We are most prone to needing to prove ourselves when we are wracked with insecurities. Whether we’re the new guy on the team, the new kid on the block, or the runt of the litter, we have an inborn, irresistible urge to prove that we have what it takes to fit in and rise to the occasion.
The disciples were no different. Often, we are told that they argued among themselves as to who was the greatest, who would be most honored in the kingdom — even whether they were Jesus’s favorites! The pettiness of the argument is not lost on us — but are our own petty squabbles any better?
How often do we subtly or explicitly puff our chest, humbly brag, or imply to each other how great and accomplished we are?
But all the pettiness of our own self-promotion distracts us from the only person worth focusing on. And he demonstrates how we can live in genuine, humble service to one another.
John tells us in John 13:3-4 that “Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist.”
It was precisely because Jesus had nothing to prove to us that he was able to love and serve with abandon and self-forgetfulness. He had no issue with being dressed as a house slave — he had already been willing to be dressed in mortal flesh (Philippians 2:7-8)! Whether others perceived him to be of low status or not was of no consequence to him (Romans 12:16). He knew that his Father had already settled the matter: “As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill” (Psalm 2:6). What would he gain by man’s empty praise? He already knew how empty we are (John 2:24)!
The opinions of people are like the weather — always changing and rarely in your control. Far better for us to entrust ourselves, our lives, our esteem, our leadership, our notoriety to the only One worth pleasing.
There is nothing to prove to others — and only everything to prove to ourselves: “The greatest among you will be your servant” (Matthew 23:11), and “The first shall be last and the last shall be first” (Matthew 20:16).
May we look to Jesus, who out-served us all and has now been exalted at the right hand of the Father, enthroned above all things!
Ryan Lunde
High School Pastor