Mark 9:33-37
Who is Greatest?
33They came to Capernaum. When he was in the house, he asked them, "What were you arguing about on the road?" 34But they kept quiet because on the way they had argued about who was the greatest.
35Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, "If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all."
36He took a little child and had him stand among them. Taking him in his arms, he said to them, 37"Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me."
Jesus is a contrarian...The reason He is a contrarian is because this world and our flesh, are not of His nature...He is not of this world...He is the most powerful One of all, who has ever walked the earth...Yet, He did it with humbleness and did it serving others...In Matthews 20:28 He tells us He came not to be served, but to serve and to give His life as a ransom...
Jesus, here, teaches us about those of us who want to be great, who want to be recognized, and those of who want other people to notice us...He also teaches that if we are like little children then we are like Him...If we are open to receiving a child in our arms and hearts, then we are welcoming Him...
Even the disciples were caught up in personal glory and were talking about who would be the greatest among the Twelve...When we are in this world, this is often how we speak and think...The Twelve disciples are with Jesus and yet are speaking about an arrogance of glory and power...Their speaking of greatness is not a teaching of Jesus...To want glory on earth and be the greatest is a weakness we have...To want glory (if the disciples talking about the kingdom of heaven) in heaven is also not the way...Jesus reminds the Twelve that to want to be great in heaven, you must accept to be the very end to the very last...You must accept to be the servant of all...To be great, we must be absolutely humble and ALL others must go before us...We must help others and want to help others...To be truly great we must be humble and help others...This is a sign of mercy...
Little children play together, have fun together, and live happily together, when they are very young...If we can act as they do we are like Him and welcome Him...Their humble innocence is what Jesus is teaching and looking for...
When we are powerful and we are first, things change...We think more of our possessions and ourselves than others...Being first can turn generosity into greed, love into envy, humility into being arrogant, and put ourselves before others...
Those who think that we are great are those we have humbly helped...Those who are in need and we have with no arrogance have stepped up and helped them, with no strings, expecting nothing for what you have done think of us...If one has the opportunity to have helped many and done it with humility, expecting nothing in return, and done it in a happy generous way, will have done it the way Jesus wants us to...When they put that one person in need, ahead of themselves, they will be last...No doubt that person (who does this regularly), will also have many friends...Those people he or she have helped will think the person helping them are great...To master these two attributes, being humble and serving are very important in His teachings...Doing things humbly and serving others, will always put you last in the line, but will also lead to greatness...