himself to be cannot yet establish a glorious earthly kingdom but first needs to be brought to the hands of men to make the sacrifice for the sins of mankind as was stated in the Scripture.
Therefore, the disciples will be in for an epic disappointment to realize later on that all their contention for greatness and their grandiose plans for co-ruling with Jesus won’t materialize in their lifetimes. Sorry.
Jesus may not have insisted on making Himself understood because He Himself gets horrified at the unspeakable torture and mistreatment that He is about to endure once He has been taken to the hands of men.
Surely, Jesus will reign as a literal King someday. This is the blessed hope that all of us who believe in Him hold on to. But in the meantime, let us truly be His faithful disciples who live out His teachings and obey His commandments. His yoke is easy and His burden is light. He is the Good Shepherd who leads us to abundant life, not to destruction. Jesus will never ask us to do something that would destroy us and hurt others. He doesn’t want us to detach ourselves from reality and live in an alternate universe. Instead, He wants us to live among the unregenerate world as productive citizens and yet to be set apart to lead a godly life.
We can make ourselves great, not by exalting ourselves but by serving others. In time, once Jesus has set up His kingdom here on earth, we will rule with Him. But while here in this present dispensation, let us prove ourselves worthy of this future responsibility.
Childlikeness Preferred
Jesus, perceiving the reasoning of their hearts, took a little child and set him by His side (47).
Jesus always has the perfect and most-suitable approach to every situation or provocation. Thus, He didn’t pay any attention to His disciples’ bickering. Neither did He try to stop them, moderate their debate, take sides, and scold. He just let them have their way for a while.
Instead, He turned to a little boy and talked to him. It seems more worthwhile to spend His time with an innocent child than with His disciples who think they already know it all. A child is devoid of any malice that grownups have. Therefore, it is safe to entrust him with responsibilities or some kind of power because he’s not likely to abuse it. A child is like a clean slate; he has no knowledge of the world yet. Therefore, he’ll prove clumsy at taking advantage of opportunities for selfish ends. A child doesn’t harbor a contentious spirit. Therefore, he wouldn’t kill for a coveted post or cause the ruin of a rival.
A Test of Humility
…and said to them, “Whoever receives this little child in My name receives Me” (48a).
Finally, Jesus corrected His disciples’ faulty thinking through an object lesson. He posed a challenge to His disciples:
With the kind of mindset that they now have, do they think they’ll be able to “receive” a child, meaning be gracious to the kind of people who need extra grace? Maybe hardly because none of them wants to admit fault and accept defeat and each of them thinks he’s better than the others. A haughty person with such a high and inflated opinion of himself won’t have the time to attend to and accommodate a “lowly” one.
Can they also turn themselves into little children and admit that they don’t know much, enough to be able to act as someone they’re contending to be? Can they humble themselves and stop seeing their own importance but instead see the importance of others and thus have the heart to serve them?
The Right Focus
“Whoever receives Me receives Him who sent Me” (48b).
The disciples focus too much on their qualifications and on others’ flaws instead of on what their Master thinks.
Competitiveness in a positive way is good because it is constructive, but competitiveness in a wicked way is bad because it is destructive. The latter is the source of many evils, and the disciples seem to be absorbed with it.
If they knew better, they would have tamed any contentious spirit that manifests itself from inside them and just focused on how much more they can learn from the Lord since it is He who is the source of all greatness and can, at a snap of a finger, turn them into the great men that they want to be.
The kingdom of God is not a place for squabbles for supremacy. Though what mostly applies to the kingdoms of this world is the law of the jungle, the same can’t be applied to the kingdom of God. Such a thing has no place and is a total eyesore in the kingdom of God.
A Wonderful Paradox
“For whoever is least among you all, this one will be great” (48c).
Jesus just gave here the most-accurate definition of greatness. This is true greatness.
Jesus wants us to not place importance on ourselves but to assume the attitude of servility. We should attend to the needs of the real needy especially if it is in our power or means to do so. We must truly serve and not only toy with the idea and process of serving and just feed our ego under the guise of “serving”. And to top it off, we shouldn’t seek attention and credit from it all.
This is one of many of Jesus’ profound teachings that work quite well and in amazing ways when properly applied but are simply difficult to apply because they basically go against the nature of the sinful man in an unregenerate world.
Any godly principle and activity is absurd and corny to the natural world and sometimes even to us believers. But we should overcome this and simply do what’s right. If we fear that we might lose our appeal and people might despise us and see us as weaklings, we can just be subtle and creative about it so that it won’t appear obviously as it is and we won’t sound or look religious and yet we’re still hitting the mark and fulfilling God’s commands.
Jesus wants us to be wise as serpents but harmless as doves. We can be excellent at good things and yet be innocent of evil. We can use our understanding of how the mind of the unregenerate world operates in order to reach out to them. We can take this option if we don’t wish to make ourselves nauseating and prone to abuse as we’re testifying for Jesus and applying His teachings.
God is the fountainhead of all good things including greatness. To begin with, it is He alone who should be great; but sometimes, we also want to be great. Why? Nevertheless, it would be an easy thing for Him to make us great regardless of our merits or desire regarding the matter, whether we are conceited enough to detect it in ourselves or want it for ourselves or simply indifferent about it. God’s grace never depended on its recipient.
If greatness is something already etched in the palm of our hand, it will come to us no matter what. We only need give it a little shove. If God meant us for greatness, we will indeed turn out to be great. Our lives will unfold in a way that God will highlight the great person He created us to be. He can make us great in His time even if Satan thwarts it in every possible way.
Some of us may be sophisticated enough to know how to navigate ourselves to get to that blessed greatness, but we are not all-knowing. Our own strength, worldly wisdom, and prideful attitude are still limited and are still liable to fail us. Some of us may even be willing to pay an ugly price for greatness.
If we so aspire for greatness, we can simply ask it from God. He may hear our prayers. But over all, it is His will which will be done. Let’s just leave it to God. Who knows, it might be His will for us to be great persons even by the standards of the world. As a testimony to that, perhaps we’ve already seen certain individuals who didn’t compromise their faith and yet are still admired and highly esteemed by believers and unbelievers alike.
If we happen to be recipients of such greatness without us even asking for it, then thank you, Lord. And if it is an answer to our prayers, thank you, Lord, more. We get to appreciate God more when He gives us something we prayed for. God, under whose supervision we all are, is not a fan of a contentious spirit and of worldly contrivances in achieving goals.
Therefore, we don’t have to contend for greatness. Because true greatness is in being nice to people who need extra grace and being childlike ourselves, in being the servant instead of being the master, in being the least and not the most important, and in being humble. We don’t have to exalt ourselves because God can exalt us if He so chooses.
Passage by Passage Luke 9 series, episode 3
by: Marven T. Baldo
