By Augustus Henry (PhD)
IN the sports world, the term GOAT is a prestigious designation. There is constant debate between sports enthusiasts as to whether Michael Jordan or Lebron James is the GOAT of Basketball – Greatest of All Time. To this day Mohamed Ali is recognized as the greatest boxer ever – the greatest of all time, the GOAT of boxing. Billy Graham is deemed the greatest preacher of our generation. Usain Bolt is considered the greatest sprinter of all time and Pele, the greatest soccer player ever. Many have tried to challenge those great people. Many have sought the attention and acclaim that these folks command.
Some have openly challenged their greatness, in competition or verbally. The latter is how some people desire greatness or being first. They crave it without willing to undertake the lonely or painful journey to greatness.
Two Unreasonable Request for GOAT Status
Just after Jesus discussed paying taxes to earthly kingdoms (Matt 17), his disciples began to jostle for position and status in Jesus’ kingdom which they thought to be here on earth.
Request 1 – the argument
Matthew 18:1, At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who, then, is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”
(Luke 22: 24) Now there was also a dispute among them, as to which of them should be considered the greatest.
We can make educated guesses about some of the disciples’ thoughts and arguments. Could it be Peter since He seemed so often highlighted in interactions with Jesus? He was the one Jesus referenced as the “rock” on which Jesus’ Church would be built. What about James and John? They also seemed to have a special relationship with Jesus. John was the individual that the bible said was the one Jesus loved. What about Judas, their treasurer? Treasurers typically have high positions within their organizations. Was it Matthew? One who had left the most things of this world behind in order to follow Jesus? Who was the greatest? (Scott L. Harris).
But remember, these very people who were claiming greatness had just had trouble relieving a young boy of a demonic spirit, the same people who fainted from the presence of holiness on Mount Transfiguration. They were the people arguing over position. They all later abandoned Jesus. These are the same people that Jesus called the faithless generation in Matthew 9:41. We can conclude therefore, that none of those folks had done anything to claim greatness. Their claims were unreasonable.
Request 2 – a mother’s desires
Again, right after Jesus explained to the disciples the travails and excruciating details of his soon coming death, here is a request from the mother of James and John:
Matt. 20: 20-21 notes that the mother of Zebedee’s sons came to Jesus with her sons and knelt down to make a request of Him. “What do you want?” He inquired. She answered, “Declare that in Your kingdom one of these two sons of mine may sit at Your right hand, and the other at Your left.”
Everyone desires to be the GOAT
The truth: We all want to be great and to be recognised. And so, before we condemn the disciples for desiring greatness, let us see that we all have the drum major instinct.
The drum major is the leader of the band, the point person, the flagman – the one who carries the baton. We all want to be important, to surpass others, to achieve distinction, to lead the parade or the band.
Alfred Adler, the great psychoanalyst, contends that this is the dominant impulse. Sigmund Freud used to contend that sex was the dominant impulse, and Adler came with a new argument saying that this quest for recognition, this desire for attention, this desire for distinction is the basic impulse, the basic drive of human life, this drum major instinct. You know, we begin early to ask life to put us first. Our first cry as a baby was a bid for attention. And all through childhood the drum major impulse or instinct is a major obsession. Children ask life to grant them first place. They are a little bundle of ego. And they have innately the drum major impulse or the drum major instinct. Now in adult life, we still have it, and we really never get by it (MLK).
So, we all have the desire to be first, whether we deserve it or not – the unreasonable quest for distinction. But there is a path to GOAT status which defies the drum major instinct!
Two criteria for greatness – Servitude and Childhood
Criteria for greatness 1 – Servitude
In response to the disciples’ request for greatness, Jesus, in Mark 10:38 – 45 stated: “You don’t know what you are asking. “Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?” “We can,” they answered. Jesus said to them, “You will drink the cup I drink and be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with, but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” In that response, not even hardship is a criterion for greatness, it is servitude.
Criteria for greatness 2 – Humility
Matt. 18:4, Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
As Jesus outlined the criteria for greatness, the disciples became angry.
It turns out that what they desired was the status of greatness, and the benefits of greatness, and the recognition of greatness was different to that of Jesus. Sacrifices and humiliation are integral to greatness. Jesus said “unless you are born again and become as little children, you will not enter the kingdom”.
There is a song that says everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die (Lorretta Lynn). The truth of the matter is that Jesus’ requirements for greatness are the same requirements needed to enter the kingdom: the fruits of the spirit that includes humility and kindness; loving God with all your heart and seeking his kingdom first.
“You can only become great at that thing you’re willing to sacrifice for.” –Maya Angelou
Jesus said, take up your cross and follow me.
Unless we allow the Holy Spirit to remake our characters into servants for God and like little children, not only will we have unreasonable expectations of greatness, but we will also be shut out of heaven.