TRUE GREATNESS

Matthew 20:17-28

INTRODUCTION: The text for our meditation this morning is taken from the Gospel reading for today, the Gospel according to St. Matthew where the mother of James and John makes a request of Jesus, that her sons should be given the seats of honor in His kingdom, one on His right and one on His left: “And when the ten heard it, they were greatly displeased with the two brothers. But Jesus called them to Himself and said, ‘You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave-just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.’”*

When I was younger I dreamed of being great! I wanted to be the greatest: the greatest general, the greatest astronomer, it didn’t really matter what, whatever it was I wanted to be the greatest. And why not?! Why shouldn’t we dream big? Better to dream big than to dream small!

But what does it mean to be truly great? The answer depends on whether we are talking about God’s definition of greatness or the world’s. In the world, to be truly great means to be in charge, to be well-known, to be important, to be honored, to be respected by others. Truly great people don't have to show their driver's license to cash a check in the grocery store. Everyone knows who they are. But then, truly great people aren’t likely to be in the grocery store to begin with. Truly great people don't have the time to do their own shopping. They're too busy doing great things. Instead, they hire other people to do their shopping for them.

Truly great people are in charge of themselves and of others. They tell others what to do and not the other way around. They exercise great power and authority over other people, whether it's because of their office, or because of their charisma, or because of their money. For example, the President of the United States, no matter who he is, by definition is a great person. You may not like him, but still, he is great. He is great, not because of who he is, not because of who likes him, but because of the office he holds. As President he commands the greatest nation on earth. He commands the country with the strongest military, the country with the richest economy and the country with the wealthiest people on earth. And so, whether we like him or not, whether he lives up to the high standards of his office or not, by virtue of the office which he holds he is great.

On the other hand, the great athletes of our time are not great because of their office, nor are they great simply because of their athletic ability, although their athletic ability is obviously important to their greatness, but they are great because of their charisma. There's something about them that makes you want to remember their name and put their picture on your wall. That something makes them great, giving them a power and an authority over people they otherwise wouldn't have. That's why companies pay so much to have the truly great athletes endorse their products. The endorsement of a great athlete means money in the bank.

Others exercise power and authority because of their great wealth, like Bill Gates of Microsoft Software. Before he made his fortune no one paid him much attention. Now, because of the money he has and the power he wields because of it, when Bill Gates talks, other people listen.

And so, true greatness, at least in the eyes of the world means power and authority. It means to be in a position of influence, to influence people, to tell them what to do and to have them do it.

It's this kind of greatness that the mother of James and John was thinking about when she brought them to Jesus with her request. “What do you wish?” Jesus asked. She said to Him, “Grant that these two sons of mine may sit, one on Your right hand and the other on the left, in Your kingdom.” In other words, she was asking that they be made great in His kingdom, that they be given power and authority in His kingdom, that they be given the seats of honor in His kingdom, one on His right hand and one on His left. And why not?! Why shouldn’t she dream big for her sons? And why shouldn’t they dream big for themselves?

But perhaps they were dreaming too big, for Jesus answered and said, “You do not know what you ask.” And indeed they did not. “Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink,” Jesus said, “and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?” Foolishly, not understanding what He was talking about, James and John said, “We are able.”

No, they did not understand what Jesus was talking about, otherwise they would never have said to Jesus, “We are able.” They were still thinking in terms of an earthly kingdom, not a heavenly one. They were still thinking in terms of earthly power and authority, not of spiritual power and authority. They still had their minds set on the things of the flesh, and not on the things of the Spirit. And so they did not understand.

No, they would never had said, “We are able,” if they had understood that the cup that our Lord Jesus Christ was talking about was the cup of His suffering, the cup of His suffering that He was about to suffer, the cup of His death that He was about to die. No, they would never have said, “We are able,” if they had understood that the baptism that He was about to be baptized with was not a baptism with water, as John baptized and as we baptize today, but it was the baptism of His innocent sufferings and death on the cross, the baptism of His innocent sufferings and death that He was about to endure on our behalf to make payment for our sin. No, they never would have said, “We are able,” if they had understood that what He was talking about was that suffering and death that He had mentioned at the beginning of the Gospel reading for today when He said, “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death, and deliver Him to the Gentiles to mock and to scourge and to crucify. And the third day He will rise again.” [Matt. 20:18-19] No, they did not understand, as they often did not understand in the days leading up to His death and resurrection.

Jesus Himself was not looking forward to that suffering that He was about to suffer in our place nor was He looking forward to that death that He was about to die for our salvation. Indeed, if there had been any other way for Him to save us from the disaster that we had brought upon ourselves by our sin He would have gladly done so. This is why He prayed three times in the Garden of Gethsemane, “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.” If there had been any other way to save us, our Lord Jesus Christ would have done so. But it was not possible for that cup to pass from Him, at least it was not possible if we were to be saved from our sin, and it was the will of His Father, as well as the will of our Lord Jesus Christ that we be saved, for, in spite of all the wicked things we had done He still loved us. For this is what John 3:16 means: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” And so He went to the cross, willingly although not looking forward to the suffering, there to suffer and there to die, the innocent Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, but by His innocent sufferings and by His innocent death He made atonement for our sin so that, as He rose again from the dead, we, too, should rise again to live with Him.

No, James and John certainly did not understand what they were asking when they asked for the seats of honor, nor did they understand what they were saying when they said, “We are able.” But it would not be long before they did. Jesus said to them, “You will indeed drink My cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with,” as indeed they were. James was the first one of the Apostles to die a martyr’s death following the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, and John would be the last. “. . . but to sit on My right hand and on My left is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it is prepared by My Father.”

Now the other disciples, when they heard what James and John had done, were outraged. Not so much because James and John had approached Jesus with their request to sit, one on His right hand and one on His left, but because they had gotten there first. You see, each one of the Twelve wanted to sit in one of those seats themselves, for each one of the Twelve wanted to be great in the Kingdom of God in the same way that James and John did, indeed, each one of the Twelve wanted to be the greatest in the kingdom of God. And why not?!

But the kingdom of God is not like the kingdoms of men. And the power and the authority that we exercise in the kingdom of God is not like the power and the authority that is exercised in the kingdom of men. For the power and the authority we exercise is not an earthly power and authority, but a spiritual one. And we exercise it, not OVER men, but we exercise it on BEHALF of men.

“You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them,” Jesus said, “and those who are great exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave. . . .” This was not what the disciples were thinking of at all when they thought about being great in the kingdom of God, nor is this what many people in the church are thinking today. They were thinking, and many today are thinking, that to be great in the kingdom of God, that is, to be great in God’s church here on earth, as well as in heaven, is to be able to lord it over the rest, to be able to tell everyone else what to do and for them to do it.

But that is not what true greatness is in the Kingdom of God. It’s not about lording it over others. It’s not about telling them what to do. It’s about serving them. That’s why pastors are called ‘ministers’, which means ‘servants’, and not ‘masters’. Pastors are to minister to the flock over which Christ has made them overseers. Pastors are to serve the flock by preaching and by teaching God’s Word to them, by protecting them from the false teaching of the wolves who would devour them, by calling them to repentance when they sin and by granting them the forgiveness of their sin when they are willing to repent, by administering the Sacraments of Baptism and of Holy Communion, Baptism by which sinners are saved through the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit, Baptism by which sinners are given that new birth by which they become a child of God and an heir of eternal life, Baptism by which sinners receive the forgiveness of their sin and are made members of His kingdom. And the Sacrament of Holy Communion, that Sacrament by which we are strengthened in the faith, fed on the very body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ together with the bread and the wine of Holy Communion, His body given into death for us and His blood shed on the cross for us for the forgiveness of our sins. In this eating and in this drinking He not only forgives us but He also strengthens us in the faith even to the end.

This, then, is what it means to be great in the kingdom of God: it does not mean to be able to tell others what to do, but it means to serve them with the forgiveness of their sins. “. . . just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” In the same way we have not been made members of His kingdom to be served, but to serve.

This is what it means to be truly great in the kingdom of God. If you want to be truly great, then truly serve. Amen.