Greatness

I was going to share this on Martin Luther King Jr. Day; however, I decided my laptop needed an upgrade and that made me unable to blog last week.  

One week later, I still want to share it with you:

"The setting is clear. James and John are making a specific request of Jesus -- "Now when you establish your kingdom, let one of us sit on the right hand and the other on the left hand of your throne." [...] What was the answer that Jesus gave these men? It's very interesting. One would have thought that Jesus would have condemned them. One would have thought that Jesus would have said, "You are out of your place. You are selfish. Why would you raise such a question?"

But that isn't what Jesus did; he did something altogether different. He said in substance, "Oh, I see, you want to be first. You want to be great. You want to be important. You want to be significant. Well, you ought to be. If you're going to be my disciple, you must be." But he reordered priorities. And he said, "Yes, don't give up this instinct. It's a good instinct if you use it right. It's a good instinct if you don't distort it and pervert it. Don't give it up. Keep feeling the need for being important. Keep feeling the need for being first. But I want you to be first in love. I want you to be first in moral excellence. I want you to be first in generosity. That is what I want you to do."

And he transformed the situation by giving a new definition of greatness. And you know how he said it? He said, "Now brethren, I can't give you greatness. And really, I can't make you first." This is what Jesus said to James and John. "You must earn it. True greatness comes not by favoritism, but by fitness. And the right hand and the left are not mine to give, they belong to those who are prepared."

And so Jesus gave us a new norm of greatness. If you want to be important -wonderful. If you want to be recognized -wonderful. If you want to be great -wonderful. But recognize that he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. That's a new definition of greatness.

And this morning, the thing that I like about it: by giving that definition of greatness, it means that everybody can be great, because everybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve. You don't have to know about Plato and Aristotle to serve. You don't have to know Einstein's theory of relativity to serve. You don't have to know the second theory of thermodynamics in physics to serve. You only need a heart full of grace, a soul generated by love. And you can be that servant."

--Martin Luther King, Jr.

And this is why I am sharing this with you one week after the MLK Jr. holiday.

I read this quotation in my Walking with Purpose Bible Study a couple weeks ago. 

I can't stop rereading it. 

There is a new definition of greatness!

A new norm of greatness! 

Our desires to be great and our desires to be important are good.

An example of greatness is St. Maximilian Kolbe. He said he wanted to not only become a saint but a great saint!

  

He chose greatness by living a life of service and a life of love. 

That is what makes us fit to be disciples of Jesus.

That is what Martin Luther King Jr. is saying too.

Take Heart! 

Desire Greatness!

Image by Clark Tibbs