Today's Daily Lesson comes from Mark chapter 10 verses 42 through 45:
42So Jesus called them and said to them, ‘You know that among the Gentiles those whom they recognize as their rulers lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. 43But it is not so among you; but whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, 44and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. 45For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.’
Mother Teresa once said, “We cannot all do great things. But we can do small things with great love.”
Jesus turned the word "greatness" upside down. He taught his disciples to see that a truly great person is not a person with great power or supreme might, but a person who acts with love and with care for their neighbors, friends, and for their community.
This means that true greatness is mostly small, unseen, and selfless.
It is found in the guys who come on Thursday afternoons to cut the bushes at the community center, so while the poor are being fed outside during COVID a table has been set for them in the wilderness.
It is found in the friend who allows another friend to stay in his home until the guest has his feet underneath him again.
It is found in the church family that gave me and Irie not one but two cars when we were first starting out and poorer than Job's turkey.
It is found in the folks who devote their week to preparing special lessons for the Special Friends class for persons with intellectual disabilities.
The nations value greatness with power and with might and with an arrogance of authority and rule. But the greatest One came humble, and mounted on a donkey.
If we remember that today it will reframe a whole lot of things. And a whole lot won't be seen as such a big deal; but a whole little will.
And maybe then we'll understand the meaning of the mustard seed.
Ryon Price is Senior Pastor of Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas.
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