Greatness

Wisdom 2:12-20; Ps 54 The Lord upholds my life; James 3:16-4:3; Mark 9:30-37

Greatness.  Success.

We all have big dreams.  We all have a  desire to "make" something of ourselves.

Growing up, my father had a recipe for success, for greatness he would often share with us.  He would tell us,  if you want to make something of yourself then and usually what followed was a list of requirements: be prompt->if you see something that needs to be done than do it.  For my dad there was no room for waiting around.  no quitting->Dad would always tell us there was no learning in quitting.  We had to keep going until we got it.  work hard->effort and determination was necessary.  last is my personal favorite, do it right the first time->this required vision and thoughtfulness.  Dad would always invite us to think before you do, measure twice cut once as the carpenter's say.

this was my dad's recipe for greatness.

But if asked, a majority of the people would say the same thing as regards to greatness. The attributes that successful people have are: hard work, dedication, determination, passion, perseverance, visualizing, not quitting, driven and so on and so forth.

We are all familiar with these.  As the list was being created, we would all nod our head in agreement.

These are all tried and true, proven.

In the gospel, for the most part, Jesus includes these same attributes as part of being a disciple;  If we are to follow him and experience the fullness of life and live life to its full then we too are called to live out these attributes.

But at th every heart of greatness according to the standard of Christ is not us but the other person.

We are not called to be great for the sake of greatness, being noticed, or for our own sake.

"If you want to be first, then be last of all and servant of all."

Greatness revolves around the other.  Only if we recognize the greatness of others are we able to realize the greatness in ourselves.

We cannot be self centered in our search for greatness but other centered.

As JEsus receives the child and invites his disciples to do the same he is reminding us that it is the least in our society who provide the opportunity for true greatness.

That is where we begin and where end.  It is the least that offer the great opportunity.