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Mark 10:35-45 True GreatnessLate last week I googled the internet for “great Australians” and found a site called whitehat.com.au that listed 200 significant Australians. They chose not to find great Australians “because there are some people who have had a strong influence on Australia who are not necessarily great. Ned Kelly was a murderer but was quickly elevated to legend status.” They also discarded famous, successful and popular.
In addition, they showed the results of a 2008 poll by the ABC to find the top ten most popular Australians. The list from one to ten was: Olivia Newton John, Peter Cundall, John Farnham, Bob Brown, John Howard, Fred Hollows, Gough Whitlam, Sir William Deane, Johnny Warren and Tim Costello. What an interesting list!
It made me think how popularity and greatness can be very fickle. Yet many people in our society strive to be great; to have their photo in the newspaper; to appear on TV or to be included in “Who’s Who”. This attribute is not confined to our society or to our age. It has been around for a very long time.
We find it in the Bible when James and John led a push to be recognised as the greatest. Boy did they get a shock when Jesus turned their view of greatness completely on its head. But Jesus so often did that. He taught that true greatness was in serving others. What a challenge! |
