Motherhood and True Greatness
Our morning started as they often do, I was trying to drink my coffee and read my Bible and one of my children came and asked to sit with me. I could have told her “no” and there are times when I do. But, as likely any parent of young children knows, that “private time” with the Lord is often interrupted. That morning, I invited my daughter to sit with me.
I started reading to her what I had been reading quietly to myself in Mark 9. Jesus’ disciples arrive in Capernaum and Jesus asks them what they had been discussing on the way. The disciples keep silent because they had been arguing with one another about who was the greatest. I was struck by Jesus’ response to the disciples:
“And [Jesus] sat down and called the twelve. And he said to them, ‘If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.’ And he took a child and put him in the midst of them, and taking him in his arms, he said to them, ‘Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me, receives not me but him who sent me’” (Mark 9:35-37).
Greatness: A Worthwhile Pursuit
Often, when we think of “greatness” or ambition we think of it as being prideful and sinful. Ambition certainly can be, and often is, prideful. Clearly in this passage, the disciples are sinfully comparing themselves to each other and trying to be greater than their brother. However, interestingly Jesus, doesn’t tell his disciples to stop wanting to be great. He tells them how to be truly great. John Piper says of this passage, “[Jesus] recognizes in his disciples' quest for greatness a good thing that has become ugly and distorted by sin. And instead of destroying the whole distorted thing, he describes a pathway on which the distorted and ugly pursuit of greatness will be radically transformed into something beautiful.”
We should want to invest our life in things that matter. We should want to be “great” in the Lord’s eyes. But, as Piper notes, that desire often becomes distorted by sin and we end up wanting to be known as great rather than actually being great or by wanting to be greater than someone else. So, if wanting to be great isn’t inherently sinful, what is “true greatness” as God defines it?
What is True Greatness?
I was struck by how Jesus defines true greatness and how he uses a child to display to the disciples what real faith looks like. Jesus visibly shows his disciples what it means to be a “servant of all” by taking a child in his arms as he is responding to them. He is showing them that being a servant means serving children, those whom society often deems as “last” or unimportant. J.C. Ryle says about these verses: “Flesh and blood can see no other way to greatness than crowns, and rank, and wealth, and high position in the world. The Son of God declares that the way lies in devoting ourselves to the care of the weakest and lowest of His flock. He enforces His declaration by marvelous words, which are often read and heard without thought. He tells us that to ‘receive one child in His name, is to receive Christ, and to receive Christ is to receive God.’”
It’s easy to overlook children, perhaps especially our own. Serving our children doesn’t feel like “greatness.” It doesn’t come with much pomp or circumstance. It often feels menial, mundane, and unimportant. It certainly doesn’t come with frequent thanks, admiration, or praise. But God helping us, when we choose to be “servants of all,” we are acting as Christ did. It is counterintuitive and countercultural but sacrificing ourselves for our children in the name of Christ is the pathway to true greatness. Ultimately, do we want man’s praise or do we want more of God? If it's God that we’re after, we must lay our lives down on behalf of another. We must be last to be first, servant of all.
“It is counterintuitive and countercultural but sacrificing ourselves for our children in the name of Christ is the pathway to true greatness.”
Jesus says that whoever receives a child receives him and whoever receives Christ receives the God the Father. When I first read this, I wondered, why did Jesus connect serving this child with receiving Himself? As I meditated on the passage, I began to see the profundity in Jesus’ words. He is saying that when we receive the least of these, we are receiving more of God. There is great joy to be found in serving! And we don’t serve for service’s sake. We don’t even serve for the child’s sake. We serve to have more of Christ. Our joy isn’t found in the serving of our children, it’s found in the Christ we experience as we serve them. Isn’t in a blessing to know that on days when we feel that we’ve hit the end of our rope, we can pick back up and start again the next day? We start again knowing that our motivation to serve our children comes not from our weak and sinful flesh but from Christ, a well that will never run dry.
“There is great joy to be found in serving! And we don’t serve for service’s sake. We don’t even serve for the child’s sake. We serve to have more of Christ.”
I also want to note that while I have applied this passage to motherhood because it was what God was personally showing me through my reading of Mark 9, this passage certainly applies to care for children more generally. There is true greatness to be found in caring for “the least of these” of all kinds. Whether you are a biological mother or not, serving children will lead us to the same depth of joy. Some of my greatest heroes in the faith have not been biological mothers but have adopted, cared for orphans, or taught children’s Sunday school. They have fostered, been spiritual mothers and fathers to the needy, or fought for the lives of the unborn. In addition, whether we have children in the home or not, we should always have eyes and hearts to serve the children in our churches and our communities.
I’m thankful I didn’t say “no” to my daughter that morning. I’m not sure how much she got out of what I read to her, but I am certain she taught me more than I taught her that day. Simply by sitting with me as I read the words of Christ, I was reminded that serving her and pointing her to Christ is one of the greatest things I can do.
Resources mentioned:
Sermon: “Receiving Children in Jesus’ Name” by John Piper
For a related topic, you can listen to Episode 12. Parenting and "Teach Them to Work" with Guest Author Mary Beeke