True Greatness

As his disciples, we are called to engage in self-sacrificial service for others just as Jesus gave his life as a ransom for many.

After predicting his death, two disciples began jockeying for high positions in Christ’s coming Kingdom. Thinking like the world and its ideologies, they did not comprehend what kind of Messiah Jesus was, and therefore, what it meant to follow him. However, he would demonstrate how one achieved “Greatness” in the Kingdom of God on Calvary.

In his words and deeds, Jesus revealed what Kingdom citizenship means - self-sacrificial service to others. As he approached the city, even his closest followers continued to hold a worldly understanding of HIS Kingdom.

Cross and sheep - Photo by Yoal Desurmont on Unsplash
[Photo by Yoal Desurmont on Unsplash]

After predicting his death, James and John asked Jesus to install them at his right and left sides when he came “
into his glory.” Despite all they had witnessed, they remained incapable of understanding the words of the Son of God. They were yet “dull of hearing.”

Contrary to the political ideologies of this age, suffering and death precede glory and exaltation in the Kingdom of God. The Messiah of Israel fulfills that role as the suffering “Servant of Yahweh” described in the Book of Isaiah.

As they drew near Jerusalem, the disciples expected Jesus to manifest his glory, impose his reign over the Earth, and destroy Israel’s enemies. However, if we wish to reign with Jesus we must first “drink his cup.”

(Mark 10:35-40) - “Grant to us that we may sit in your glory, one on your right and one on your left. But Jesus said to them, You know not what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I, MYSELF am drinking, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I, myself am being baptized?

In the Hebrew Bible, the image of a “cup” symbolizes something given or allotted by God, and frequently in the negative sense of judicial punishment for sin.

The idea of drinking the “cup” pointed to Jesus enduring God’s wrath for the sins of others. Likewise, the passage’s context indicates this same sense for his metaphorical use of the phrase, “My baptism” - (Psalm 11:6, 16:5, Isaiah 57:17-22, Jeremiah 25:15-28).

James and John declared they were prepared to drink from this “cup.” His response demonstrated they had no idea what that meant. Eventually, they would drink the same “cup” when they suffered for his Kingdom.

In the English translation, the clause “I, myself” represents the emphatic pronoun in the Greek text (‘egō’). It occurs four times in the passage on Christ’s lips to stress his Messianic role. The death of the “Son of Man” was the event that inaugurated the Kingdom.

TRUE GREATNESS

Greatness” in HIS Kingdom is measured by self-sacrificial service for others, not political power, rank, miracle-working power, or dominion over others. HIS disciple is called to serve, not to lord it over his companions.

The disciple who wishes to become “great” must first become the “servant” and “slave” of all. The English term “servant” translates the Greek noun ‘diakonos’, a word used elsewhere for a “servant” or “minister” who waits on tables - (Luke 22:26-27).

  • (Mark 10:41-45) - “Jesus says to them, ‘You know that those considered rulers of the nations, lord it over them and their great ones take dominion over them. Yet not so is it among you, but whoever desires TO BECOME GREAT among you, he will be YOUR SERVANT, and whoever desires to be chief among you will become the SLAVE OF ALL, for even the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and TO GIVE HIS SOUL AS A RANSOM INSTEAD OF MANY.”

He came “not to be served, but to serve and to give his soul a ransom instead of many.” That is how he fulfilled his Messianic role even though God appointed him to reign over the nations – (Psalm 2:6-9).

He became the “servant and slave of all” when he offered his “soul” as a ransom for others. Jesus used the term “soul” in the Old Testament sense to refer to the entire person, the physical and non-physical aspects. Thus, he gave his whole being, his “life,” for the benefit of others.

The preposition translated as “instead of” or ‘anti’ means “on behalf of, in exchange for.” Behind the saying is the passage describing the Suffering Servant in Isaiah:

  • (Isaiah 53:11-12) - “Therefore, will I give him a portion in the great, and the strong shall he apportion as spoil because he poured out to death his own soul, and with transgressors let himself be numbered, Yea, he the sin of Many bare, and for transgressors HE interposes.”

Jesus referred to the “many” for whom he gave his life. This did not mean a limited or exclusive company. It is a verbal link to the passage in Isaiah where “the many” refers to the “transgressors.” The contrast is not between “many” and “all,” but between the one Messiah who gave his life and the many beneficiaries of his act.

The passage in Isaiah is his source for the term “soul.” Just as the Servant of Yahweh “poured out his soul,” so the “Son of Man” offered his “soul” as a ransom for the “many.” He presented his life as the price to free others from the slavery of sin and death.

His real-life example is the paradigm for how we must follow Jesus, reign with him, and achieve “Greatness” in his Father’s kingdom. We are first and always a “servant and slave of all” if we are truly his disciples.



SEE ALSO:
  • Jesus Refused Satan's Offer - (Jesus rejected Satan’s offer of unlimited political power and instead chose the way of the Suffering Servant)
  • The Suffering Servant - (Paul summoned believers to adopt the same mind that Jesus had when he poured out his life unto death for others – Philippians 2:5-11)
  • The Unrecognized Savior - (Jesus is revealed as the Savior of Mankind in his sufferings and self-sacrificial death for others, including his enemies)

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