Then they came to Capernaum. When He was in the house, He asked them, “What were you arguing about on the way?”
But they kept silent, because on the way they had been arguing with one another about who was the greatest. Sitting down, He called the Twelve and said to them, “If anyone wants to be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.”
Mark 9:33-35 HCSB

Jesus called twelve men to be His disciples. These men travelled with Him and watched Him perform many miracles. There is never any mention of any type of hierarchy within the disciples, but here in this passage they had been arguing about who was the greatest of them.

Before that, they had been unable to drive a demon out of a young boy and had to get Jesus to do it. Jesus told them that they had been unable to do it because of their lack of faith. He had rebuked them in Mark 9:19 saying, “How long must I put up with you?” and called them an unbelieving generation.

To get the full picture here, we must see that they had been rebuked for a lack of faith. Jesus went on to remove the demon from the boy where they had been unable to do so. Then Jesus is telling them for the second time of his coming death. They don’t understand what it means, but if this man that you have been following is talking about being betrayed and killed, you must at least think it’s serious business. And in the next verses they are arguing about who among them is the greatest? They were obviously ashamed of this, because when Jesus asked them what they were arguing about, they fell silent. This is amusing because Jesus was fully man and fully God. They should have known that He knew the answer to the question He was asking them.

Imagine a boss pulling several employees into the office and telling them he only has a couple weeks to live. It would be like the employees glossing over what he had said about his death and asking who he intended to put in charge.

Now they had felt humiliated before when they couldn’t drive the demon out and Jesus had rebuked them pretty harshly. But here, He doesn’t rebuke them. He doesn’t call them selfish for wanting to be great, but rather He tells them how to be the greatest. He tells them that anyone wanting to be first, must be last of all and servant of all.

In Matthew 23:11-12, Jesus says, “The greatest among you will be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”

We see people all around us who are running around exalting themselves. Pride will be the downfall of many people. We are told in Proverbs 16:18 that pride comes before destruction, and an arrogant spirit before a fall. I wonder how long it will take this once great nation to see this? How long will it be before those who consider themselves brilliant realize that we need to humble ourselves and seek the Lord with our whole heart? Matthew 5:5 tells us that the humble will be blessed for they will inherit the earth. God rewards humility and He hates pride. It’s that simple.

If you want to be great, you must first overcome wanting to be great. You must surrender to Christ and humbly submit to Him. Simply put, you need to get over yourself.

It’s sad today, but I think so many people make themselves out to be so great in public and on social media to cover up for low self-esteem. People dress seductively which certainly doesn’t honor God. They post many pictures of themselves in provocative poses. They don’t realize it, but while they are trying to lift themselves up they are dragging themselves down to the level of sinful pride. They have let the devil convince them that it’s okay to live in the flesh. Remember that the devil is a liar (John 8:44).  People look at them and think they must be proud of themselves, but sadly most are drowning in low self-esteem.

They spend all their time comparing themselves to others; those they consider beneath them and those they consider above them. The only person we should be striving to impress or please is God (Proverbs 29:25) and we will never please Him as long as we are caught up in pride (Romans 8:8-9) and living in the flesh.

I see so much pride running rampant today in all areas such as workplaces, political leaders and social media. It’s scary to think of all the people that are setting themselves up for a disastrous fall.

Humble yourself today before the Lord. Trust in Him to lift you up. If you want to be great, you need to begin by being humble. As our pastor often tells us, put Jesus first, others second and yourself last. This will give you true joy. We are told in James 4:10 to Humble ourselves before God and He will lift us up.

Have a great day!