What is Jesus really saying in this passage? Is Jesus telling us how to be great? Or, is Jesus giving us an alternative purpose and pursuit that is opposed to the pursuit of greatness? Maybe it's both.
The disciples had been arguing about which one of them could be low enough to betray Jesus. (Luke 22:23) In the context of this argument, they begin to dispute which one of them is the greatest. It's almost comical and yet sad at the same time to think about this scenario. The dispute is about rank and order. There are twelve of them. One of them has to be #1, and one of them, sadly, has to be #12, right? This passage reveals our human tendency to define a pecking order. Who is greatest? Who is lowest? Who is average?
On a deeper level, the dispute is about much more. It's about worth...self-worth. Perhaps the thoughts of the disciples are something like this: If I'm #1, if I'm Jesus' right-hand-man, if I'm second-in-command, it must be that I'm a better human being than the other eleven. Maybe it even means that Jesus loves me more! If I'm #12, if I'm the last person Jesus would call upon to lead, if I'm even low enough to betray Jesus, it must be that I'm a lousy human being. Maybe Jesus doesn't really love me at all.
The disciples missed the point! Think about it. This dispute is in the upper room where they have just finished eating the Lord's Supper. Jesus has just finished telling them that He is giving His body and blood for them. His love for each of them is so great that it is almost incomprehensible. But instead of receiving His love and basking in it, they began aiming at the superlatives. It wasn't enough that He loved them. They wanted to be #1.
So Jesus cut through the dispute by telling them how it is in God's Kingdom where there is only One who deserves to be #1. Jesus tells them that in the Kingdom of God, the eldest is like the youngest, the leader is like the servant, and the greatest is like the least. In other words, the values of the Kingdom are flip-flopped and turned upside down.
And then...in the midst of their dispute...He gives them a statement of clarity about the whole situation: I am among you as one who serves. (vs. 27)
So back to our opening questions: Is Jesus telling us how to be great? Yes, but not greatness from the world's point of view. Greatness in the Kingdom of God. Greatness as defined by Jesus' life. He is also giving them an alternative pursuit. Instead of pursuing worldly greatness which is wrapped up in pride, power, position, and money, pursue the life of a servant. In serving, we become like Jesus who is the greatest in the Kingdom of God. In serving, Jesus becomes present to us. In serving, we find freedom from the rat-race pursuit of greatness. In serving, we escape the self-focused prison of the never-satisfied pursuit of greatness to experience the others-focused freedom of blessing others through service.
Andrew Murray's words on Humility provide us with a closing thought: "Humility, the place of entire dependence on God, is, from the very nature of things, the first duty and the highest virtue of the creature, and the root of every virtue. And so pride, or the loss of this humility, is the root of every sin and evil. Jesus came to bring humility back to earth, to make us partakers of it, and by it to save us. His humility is our salvation. His salvation is our humility."
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