A Peculiar Greatness
Dr. Jim Wilson, September 20, 2009 Several years ago, this bit of gossip about a famous artist and an equally famous writer appeared in a London newspaper. “James McNiel Whistler and Oscar Wilde were seen yesterday at Brighton talking, as usual about themselves.” When Whistler saw this little tidbit of gossip, he clipped it out and sent it to Wilde with a note which read: I wish these reporters would be more accurate. If you remember, Oscar, we were talking about me.” Wilde replied in a telegram which read: “It is true, Jimmy, we were talking about you, but I was thinking about myself.” Neither of these colorful men showed the slightest bit of embarrassment about their ego-centric conversation. However, neither of these men was capable of welcoming the other into his life. More recently, a colleague tells of being in charge of the annual meeting of a non-profit organization. One of his tasks was to designate the places at the head table for the banquet. The late Senator Paul Simon was the guest speaker. As the guest arrived for the welcoming time, my friend noticed one of the officers of the organization switching the name cards at the head table so as to be seated next to the Senator and Mrs. Simon. He said, “I couldn’t believe my eyes.” Have you ever found yourself in a conversation with someone who is so taken with him or herself, her or his importance, his or her accomplishments, that you simply did not feel welcome? I would guess we all have at some point. Perhaps we can chuckle at the absurd self-centeredness of people like Oscar Wilde and James Whistler, or the chutzpah of someone moving name cards at the head table, yet such behavior reveals the deadliest of sins, that of hubris, arrogant pride. Such is precisely the issue in the story Mark tells us this morning. As we pick up the story, Jesus and the Twelve continue to be “on the way” passing through Galilee headed toward Jerusalem. Mark tells us Jesus chooses to move discreetly, wanting to be out of the public eye. This is a time of private instruction for the disciples. Clearly, Jesus recognizes that the disciples simply are not “getting it;” they do not understand who he is or what he is about. The content of the intensive tutorial is a second prediction of his passion, one that has a new wrinkle. “The Son of Man,” says Jesus referring to himself, “is to be betrayed into human hands, and they will kill him, and three days after being killed will rise again.” The new “wrinkle” concerns Jesus being betrayed, something not included in the first prediction. This time the disciples are silent. Perhaps the memory of the last discussion following Jesus’ prediction is still too fresh in their minds. Mark tells us, “…they did not understand what he was saying and were afraid to ask him.” So the tiny band moves on. What happens next “on the way” reveals that the disciples’ difficulty runs far deeper than a lack of understanding. Evidently, Jesus overhears at last a portion of a heated discussion among the Twelve. When they reach Capernaum and enter the house, Jesus asks, “What were you arguing about on the way?” Faces turn red with embarrassment. Eyes quickly drop to the ground so as to avoid his. There is a nervous shuffling of feet. The disciples stand silently, like a group of fourth graders caught passing notes in class and now being asked to share the content with the teacher. What they had been arguing about as they walked along was who was the greatest. How ironic! How sadly ironic! Jesus speaks of how he will be betrayed and handed over to those who will kill him, and his disciples argue about who gets the top cabinet post, the corner office, the keys to the executive rest room, when Jesus gets elected Messiah. No wonder they didn’t understand. Understanding is not only a matter of perception and intelligence. It is also a matter of character. The disciples are so consumed with greatness defined by position and power, they cannot hear Jesus, they do not have a clue as to what he is talking about. What happens next leads me to believe that Jesus knew very well what the disciples were arguing about. Note the deliberateness with which he acts. He sits down, assuming the position of a rabbi for teaching Torah, and calls the Twelve together. “Whoever wants to be first,” he begins, “must be last of all and servant of all.” With this one simple statement, Jesus literally turns upside down all conventional human wisdom, whether in the First Century or the Twenty-first. The great in God’s New Order, says Jesus, are not those in positions of power and authority, but are the ones who serve. Greatness is a matter of humility, not fame or wealth; a matter of servanthood, not status; a matter of caring for the “little ones,” not a matter of privilege. This is indeed a peculiar greatness, radically different from the usual measures of greatness. But then, God’s New Order is radically different from Old Order. Jesus decides to leave neither his disciples nor us with words alone. In perhaps a last ditch effort to make his point, Jesus picks up a child and brings that child to the very center of the gathering. This child is now the focus of everyone’s attention. Holding the child, Jesus says, “whoever welcomes one such child in my name, welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me, welcomes not me, but the one who sent me.” That is an incredibly radical statement in the First Century. In the First Century, children are not prized, not the cute, cuddly sources of joy and hope. In Jesus’ day, children were socially invisible, the very image of the powerless, those without position or claim, legal status or social standing. They were nobodies. Now we see what a radical statement Jesus is making. The great are servants, says Jesus, but a particular kind of servant, those who receive and welcome children, the powerless and forgotten, the last and the least, The image is meant to shock the disciples into a new way of thinking. This is a peculiar kind of greatness. To be great in God’s New Order, is to be a servant, a servant of the “little ones,” the anawim. This is how Jesus measures greatness. How shocking is this measure to you? Perhaps, you have heard it all before. It’s a noble idea, you say, but naïve at best and certainly not realistic in the world we know. So, I thought until I began my doctoral work. Convinced that there was a crisis of leadership in the church, not to mention society as a whole, I decided to focus my thesis on developing faithful, effective leaders for the local church. Gene Houte was a member of my local church D.Min. Committee. He was the CEO at Johns Manville in Joliet. After hearing my focus, he said to me, “Jim, you may want to check out the Harvard Business Review. It often has good articles on leadership.” I did and a door was opened. I was amazed at how the corporate world used biblical and theological ideas in their understandings of leadership---more effectively, I might add, than the church. I was also introduced to a number of new voices on leadership, people like Robert Greenleaf, the A.T. and T executive whose classic book, SERVANT LEADERSHIP, changed the paradigm; Max Dupree, former CEO of Herman Miller Company, Ron Heifitz, John Kotter from Harvard, Burt Mannus, Jim Collins, and others. It is Dupree in his wonderfully, insightful, THE ART OF LEADERSHIP, who puts the matter most directly when he writes, “The first responsibility of a leadership is to define reality, the last is to say ‘thank you.’ In between, the effective leader is a servant.” It is said that when Dupree interviewed middle management persons for promotions, the first question he asked was, “What is the name of the person who cleans your office?” Jim Collins, author of the best selling and I think fantastically insightful book, GOOD TO GREAT, maintains that companies (dare we include churches) that move from good to great have a common characteristic, what Collins calls a “Level 5” leader. Such leaders are ambitious, but their ambitions are not focused on self, but on serving the people, the vision, and the value of the organization. What these writers are telling us is that effective leaders are no longer characterized by authoritarian power or even by charisma. Effective leaders are first and last servants. Sound familiar? Jesus calls us to flip our usual notions of greatness completely upside down. This is indeed a peculiar greatness. Such a notion is not restricted to the corporate world. A story is told about a 14 year old girl who was having a great deal of difficulty with a geometry problem. She just could not complete a proof. So, she wrote a letter to Albert Einstein, who was teaching at Princeton, asking for help. I guess she decided to straight to the top. The story has it that Einstein put his work aside, wrote the solution on a post card, put a stamp on the post card, and took it to the post office to mail it. The great are truly humble. And there are results, outcomes, of such behavior. As Carl Schultz writes in an article entitled simply, “True Greatness,” “If you want to be happy for an hour, take a nap. If you want to be happy for a day, go fishing. If you want to be happy for a month, get married. If you want to be happy for a lifetime, inherit a fortune. If you want to be happy for eternity, help others”---become a servant. And as Jesus reminds us, as we serve, welcoming the poor and powerless, the least and the lost, we welcome him and not only him but the One who sent him. This is a peculiar greatness indeed. Periodically, someone will come to my study and say something like, “Pastor, I just don’t sense the presence of God in my life. What can I do?” Somewhere in the following discussion, I will speak of being a servant and remind the person of Jesus’ words, “Whoever welcomes one such child,” (that is, one of the little ones, the poor, the broken) “welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me, welcomes not just me, but the one who sent me.” That is the promise. Such is the path to greatness for you and me. If the notion of “greatness” makes you uncomfortable, substitute “being faithful.” Both are measured by our commitment to serve, to serve the “little ones.” This is how it is in Jesus’ measure. This is how it is with this “peculiar greatness.” May we be peculiarly great! Thanks be to God! Amen! |
