Who Is The Greatest?
Luke 22:24-30
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Luke 22:24-30 24 Now there was also a dispute among them, as to which of them should be considered the greatest. 25 And He said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those who exercise authority over them are called ‘benefactors.’ 26 But not so among you; on the contrary, he who is greatest among you, let him be as the younger, and he who governs as he who serves. 27 For who is greater, he who sits at the table, or he who serves? Is it not he who sits at the table? Yet I am among you as the One who serves.
28 “But you are those who have continued with Me in My trials. 29 And I bestow upon you a kingdom, just as My Father bestowed one upon Me, 30 that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.”
Dear fellow redeemed in Christ our Lord… Irony is when someone’s words express the opposite of what they literally have said, or when something happens and the results of it are contrary to what is normally expected.
For example, if you worked in a cigarette factory it would be ironic to see No Smoking signs posted all over the place. Or if you say that you feel really great, but you have a deadly illness, that’s ironic. There are several ironic things that happen in our Lord’s Passion, and tonight we examine one of them. Tonight’s reading which we just heard is a shorter portion of a pretty long narrative by St. Luke about the discussions that took place among Jesus and His disciples in the upper room on Maundy Thursday.
Our Lord had just instituted the sacrament of Holy Communion; and in so doing He declared that He was establishing a New Testament, something new that would be put into effect by His death. This New Testament consisted of the fruits of Jesus’ death, namely, His body given and His blood shed.
The message to the disciples concerning the nearness of Christ’s death should have been understood by them; Jesus has spoken of it a few times. But they just didn’t seem to get it; it didn’t make sense to them. What they did understand, however, was that an accusation had been laid before them by Jesus. He had said that one of them would hand Him over to death. One of the Twelve would betray Him. That grabbed their attention.
Luke tells us that they “began to question among themselves, which of them it was who would do this thing.” According to Matthew’s Gospel, each of the disciples was so distraught and concerned over that statement that they also began to ask Jesus, “Lord, is it I?”
According to Luke, the very next thing they talked about was which of them should be considered the greatest! How interesting; notice that it did not take them very long to get from “Am I the betrayer?” to “Am I the greatest?”
Reassured, evidently, by the fact that they had not been identified as the betrayer, but that Judas would be the betrayer, the others quickly forgot their self-doubts and anxiety over the issue.
But then pride reared its ugly head. It probably began something like this in their heads: “See I knew it wouldn’t be me. I would never do such a thing as that, but as for these other guys, well, who knows? I probably love the Rabbi more than these others. Have I not shown my commitment to Him? Do I not have greater faith in Him than these others? Maybe I should be the leader; maybe I should be the Lord’s right-hand man.”
So, who was the greatest of the eleven disciples? Was it Simon Peter? Many would say that he was clearly the greatest of them. He was the most outspoken of them all, to be sure, and he became, in the end, the leader of the whole church. And Jesus singled Him out as such several times, even that very night.
But did Jesus single Peter out that night as the greatest and most faithful friend of Jesus, or as something else? Our Lord says: “Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren” (Lk 22:31-32).
Peter at once declared himself up to the task. Let Satan attack; he would surely not fall to it! So, Peter said in response: “Lord, I am ready to go with You, both to prison and to death.” What a fine statement of courage and faithfulness! Isn’t Peter great?!? But Jesus knew otherwise. He knew the fear that would be in Simon Peter’s heart and He knew that though Peter would not betray Him in the same way that Judas soon would, Simon would still betray Him before the night was over.
Jesus said: “I tell you, Peter, the rooster shall not crow this day before you will deny three times that you know Me.” So, of the eleven, which was he? Was he the greatest in faithfulness or the greatest in denial and cowardice?
And what of the other ten disciples? Was one of them greater than Peter? According to Matthew’s account, they all vowed along with Peter that they would never leave Jesus or betray Him. And yet ,later that night in the garden, when Judas came to them with his detachment of soldiers to arrest Jesus, what did they do? Did they stand fast beside their Lord and go with Him into prison?
Nope; not even close. Every last one of them ran away. And only John had the courage to witness Jesus’ trial and stand at the foot of the cross when Jesus was executed. Luke tells us that Peter only followed at a safe distance.
So, which was the greatest? John? Maybe. But even he fled in fear with the others. And the only reason he could safely get in to see Jesus’ trial was because he knew the high priest.
So, which was the greatest? The disciples were discussing which of them would be considered the greatest, when what they should have been discussing was which of them would be the greatest betrayer. At some level every single one of them betrayed Jesus. Even their discussion about which was greatest was in essence a betrayal of Jesus and of His Gospel.
Thus Jesus told them that greatness was not about exercising lordship and authority. It was not about privilege; it wasn’t about prestige. It was about humility; it was about faith; and it was about service. “He who is greatest among you, let him be as the younger, and he who governs as he who serves. For who is greater, he who sits at the table, or he who serves? Is it not he who sits at the table? Yet I am among you as the One who serves.”
If you want to see greatness – if you want to see true greatness – then look no further than Jesus and what He was about to do. He who had shown Himself to be both God and Messiah, He who exercised authority over illness, over sins, over demons, and even over death, was here not lording it over them but serving them. First, Jesus served them at table, and then He served them on hands and knees by washing their feet. And this He did as an example for them to follow in their dealings with one another.
But all of this was just a prelude and a lead-up to the real display of Christ’s greatness. For He would go out that night to be betrayed by Judas and to be abandoned by His disciples. He would go out that night to be mocked and beaten and scourged, and finally to be crucified and die. And He endured all of this for the well-being of His disciples; He endured all this for all of His people; He endured all this for you. That, dear friends, is true greatness – to serve in the most powerful and selfless way, by giving His life for those He served.
Now what makes a Christian great today? Is it something you find in yourself? Is it something you find in your doings or in the magnitude of your faithfulness? Not really. Those types of things just as often lead you to pride as to true greatness. And greatness, Jesus says, is not about pride and prestige. Greatness is found in humility and in trust in Jesus, not in yourself.
Each of you must confess that you are the greatest – the greatest of sinners, as St. Paul confessed concerning himself. You must confess that you are in need of God’s mercy, and you must look to Christ to receive it. And He does give it. By His service and humility on the cross He has paid for all of your sins. He has paid the price of your pride and your betrayals of Him. He has shown Himself to be the greatest of all, for you.
Christ gave His life for you totally, completely, and fully. There was nothing in it for Him, for He would most certainly return to His Father in heaven and return to all the glory and majesty and power He had previously enjoyed. No, dear friends, He did this all for you – to pay fully for all your sins, and then to deliver the full benefit of His work on the cross through His preached Gospel and His sacramental gifts of Baptism, Absolution, and Supper.
And when you continue to receive those gifts – the fruits of His great display of love for you – His greatness then takes up residence in you. These are the things by which He makes you great – great and rich in His mercy, and great and rich in His forgiveness. And isn’t that great!
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.
