In a
sermon early in 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. quoted Jesus’ words from Mark 10
about servanthood. Then he said, “Everybody can be great, because everybody can
serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make
your subject and your verb agree to serve. You don’t have to know about Plato
and Aristotle to serve. . . . You only need a heart full of grace, a soul
generated by love.”
When
Jesus’ disciples quarreled about who would get the places of honor in heaven,
He told them: “Whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant.
And whoever of you desires to be first shall be slave of all. For even the Son
of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom
for many” (Mark 10:43-45).
I wonder
about us. Is that our understanding of greatness? Are we gladly serving, doing
tasks that may be unnoticed? Is the purpose of our serving to please our Lord
rather than to gain applause? If we are willing to be a servant, our lives will
point to the One who is truly great.
Little
things done in God’s name are great things. (RBC)
