Disciples Fight-Who Is The Greatest

Disciples Fight-Who is the Greatest lets us see the humanity of the original Disciples...and our own. Jesus tells us how to get true power as long as we meet one little requirement.

Disciples Fight-Who Is The Greatest

Harmony Of The Gospels Series-26, Mk 9:33-35 (Mt 18:1-4, Lk 9:43-48)

For more information about Jesus see these books on the History of Jesus Christ.

"They came to Capernaum. When he was in the house, he asked them, "What were you arguing about on the road?" But they kept quiet because on the way they had argued about who was the greatest. Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, "If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all."

What on earth is behind the drive to be on top, number one, the greatest? When I was a kid, we played a game anywhere there was a piece of higher ground. The game was "King-of –The-Hill". Ever played it? It's where you try to knock everyone off until you're the last one standing on top of the hill. Problem is, the game is never over because everyone who isn't on top does everything in their power to knock off the next "King". This has got to be something universal in our nature. I don't know of anyone who is immune to the game. Are you? Have you ever gotten "knocked off" at work by some over ambitious jerk who thought you were in the way?

Maybe, like me, you've been the jerk. One of the entertaining things in the Christmas season is the office party. Just go to observe, this year. Watch to see who's king of the hill, and what people do to each other to get a chance at being higher on the hill. People are a fun study if we can pull ourselves away from the struggle long enough to watch it. Here in the U.S. we have King-Of-The-Hill down to a science. Not too long ago, Michael Jordan was proclaimed a "hero". Why was he a hero? Did he run into a burning building to save an old woman? Did he give all his money, half his money, 20% of his money to research to cure aids? No! He was a hero because he was King-of-The-Hill in basketball. Certainly, no one will soon forget who used to be our political King-of-The-Hill and what some women were willing to do to climb that hill. Each of us has some hill we want to be king of. Just how far will we go to be first? Ask Osama Bin Laden or Adolph Hitler. There's nothing wrong with us having ambition, but it's very dangerous when ambition has us.

The Disciples had ambition, too. The Bible records about 3 years of their living together with Jesus. In those 3 years, the Gospels record only one subject they argued about. You guessed it: Who will be King-Of-The-Hill? Jesus had a way of turning things on their ear. He did it often with the Disciples. This time, first, He embarrassed them by asking about the argument they were having over who would take His place. Then, He flipped the whole subject upside down by telling them and through them, telling us:

Whoever wants to lead must be the servant of everyone else.

Jesus didn't mind the disciples' ambition, He just wanted to change the nature of the struggle. He didn't want them knocking each other off. He wanted them lifting each other up. He wanted to replace power, influence, wealth and celebrity with submission, cooperation, generosity and transparency. He did it by injecting one word into the "formula for success": servant He did more than say it, like all true leaders, He lived His words. Paul tells us to be like Jesus, who, being God, took on the nature of a slave, allowing Himself to be killed so that we could be served salvation. (Php 2). In Jesus' kingdom, leadership and greatness aren't measured by how many people serve us, but by how many we serve. I'm learning what an honor it is to serve you through Way2Hope. I'm especially gratified by how many of you are serving the others. So many people open up their hearts and lives and say, "help me." God's beginning to give me a glimpse of just how far over my head this is. If you're a servant of God, serving people, you should be over your head. I mean, let's get a clue about Who's doing the heavy lifting. It sure ain't me!

Disciples Fight-Who Is The Greatest

I'm honored that you've allowed me to be a part of your Christian life. Please return often for fellowship, study and prayer. Thank you very much for visiting.

Love & Hugs,
Glen

Disciples Fight-Who is the Greatest lets us see the humanity of the original Disciples...and our own. Jesus tells us how to get true power as long as we meet one little requirement.