Luke 9:46-50 – What is true greatness?

There is so much pride in us human beings. The God-given achievements are often misconstrued as the accomplishments of our cleverness. Though we are called into the role of complementing each other, we often mistake it for a call to compete with each other. God's leaders included. Even the 12 apostles were not immune. We see this in Luke 9:46. This verse is explicit. The disciples were having a dispute, a sharp dispute. It was not just a banter. It was a strong disagreement. So Luke used the word "argument." 

 

This event took place sequentially after the Transfiguration of Christ and the healing of the boy with a demonically induced seizure. Using our sanctified imagination, we can extrapolate that it all started with the three who were at the Mount of Transfiguration with the Lord. They had become proud. They presumed that they were more important than the rest because of their presence at the mountain with Jesus. They could even have sneered at the other nine disciples for their failed attempts in the case of the boy with the demon induced fit.

 

From how Jesus addressed the issue, we know that the disciples were consumed with a passion to outdo each other. Everyone wanted to be the greatest. We are not told how Jesus knew. We mustn't forget that elsewhere in the Gospels we are told that He knew what's in man's heart. So verse 47 says that "He saw the thinking in their heart." Nothing in our thought life, or any other area, is occluded from our Lord. He has an accurately strong perception of everything in our daily existence. He sees our thoughts from afar. So taking a child, Jesus stood him by His side to illustrate a point. In verse 48, He said, "Whoever receives this child in My name receives Me, and whoever receives Me receives Him who sent Me; for the one who is least among all of you, this is the one who is great.”

 

Who would like to associate with a child? Unlike an adult, a child is not only small but also powerless. And who would want to associate with the powerless. People measure a person's worth by those he rubs shoulder with. In the world's system, greatness is determined by the company a person keeps. Jesus was not suggesting that we treat a child well (of course we must treat children well), in order to find acceptance in Him. Here a child is used to depict lowliness. The implication of Luke 9:48 is this - to accept the lowly is to accept his maker as well. Greatness is not measured by our position or the number of high society friends we have. It is measured by our willingness to accept and associate with the deprived; the simple; the common; the ordinary; the disadvantaged and the lowly, in order to demonstrate Christ's love to them. It is a God-given ability to accept all - the lowly, the down and out.

 

Verses 49-50 seem to indicate that John was troubled by a freelance minister whose ministry he had tried to prevent. All because that minister didn't do it the way they were doing it. The Lord's answer suggests that we all should have an open heart even if we don't share the same method. We should not be close-minded and exclusive! How rigidly dogmatic we can be in life. Let's be governed by the Word and not our personal convictions. In God's reckoning, the real greats are often the obscure and selfless unknown. They would rather celebrate Christ than bemoan their namelessness. They travel with the lowly and share their plight. They delight and exult with achievers and stay with the disadvantaged. They are reasonable because they deeply love God's Word and would gladly live it. Where do we stand in God's reckoning?