Lately, in our journey through Mark’s gospel, we have been seeing an emphasis on “greatness.” The transfiguration of Jesus displayed His greatness. The discussions of the Twelve seemed to be about greatness from time to time. The passage we are about to consider, where Jesus tells the disciples how to be great in His kingdom (10:35-45) He had already given in short form in 9:33-37. Earlier, Jesus’ words were in response to the competition of the Twelve. In this passage it is in response to the request of James and John to have positions of honor in Jesus’ kingdom.
There is something interesting in all this. Jesus does not criticize them for having thoughts of greatness. They have other issues, in that they do not know how greatness can be attained. Jesus does correct them on this. But He does not shame them for having such a petty discussion.
It is never a good idea to make too big a deal about what Jesus “did not say.” However, before we launch into Mk. 10:32-52, there is something we should keep in mind. God created man for greatness and gave man the equipment to be great. I’m thinking of Gen. 1:26-28 where God, who alone is great, gave from His greatness to man, granting him dominion over all of creation. And He equipped man for carrying out this “God-ordained” great responsibility by creating man in His image. This is the sum of Psalm 8: You have made him (man) a little lower than the angels, and You have crowned him with glory and honor … You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands, You have put all things under his feet … O LORD, our Lord, how excellent is Your name in all the earth! God gets the praise because He made man great.
You may say that man corrupted his greatness by sin, and that would be correct. But what man did was introduce “unbelief” in God’s greatness. In the Garden man exalted himself, believing the lie that he could be like God without God. Because of that, man forfeited his ability to be great as God had intended. The creation became difficult for man, and man sought greatness by rebellion and oppression (Gen. 3:16). Christ lives a sinless life, and thus became the Man of Psalm 8 (Heb. 2:5-9), the One with dominion, preeminence and lordship over all creation. Thus, the rest of mankind can share this greatness if he will reject the lie and come to God through faith in Jesus Christ. In Christ man can be renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him (Col. 3:10).
For a man to seek greatness is not the problem. Pursuing mediocrity is a problem. And that is where man will end up if he continues to seek greatness like everyone else, by rebellion and oppression; and if he forgets that greatness is granted by God.
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