“… on the way they had argued with one
another who was the greatest.” (Mark
9:34b)
Oh boy! Could there be a timelier topic here
in the good ol’ USA for this Sunday’s Gospel reading than this story of Jesus’
twelve buddies on the road to Capernaum mixing it up about which of them was
the coolest kid in the class? I say this as this reading (Mark 9:30-37) comes
right on the heels of that magnificent Festival of Narcissism called the CNN
Republican Primary Debate. Did you see it? Americans spent three hours last
week watching ten men and one woman arguing about who was the greatest among
them. All the candidates claimed to have won the argument, boasting that their
skills, ideas, experience, successes, outsider status, wisdom, good looks, and
underarm deodorant made them more qualified than their rivals to be the one who
will “Make America Great Again.”
This gets me pondering two things: First,
what does it mean to be great? What do you think greatness is, anyway? Would
America be great if we were indisputably the wealthiest nation on earth with
the highest standard of living? Are we great because of military power which
allows us to open a family-sized can of whoop-ass on anyone who challenges our
interests? Are we great because we can make the best cars, shoot the best
movies, train the best athletes, and cook the best artery-clogging fast food?
Does any of this make America great?
I guess we have to define what we mean by “great”
or “greatness.” In the Gospel lesson, Jesus defines it through a willingness to
serve others.
“Whoever wants to be first must be last of
all and servant of all.” (v.35)
The lesson starts with Jesus teaching
these guys that he must give up his life in order to be raised by God. They don’t
get this (not that I would either if I were in their place!), but they’re too
stuck on their own egos to be humble enough to ask for clarification. Jesus has
to explain to them that greatness can only be found in humility and sacrifice. To
illustrate his meaning, he points to a little kid. Now, in the world of the
text, kids were virtually property. They had no importance whatever. If you
were a kid, you were pretty much the slave of your parents. I always imagine
that Jesus was pointing to a little girl, because she would be seen as being
even less significant than a little boy. Then he exhorts these self-aggrandizing
male disciples to treat this child as if they were treating their respected
rabbi. “I’m here,” Jesus seems to be saying, “in the least important, least powerful,
least wise, and least wealthy in your society. I expect you to treat such a one
as you would treat me. When you do that, you’ll be in relationship with the
Father God. That’s greatness, boys!”
Maybe that’s a cool definition of
greatness—the persistent desire to see Christ in others and be Christ for
others. I’ll admit, this takes some work. I don’t know that I’m very good at it
myself. But that’s the kind of greatness which outlasts all others in my book.
But let me get back to my second question
about Making America Great. I’d like someone to tell me: when did we stop being great..? Did I miss something
here? Yeah, sure, I know that there are millions of problems in this country
with poverty and violence and education and healthcare and the environment and
criminal justice (or lack thereof) and tons of other stuff. But I still think
our national greatness lies in our belief that all people matter. We still try to provide—however ineptly—education to all of
our children. We still believe in care for our elderly through sacrificial
social programs. We still reject (I hope!) military force as the first solution
to solving international problems. We are still able to speak our minds openly.
We still respect freedom of religion. We still provide generous aid to other
lands in time of famine, drought, and natural disaster. That all sounds pretty
great to me. When the day comes when we as a people reject servanthood for
self-interest we will cease to be great and will justly deserve the inevitable
decay which must result from pride without compassion.
Greatness is inseparable from
righteousness, and righteousness starts with humility.
Thanks again for checking out my blog. You
know I love it when you stop by!
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