What If Greatness Means Becoming a Servant?

By Pastor John Erickson

We live in a world that has a pretty clear idea of what greatness looks like.

You move up. You get the title. You get the bigger office, the nicer seat, the authority to tell somebody else what to do. And if you have been around longer than everyone else, well, you should probably get a little something extra for your seniority.

That makes sense to us. It might even be how you measure whether life is going in the right direction.

Then Jesus comes along and says, essentially, among you it will be different.

Wait. Different how?

A Request That Missed the Point

In Matthew 20, Jesus is on the way to Jerusalem. He pulls the twelve disciples aside and tells them plainly what is coming. He will be handed over, mocked, beaten, crucified, and raised on the third day.

That is a pretty serious conversation. Imagine being one of the disciples and hearing your friend say that.

Right after this announcement, the mother of James and John approaches Jesus with a request: when his kingdom comes, would he give her sons the places of honor on either side of him?

I love the timing. Jesus has just explained that he is about to die, and the conversation somehow turns into a seating-chart negotiation.

The request isn't simply, 'Can we be part of your kingdom?' It's, 'Can we have the best positions?'

James and John have been with Jesus for a long time. They've given up a lot. They know the inner circle. Surely that should count for something.

And Jesus tells them they don't understand what they're asking. He speaks about the cup of suffering he is about to drink. They confidently answer that they can drink it too.

Be careful what you wish for.

The Kingdom Has a Different Definition of Power

The other disciples hear about the request and become indignant. I suspect at least a few of them were thinking, 'Hey, I wanted that seat.'

Jesus gathers them together and compares two kinds of leadership. In the world around them, rulers lord their authority over people. They use power to keep everybody else beneath them. Their position becomes an excuse to control.

And then he says something that changes everything: It will not be so among you.

Whoever wants to become great must become a servant. Whoever wants to be first must become a slave.

That's the upside-down kingdom.

Notice that Jesus doesn't say the desire to do something meaningful is wrong. He changes the definition of greatness. In his kingdom, the question isn't how many people serve you. It's how many people you are willing to serve.

Now, that sounds wonderful right up until somebody asks us to do something inconvenient.

I find that phrase, among you it will be different, much easier to admire than to live. The values of Jesus' kingdom grate against our human instincts. They are supposed to.

It's easy to appreciate servant leadership when you're the one receiving the service. It's harder when serving costs you comfort, recognition, time, or the right to have the last word.

Jesus Doesn't Exempt Himself

Here's the part I find most important. Jesus doesn't announce a standard that everyone else must follow while he sits above it.

In Matthew 20:28, he says that the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.

If anyone could have been grandfathered into a place of honor, it was Jesus. Surely the Son of Man would qualify for an exception to the serving-everybody rule?

If anyone could have demanded special treatment, it was Jesus. If anyone had the credentials to say, 'I've earned the seat of honor,' it was him.

Instead, he moves toward suffering for the sake of others.

That means servant leadership isn't just a nice management technique. It's something rooted in the very character of Christ.

The kingdom of God doesn't advance by copying the world's obsession with status and adding a Bible verse to it. We follow a king who gives himself away.

What Would This Change on Monday?

Think about where you have influence. Maybe you supervise people at work. Maybe you're a parent. Maybe you're leading a ministry or simply the person others turn to when a decision needs to be made.

Here's a question: when people encounter your leadership, do they feel served or managed?

That doesn't mean there are never difficult decisions or boundaries. Jesus was not afraid to tell the truth. But he never treated people as tools for his own advancement.

Maybe serving means taking an unpleasant task instead of handing it off. Maybe it means listening rather than asserting your seniority. Maybe it means using your position to lift somebody else up even when there's nothing in it for you.

And maybe the most revealing place to start is with the people who can't do anything to repay you.

Jesus' words are uncomfortable because they cut across the grain of our instincts. They are supposed to.

We want to climb the ladder. Jesus asks whether we would be willing to climb down to help somebody else.

In the kingdom of God, greatness isn't about how high you've risen. It's about how willingly you've served.