There has been an awful lot of talk about greatness lately. We get into arguments about who is the greatest _____ of all time (musician, athlete, etc). Some have been talking lately about being great again. What does it mean to be great? When were we great before? Who was it great for?
Some want to define greatness by one's achievements. Some want to define greatness by one's prowess. Some want to define greatness by one's ability to dominate others. Being great is to be a winner, to be on top.
Or is it?
These arguments are not new. We see the disciples struggling with some of this throughout the gospels, especially right around Easter. The Messiah was to be a great leader. He would lead their armies to overthrow the occupiers. He would rule firmly and put the Jewish people back on top. And the disciples would have their own positions of power and privilege in that reality that the Messiah would usher in.
But Jesus keeps trying to tell them that narrative is wrong. Like Yoda telling young Luke Skywalker that "wars not make one great," Jesus tries to make it clear that their narrative is wrong. The Messiah is great, but his leadership redefines our understanding of great. He rules by serving, not by commanding. He leads with love not brute strength. It is precisely his compassion and love that make him great, not his skill with a sword.
This is why he rebukes Peter in the garden to put his sword away.
This is why he tells the sons of Zebedee that they do not understand what they are asking.
This is why he keeps talking to the disciples about love, even here in his final moments with them.
"My father's final words were love her as I have loved her, and there will be joy.?"
Oh, wait. Wrong speech.
Here in his final moments with them, Jesus reminds the disciples that they know by his example how they are to act. They have to live as he has lived, love the way he has loved. This is the path to the kingdom.
What they have seen in him, the model he has loved for them, this is their glimpse at the true nature of God. This is the kingdom of God that is being ushered into existence in our world. It is not built on the notions of power and greatness to which they are accustomed. It is not a mere flipping of the structures that be to allow a different group to be on top and subjugate others. It is a radical reorienting of the word around from individual notions of greatness towards s communal notion of greatness.
It is not in the ways in which we are better than others that we are great - our might, our brute strength, our riches. It is our love and compassion for others that makes us great.
As Jesus shows us over and over, the kingdom of God is not one that can be forced or fought into existence. It is one that must be loved into existence. That is what makes it great.