Truly Great Ones
What makes someone truly great?
Think of the great ones of human history
usually because of their achievements
Alexander the Great – military victories
Albert Einstein – smart guy – discoveries in science
Leonardo da Vinci – great architecture, works of art
Closer to home
Douglas Mawson – Antarctic exploration.
Then great thinkers
Aristotle and Plato – so great only get one name each!
Chances are we will never meet people like these
so think of your own life
who are the truly great people in your life?
what defines them?
position or status,
achievement – what they have done,
notoriety or popularity,
or is it something else?
3 parts to today’s sermon
True greatness Predicted
True Greatness Misunderstood
True Greatness Explained
So let’s begin
- True Greatness Predicted vv 17-19
Passage opens – Jesus on the road to Jerusalem
the city of God
the city of worship
filled with theological significance.
major things happen
sacrifice
festivals
Jericho?
could be anywhere else
significance – he knew place of his death
takes 12 aside – personal instruction
3rd time in gospel
Predicts his death.
v17
delivered over – betrayal
condemn him to death – sham trial
hand him over to Gentiles
(Romans – Jews can’t execute)
mocking and flogging – common parts of this horrific
from of execution
many won’t survive flogging
Crucified
death for the most heinous of criminals
this was the type of execution
reserved for slaves, criminals and despised people
Wear a cross today as apiece of jewellery
but forget the same and the degradation
utter outscasts who experienced it.
Jesus’ knew this was his fate
JC Ryle
“He saw calvary in the distance all his life through, and yet walked calmly up to it, without turning to the right hand or the left… His heart was set on finishing the mighty work he had come into the world to do”
Third time spoken about it
one wonders what the 12 thought about this.
no reaction recorded
no meaning attached to it
wait until a discussion with the disciples to get it
here just the seriousness of it
the sombre prediction
But a glimmer of hope
On the third day he will be raised to life
not he will rise
will be raised
But here was Jesus’ moment of greatness
the defining thing of his life
his pinnacle of achievement
giving his life
and having it given back to him.
- True Greatness Misunderstood vv 20-24
Curious little story unfolds.
The Zebedee family come to Jesus
might be that James and John’s mum was Salome
May’s sister -Jesus’ aunt
maybe a family request.
Slightly pathetic that their Mum does the asking
She does the ask
but Jesus knows who to speak to – speaks directly to the boys
She comes meekly enough
kneeling
asking permission to speak
but then the ask
v 21
Proximity to the King
prestige
power
authority
pre-eminence
at least they thought Jesus might be a king
that’s in their favour
Second time that this has happened
Ch 18: 1-5
Almost see Jesus shake his head
clearly missed the point of what he has just said
One writer Said:
One cannot help being struck by the patience of Jesus as he stared death in the face while his followers, on whom he had expended such efforts, were still thinking in terms of earthly ambition.[1]
v 22
Now “cup” often refers to retribution or judgement
but can also mean sorrow
Gethsemane – let this cup pass form me
Jesus knows – that to ask to reign
means that they are asking to suffer
Luther: “the flesh ever seeks to be glorified, before it is crucified”
They are quick to agree – who know what their understanding was
and Jesus says – Yes you will
James would die the 1st X’n martyr in Acts 12
John will end his life in exile
on the island of Patmos -living in a cave
But the granting of privileged place in the K’dom
not his to give
Read v 23b
The rest of the apostles – the ten
are indignant at the impertinence of the Zebedees
and their outlandish request
perhaps not because they saw its flaws
I might be being too hard on them
but was their indignation
because they didn’t think of it first
they themselves were vying for the best seats
and thought if the Zeb’s get them
they might be left behind?
How often we make this mistake
we think that the path to greatness
is power and prestige
seduced by titles, position, power, prestige,
by being in the know
See it in politics all the time
the attention goes to the most powerful
as people climb their way into positions of influence.
See it in the business world
as executives climb the ladder
Sadly
even see it in the church
in Parish Councils and among the clergy
the higher you go
the more power you exercise
titles and prestige
says the one with the fanciest title
and a special seat in every church.
But it is all blindness
blindness to what Jesus has just said
of his own service
- True Greatness Explained vv 24-28
Jesus then explains true greatness
begins with worldly example
v 25
the way of the world
the way of the gentiles or perhaps better
“the nations”
Romans in mind?
is to exercise Lordship and authority
way we understand power to be
Not so with you!
this is not the way
that Jesus’ followers show true greatness
vv 26b-27
The Greatest, the first in the Jesus economy
was the least and the last
he uses two words servant – domestic
same word for minister
then in the second parallel statement – slave
the lower form
true greatness is found is humble service
in sacrifice
losing your identity and status
become one of the unnamed class
John Dickson
Humilitas
prior to Jesus
humility was not a virtue but a vice
despised quality – like hatred or anger
the thing people aspired to was arrogance – power
humility was a sign of shame and weakness
And how do we know what this looks like
- well, look to Jesus
Here’s the heart
v 28
the Zebedees want to be served
sitting at the right and left hand of the King
but Jesus says this is not HIS way
the way of the Son of Man
not to be served
but to serve
and more than that
to give his life as a ransom.
NOW we get the interpretation of his death
back in vv 18-19
Jesus told them that he was going to Jerusalem to die
now he tells them what it means
Ransom – purchase price to free a slave
costly
price for a life – substitution
exchange one for another.
This is what Jesus’ death means
he gives his life as a price
paid for the freeing of others
for the freeing of you and me
ransomed form our old life
and liberated to a new one.
Like we heard from Isaiah 53 this morning
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
…
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all. [2]
We are like hostages
alive but in real danger
we need to be ransomed to be set free to live
and Jesus’ death is the price.
Here is the upside down kingdom of God
Jesus says in the chapter before this one
But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.
the pathway to true greatness
is to the follow the example of Jesus himself
who give his own life to free others
and uncomfortable here, expects that his disciples
will do the same
Give their lives that others might live.
Rico Tice:
Here is Jesus’ way of leadership. He chose humanity. He chose a cross. He chose to pay our ransom. He chose our interests above his own. He chose opprobrium rather than adulation, so passionate was he for the welfare of others and the glory of God.
I am reminded of the missionaries in the early days
who would pack their belongings into a coffin
to transport it to the mission field
they were going to die there
and many did.
I think of the disciples
who as Jesus predicted with the Zebedee boys
would meet their deaths
in the service of Jesus
JC Ryle:
Are we prepared to take up the cross, and follow Christ? Are we willing to give up the world for his sake? Are we ready to put off the old man, and put on the new – to fight, to labour, and to run so as to obtain? Are we ready to withstand a taunting world, and endure hardship for Christ’s sake? – what shall we say? If we are not ready, our Lord might say to us also, “ye know not what ye ask”.
Get out of the way of our own desires
for the good of others
Not doing what we want but what THEY want
not being served
by giving our lives in service of others.
Let us take up our cross
follow the pathway of suffering
pick up the mantle of a servant, a slave
show sacrificial love
die to ourselves
so that we might magnify Christ in all his glory.
[1] Michael Green, The Message of Matthew: The Kingdom of Heaven, The Bible Speaks Today (Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2001), 215.
[2] The New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), Is 53:4–6.