Thought for Today
1 Chronicles 12:14 These Gadites were officers of the army, the least equal to a hundred and the greatest to a thousand.
Jerimiah 6:13 For from the least to the greatest of them, everyone is greedy for unjust gain; and from prophet to priest, everyone deals falsely.
Mark 9:33 . . . "What were you arguing about on the way?" 34 But they were silent, for on the way they had argued with one another who was the greatest.
1 Chronicles 13:13 And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.
Did one of the disciples have a Styrofoam representation of a clinched human hand holding its index finger straight? Was whoever held the hand chanting “I’M NUMBER ONE?” Certainly most of us have seen or seen pictures of those Styrofoam hands being waved at sporting events. We’ve probably heard the spectators chanting “We’re number one” at some of those same sporting events. And, of course, we are currently in the midst of a Presidential election campaign, wherein much of the political discourse is a very verbose version of that same chant. At lease . . . so far . . . I have not seen any candidates waving one of those ubiquitous Styrofoam hands.
The Bible is not bereft of comparisons, of struggles similar to those on the sporting fields of play. Much of the Old Testament is composed of stories of the Israelites, God’s Chosen People, metaphorically waving those Styrofoam hands, metaphorically or actually chanting “We’re number one,” struggling to claim their place at the top. Think about the stories of Cain and Abel, of Ishmael and Isaac, of Esau and Jacob, one brother trying to best the other. In a very real sense, they are all stories of struggle to prove who is indeed “number one.”
The history of God’s Chosen People is not one of continuous ascent to the pinnacle of human power. Were we to somehow graph the power-history of the Hebrews, it might closely resemble a sine wave. Hopefully, somewhere in school, you saw a sine wave graph. If not, google one on your smart phone or computer. A sine wave is a continuous serpentine, endlessly cycling from peak to valley, from a positive apex to a negative nadir.
Scripture uses the word ‘greatest’ 20-30 times. The verses above from Mark are part of the lectionary reading for this coming Sunday. Interestingly, the prophet Jeremiah uses the comparison “from the least to the greatest” six different times in his writings. We humans have a proclivity for separating humanity into 2 different groupings for comparison. Maybe “from the least to the greatest” is merely another example of such comparisons. Is that all the disciples were doing? Merely separating the 12 into “least” and “greatest?” Is that what our 2 political parties are doing with the endless stream of advertisements currently bombarding our airways?
For Christians, the issue of ‘Who is number one’ should be very clear. Jesus said, "Luke 10:27 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself." Is there any other possible way of understanding that except that God is always NUMBER ONE? If in doubt, read Genesis 1:1ff.
When we Christians consider comparisons among God’s children, maybe we should remember the Parable of the King in Matthew 25 and especially 40 'Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.' The king in that parable is not playing the ‘comparison game’ so much as that king is reminding us that being a Christian is not a game. God’s children are called to love our neighbors, to do for our neighbors, irrespective of their power status, irrespective of their being ‘greatest’ or ‘least.’ Because, loving our neighbor is an expression of our love for God.
Paul wisely advised the Christians in Corinth during their own congregational dispute, “faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.” For Christians, the answer to the question of “who was the greatest” should be “the one who loved.”
Stay safe, love extravagantly, trust God,
Pastor Ray