On February 25, 1964, in Miami Beach, a young 22-year-old boxer did the seemingly impossible, against 7-1 odds, he dramatically beat the heavily favored Sonny Liston to claim the heavyweight boxing title. After the fight the boxer confidently proclaimed, “I am the greatest!”
In that moment he certainly was. Named Cassius Clay at birth, he later changed his name to Muhammad Ali. Ali’s brazen prediction stood the test of time; he boxed professionally for over two decades, winning 56 bouts and claiming the heavyweight title three different times.
History has proven he just may be right; fans consistently rank him as the greatest boxer of all time.
Over the past two decades a new acronym has become popular to describe someone like Ali: GOAT. And no, we’re not talking about the scrappy two-horned livestock that gives us phenomenal milk and cheese.
G.O.A.T., or the Greatest Of All Time, refers to the most accomplished and successful individual in history for a particular activity.
The sports world in particular has latched on to the term. Fans love to argue who is the greatest, and why.
Who is the GOAT in basketball, this guy?
He has more championships – two threepeats with the Bulls – and more points per game than anyone. Or is it this guy?
Lebron has won championships with three different teams, not too shabby. And has more rebounds and assists than Air Jordan. Ultimately who you call the greatest depends on what stats you value most.
While I’ll always love Jordan, the conversation is shifting some; Lebron’s career keeps on humming along. I’ll say this –
– for anyone that has seen the Space Jam movies, Jordan is a much better actor than Lebron on the silver screen. Hands down. End of story ?
How about the greatest quarterback of all time, is it this guy?
Or perhaps this guy?
As much as I love Joe Montana – he was so fun to watch – and never deflated footballs on gameday. Not even once ?. Yet Tom Brady’s seven Super Bowl wins speak for themselves.
During the summer Olympics this year there was all sorts of conversation about the women’s gymnastics greatest of all time. Here’s one option:
Nadia Comanechi was the first woman to score a perfect 10 in Olympic competition. She pulled that feat off an amazing seven times in 1976, earning 5 gold medals along the way.
Or is it her?
While Simone has fewer Olympics golds, when you include world championship medals she’s the most decorated gymnast in history, with four, count em, different skills named after her. Nadia’s performances were known as pure art, Simone’s pure power.
The debate on who is the greatest among these two likely isn’t ending any time soon.
As you might imagine, how we compare greatness extends far beyond sports. One of the questions in the Bethesda staff performance surveys asks our members to rate our preaching, anywhere from –
Needs improvement, to
Meets expectations, to
Exceeds expectations.
So when survey results came back earlier this summer, and showed 57% of you rated me as exceeds expectations,
I gushed. That’s great! I must have won! Total victory achieved!
That is until I looked again and noticed Pastor Bryan’s preaching scores…
…were 1% higher. Ah well. Which is good for some humility. And, I might add, a 1% difference is within the sampling margin of error. ?
Disciples
Not surprisingly, arguments about who is the greatest have been going on for years. While on the road passing through Galilee the disciples had just this debate. We don’t know exactly what criteria they used. We do, however, know enough about the twelve from other passages that their conversation just might have gone something like this…
Who’s the greatest? “I am,” Peter said, excitedly.
“I walked on the water with Jesus. Top that!” he bragged. “Whatever,” retorted John. “But then you got scared and began to sink. Jesus had to save you from yourself. I bet that’s going to happen again,” he mused, somewhat prophetically. The disciples laughed, remembering that boat moment well.
“Besides,” John continued, puffing up his chest “I’m the fastest of this crew.”
He was at least faster than Peter. John knew this. He could even prove it. John resolved, right then and there, to make sure someone wrote of a race between the two of them. That way others would know it too.
Judas then took his turn at staking a claim. “Guys, guys, guys, you’ve got it all wrong. I’m the man, and always will be,” he gloated.
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“I’m the treasurer for this crew. Money equals power. Everybody knows that. Clearly Jesus trusts me, more than any of you,” he reasoned. “And that,” Judas concluded is what makes *me* the greatest.
At this point the disciples arrived at their destination. “What were you arguing about?” Jesus asks. The twelve were silent. They withdrew eye contact, instead looking down at their sandals, dusty from their walk. No one said a word.
Knowing perfectly well what their verbal spat was about, Christ gathered them around.
Whoever wants to be first must be last, he said.
Whoever wants to be first must serve all.
To drive home the point Jesus called a little child over and took them into his arms.
“See this kid?” Jesus said. Whoever welcomes a child like this, in my name, welcomes me. And whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me.
Jesus then looked up, making it clear who he spoke of.
The disciples kept their eyes on their dusty sandals. They had tried to showcase their best personal achievements in an attempt to prove who was the best.
And here Jesus is saying greatness is about something entirely different.
Greatness isn’t about what you can claim for yourself.
Greatness is instead about who you serve.
And how you welcome those you serve into your care.
In biblical times children were viewed as socially inferior, the lowest of the low. Because of that children were often ridiculed, marginalized, largely left invisible. Jesus had made this child visible to the twelve, as he had with so many before. They could see this child with their own two eyes.
Even more, Christ had told the disciples that greatness comes from serving people others deem low.
No wonder Jesus was always talking to –
women,
children,
foreigners,
the sick,
the homeless,
the hungry.
Jesus connected with practically everyone that didn’t look like, act like, or believe like him. And he didn’t just talk to them. He –
Embraced,
Healed,
Fed,
Forgave,
Welcomed them back into the groups that had actively kept these people out.
Close
We love to talk about what it to be great, don’t we. We love to rank, and debate, and argue about who exactly that may be. Often we give status to the people with the most –
Power
Money
Or Speed
But in matters of our faith none of that makes much difference.
So you want to be a great Christian? Do this one thing: step up your service game. And no, we’re not talking tennis. To be great in God’s kingdom is all about serving others we far too often condemn, welcoming people like –
this:
and this:
and this:
and this:
For when you serve those our society likes to judge, marginalize and exclude, you take a step towards true greatness. For when you welcome others that don’t look, act, or believe as you do something else happens. You begin to mirror the greatest server, healer, and champion of all, one who loves each of us more than any other.
He is the greatest person to walk the earth of all time, after all. Aspire for greatness, sure. But be great in a certain kind of way. Be like Christ. Amen.