I'm the World's Greatest

When they stopped in Capernaum for a night’s rest Jesus asked them for their thoughts. Strangely the disciples were silent. They had nothing to say because they were arguing about whom among them was the greatest? Of course Peter thinks he is the favorite, but James and John vouch for themselves since they too got to go up on the mountain of Transfiguration. Yet Andrew chimes in saying, “You know I was the first one of us he called to follow. Surely I am the greatest!”

It’s typical isn’t it? Jesus is trying to prepare the disciples for the future yet they are too distracted by their own ego. They want to know who among them is the greatest. They ask, “Where do I rank? Where am I in this picture?”

If I’m truthful with you about myself, I have to admit that I’ve had similar thoughts. I’ve asked the question, “Am I the greatest here?” I tell my birth story as if it gives me credibility over anyone. Sure my mother’s tubes were tied before she conceived me and they miraculously grew back together. That is true. But I carry this story with me as if it’s a rite of passage – as if God tells me I am greater for it.

Or how about my face story. Yeah I got hit in the face by a baseball and had reconstructive surgery. Sure I could have died but God and the doctors at Vanderbilt Hospital saved me. This story used to sit with me in my mind as if God saved me because I am more special, more important, and more worthy. I don’t like thinking these things and they don’t enter my mind as much anymore, but when I allow my shadow side to lead my thoughts, then the idea that I am greater creeps into it. I humbly admit that I, over the course of my life, have struggled with arrogance and pride.

Something tells me we all have. We all have stories that make us feel worthy and more accepted. But to think because we have “sacrificed” our lives to follow God that we deserve to be called ‘great’ is prideful. The notion that we get to go to the front of the line for being Christ-like is arrogant. Arrogance is pride. C.S. Lewis says in Mere Christianity, pride is essentially competitive; it’s competitive by its very nature. We are not prideful because we are rich, clever, or good-looking. We are prideful because we think we are richer, clever-er, and better-looking. It’s the comparison that makes us proud.

This is exactly what the disciples are doing. They are debating by comparison who is greater. This is pride. This is the same pride that takes the heart of you and me. Pride is to think you have earned something for being a follower of Christ. To think you are better, more righteous, and more important than the person beside you. It is to think you deserve something no one else does. It is to look in the mirror and see, not wholeness, but comparative arrogance. Pride makes us, when we look upon the face of Christ; admit in shameful silence that we have been debating our place in the kingdom.

The idealistic egotism of the disciples is their pitfall. They take Christ’s love and internalize it to mean they are the most special of anyone. Imagine – fisherman from Galilee are asking the Blessed Son of God who among the disciples is the greatest; who God holds next highest to Jesus; who the most worthy is to carry on the name of God after Jesus dies.

Sounds silly doesn’t it. What about when we do it?

Comments

Adam said…
Amen brother!

Even though it's often easier for me to look at the disciples (especially pre-ascension) as a bit thick headed, I'm thankful for their example as well as their humility in passing along even their mistakes to us in the New Testament.

Thanks for the reminder to stay humble, and keep up the good posting!
September 20, 2009 at 11:37 PM
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