Amy C Walters

Who Is the Greatest? | Luke 9:46-50

After the disciples fail to drive a demon out of a boy and fail to understand Jesus’ teaching, they have the audacity to argue over which of them is the greatest. Jesus uses a child to teach them that true greatness elevates others.

We’ve come to a third story in a cluster of four short stories dealing with true greatness. Ironically, in spite of the disciples’ ongoing failures, they now argue over which of them is the greatest. In the first story, they fail to drive out a demon. Then they fail to understand a very important thing that Jesus was trying to tell them. 

I wonder if the special treatment of Peter, James, and John helps feed this argument. Twice now in the book of Luke, Jesus has taken just Peter, James, and John with him. When Jesus goes into Jairus’ house to heal his daughter, it’s just the parents and those three disciples who go with him (Luke 8:51). And when Jesus goes onto the mountain for the transfiguration, it’s just Peter, James, and John who go with him (Luke 9:28). Maybe the other disciples have grown jealous of those three. Maybe Peter, James, and John are rubbing it in with the others and claiming a higher status because of these additional things that they’ve been able to do. We don’t know.

But we do know that they don’t include Jesus in this discussion. They seem to understand that this is not a conversation that Jesus would approve of, so they’re having it just among themselves. Jesus, however, knows what they are thinking and has a child stand next to him.

This knowing-what-they-were-thinking phrase is interesting. We have heard this before, but it’s always been in Jesus’ interaction with the Pharisees. The Pharisees have side conversations just with one another, or think things in their own hearts and do not address them with Jesus.But Jesus time and time again brings those things to the surface and addresses them directly. 

So with Jesus knowing what the disciples are thinking and addressing it directly, it kind of associates the disciples with the Pharisees. This is Pharisee-like behavior that we’re seeing from them.

Jesus has a little child come and stand next to him, and he tells them, “Whoever welcomes this little child in my name welcomes me and welcomes him who sent me, for it is the one who is the least among you all who is the greatest.” 

Jesus takes the disciples’ concept of greatness and flips it on its head. One of the ways that we tend to pursue personal greatness is by associating with other great people who maybe could elevate us with them. They can give us the right connections. They can do us a favor and bring us up to their level.

But a little child can’t do that. There’s no status that a child can give to you. There are no connections that they can make for you.

Jesus is saying that the way you treat others who can’t do anything for you shows something about you. And by doing that in Jesus’ name, you are welcoming Jesus himself. You are welcoming God by welcoming the lowly.

That is true greatness. And that is what Jesus himself has been demonstrating. He associates with unclean women, widows, Gentiles who are demon-possessed, tax collectors, fishermen. Jesus has gone after the lowly to welcome them and engage them. And he is showing his disciples how to do the same. Don’t pursue your own personal greatness. Pursue the lowly because in elevating them, you elevate God. 

But this is a tough lesson to learn. And so John jumps in and says, “Master, we saw someone driving out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him because he’s not one of us.” 

Now, we don’t know why John jumps in with this interjection. It doesn’t seem to fit the conversation. Maybe John’s feeling convicted and needs to confess this. Maybe he’s trying to deflect this lesson. Let’s distract Jesus and send him in another direction by pointing to this other person who shouldn’t be doing stuff because they’re not one of us. 

But Jesus doesn’t lose his train of thought. In fact, he continues to show them how elevating others ultimately elevates him. He says, “Don’t try to stop him. Whoever is not against you is for you.” You are not in competition with other people who are doing work in Jesus’ name. You need to cooperate with them, not compete. 

It’s interesting to note that in both of these examples include the phrase “in my/your [Jesus’] name.” Jesus tells the disciples to welcome the children in his name. John talks of someone casting out demons in Jesus’ name. This is important, not as some kind of magic formula, but as a reminder that ministry is done in Jesus’ name, not our own. It’s not to elevate yourself, it’s to elevate him. 

I wonder, too, if the disciples were jealous of this man driving out demons. He was successful, it sounds, in driving out demons where they were not. They had failed to drive the demon from the boy at the start of this story. So maybe there’s some jealousy at what this other person is able to do. They don’t want to be in competition with anybody else for their ranking in Jesus’ team.

Jealousy can be a really ugly thing. My first college roommate published a book several years ago, and it was a great book. But I waited a long time to read it, because I was jealous of what she was able to accomplish and the other opportunities it created for her.

Once I finally read the book, it was so refreshing and so powerful in my life. I had been missing out on that, because I felt like I was somehow in competition with her. But that was the wrong attitude and only hurt me. 

Jealousy is the kind of thing that makes us secretly celebrate when we see other people fall. We like to hear these stories of people messing up and getting caught, because somehow it makes us feel better. Somehow we feel like, oh, I’ve moved up in the ranks now because this person has fallen. 

If that person is also working in Jesus’ name, then we need to cooperate with them, not compete. This story teaches us the key truth that true greatness elevates others. It doesn’t seek to elevate ourselves, but it elevates the lowly because in doing that we elevate Christ.

Notice that in this story, while everyone else is amazed at the greatness of God, the disciples are talking about their own greatness. And they are missing the point. 

How often do we do this ourselves, in our jealousy, in our posturing, in our attempts to get greater status and importance? We need to remember that in Jesus’ economy, true greatness means elevating others, not ourselves. 

Today as you go, I want you to consider if there’s anyone that you’ve been jealous of. Maybe God has blessed them or is working in their lives in a way that you envy. I want you to pray for God’s continued blessing in their life and for the opportunity to cooperate with them in doing God’s good work. Because true greatness elevates others.