The Way of the Warrior: An Ancient Path to Inner Peace

by Erwin Raphael McManus

Jesus, though, didn’t inspire a conversation about a particular application of greatness but about the essence of greatness itself. The disciples were not asking who was the greatest at a particular feat; they were asking who was the greatest in the eyes of God. This is a question only Jesus could inspire. His greatness was not the outcome of his talent or a particular ability; his greatness was about the totality of who he was as a person. Jesus epitomized what it meant to be human. He was the sum total of everything the disciples aspired to be. One of the particularly beautiful things about true greatness is that it leaves no room for envy. Jesus did not come to diminish the greatness in others; he came to awaken it. Even when he confronted the disciples about their conversation and their desire to take the seat of honor, he did not tell them to stop aspiring to be great; he simply redirected them so that they might succeed in their pursuit of greatness.