We need humility to achieve greatness in God's eyes. To be bigger, we have to get smaller.
In
his book, All
I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten,
Robert Fulghum wrote, “Wisdom comes not from graduate school but in
the nursery school sandbox. These are the things I learned: Share
everything. Play fair. Don’t hit people. Put things back where you
found them. Clean up your own mess. Don’t take things that aren’t
yours. Say you’re sorry when you hurt somebody. When you go out
into the world watch for traffic, hold hands, and stick together.”
Fulghum
is not far from the teaching of Jesus that we must become like little
children to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. (Matthew
18:3)
Nowhere
in the Bible do you see the Apostles asking each other, “How are
you? Can I get you anything?
Instead,
we see them pushing people away as when they were bringing
children to Jesus
or keeping
those outside their group were ministering in Jesus' name.
Now there is conflict about who among them is the greatest. (Mark
9:33-34)
For
many the idea of greatness comes from position, prestige, and power.
Like children who race and push each other to get a better position
in line, the Apostles are arguing about how they should be lining up.
Jesus
straightens out their thinking by saying, “If anyone wants to be
first, he shall be last of all and servant of all.’” (Mark
9:35)
While
they're trying to figure out what that means, Jesus scoops up a
toddler and makes a connection between the one who receives this
child in His name, and the one who receives Christ Himself and God
His Father.
The
greatest are those small enough to serve people forgotten by others.
Those who befriend the person nobody likes. The ones who give to
those who cannot give back.
