Top Spot

“If anyone wants to be first, he must be the last, and the servant of all.”  Mark 9:35

School yearbooks should arrive soon, and pages announcing the Senior Superlatives are sure to be looked at first.  Filled with words ending in the suffix “est” or starting with the adverb “most,” these honors go to students who are the funniest, prettiest, smartest, craziest, best dressed, most talented, most successful, and most gullible.  Except for kids in the last category, the winners will be excited to have been chosen by their peers as the greatest of the group.  

Their delight is a natural reaction for deep in us all is the desire to be best—but being “our” best and being “the” best are two very different things, and focusing on the latter instead of the former causes lots of trouble.

The disciples learned the difference one day after a trip back to Capernaum.  Lots of yawing and jawing had gone on during the journey, and “when he was in the house, Jesus asked them, ‘What were you arguing about on the road?’”(Mk 9:33).  No one said a word, for no one wished for Him to know they had been fussing about who was first. Jesus didn’t need to ask for the answer, but instead of a lecture, He gave a lesson. “If anyone wants to be first, he must be the last, and the servant of all,” he instructed, and then to give His point a picture, “he took a little child and had him stand among them.  Taking him in his arms, Jesus said to them, ‘Whoever welcomes one of these little ones in my name welcomes me’”(Mk 9:35-37).

In other words, if you want to be big, get small.  If you want to be great, get busy—serving, not the ones who can pay you back and puff you up but the ones who are insignificant, unrecognized, and in need.  Children in those days had few rights and no resources, so they were unable to repay the people who cared about them and for them with anything but affection and gratitude.  In the same way, Jesus said and showed His disciples (and us) that when our focus is on pouring our lives into others because of who God is and what they need and not for our own acclamation, we are doing something wise and wonderful.  

Only God deserves top spot.  There’s not even a close second, so instead of trying to inflate our own paltry egos, let’s use our use our gifts, talents, opportunities, and abilities to show His excellent and authentic greatness.  As we focus on Him, we find ourselves not caring about being first.

The best way we can move up is to lift Jesus up.