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The Rev. Frank
Logue
Pull Conflict Out by the Roots We don’t tend to remember the kings of Macedon. Macedonians aren’t high on the list of people to learn about in school. But King Phillip and Queen Olympias boy was unique. With Aristotle as his tutor, Alexander learned all the best of Greek thought and through his father he learned the art of war. By the age of 16 he commanded troops in battle. In his twenties and early thirties, he conquered the known world from the glories of ancient Egypt, across Persia to the Orient. At the age of 33, Alexander caught what we think was malaria and died before making it back home from his conquest. He thought himself immortal and named no successor. Within a year of his death, his army broke down into warring factions, his kingdom was no more. It was only for the briefest of moments that the Macedonian king conquered the world as he knew it. We remember him as Alexander the Great. The Great. We like the expression. Catherine the Great was the empress of Russia who expanded their territory south to the Black Sea and west to Europe. She followed Peter the Great, who in the 1600s both modernized and expanded Russia from a minor stardom to a 3-billion acre empire. In church history, the remember Gregory the First. The first monastic pope, Gregory the Great reenergized missionary efforts to the peoples considered barbarians to the north and west. But he didn’t like the term “Pope” meaning father, an instead liked being called a servant of the servants of God. History remembers him as Gregory the Great. We even remember the Great War, which World War I was called until the second one came along. The Great War was followed by the Great Depression. We remember great accomplishments and note great people. History classes don’t dwell too much on Dionysius Exiguus, whose name translates roughly as Dennis the Insignificant. He’s the man responsible for our current calendar dating all history to the year 1, as that of Jesus’ birth. But we call the calendars which follow his dating the Gregorian calendar for Pope Gregory XIII, rather than Dennis the Insignificant who gave us the term A.D. for Anno Domini, in the Year of the Lord. Dionysius the Insignificant aside, history remembers great men and women. Most ordinary people pass through life making impressions on those who know and love them, but with no mark on history. So perhaps it is a natural desire within humans to be the achiever, the one who excels, the standout, the great one. We don’t tend to add great to names anymore. Ice Hockey legend Wayne Gretsky, known as The Great One, is an exception. Mostly today, we go for one word names from Cher and Madonna, to Lindsey and Brittany, or notoriously of late, Kanye. Jesus disciples will get that lasting recognition of history. They just don’t know it yet as they make their way along dusty roads in Israel. But Mark tells us that one day as they were headed back to their base of operations in Capernaum, the disciples argued with one another. Jesus wanted to know what the argument was about and everyone suddenly looked at their sandals, or off t the wall. No one spoke. Jesus knew that had been arguing about which among them was the greatest. Jesus knew as long as they were having the argument, the answer was “None of you are great, much less the greatest.” Jesus said that in order to be great, they must become the servant of all. It’s another example of Jesus favorite paradox, the last shall be first. To make this idea real for them, Jesus takes a little child in his arms and says, “whoever welcomes one such child welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.” To welcome God the Father, the creator of all that is into your midst welcome a child into your midst. Children had no status in culture at all. Today we are more child-focused than they were in first century Palestine. Then, one loved one’s children, but you didn’t plan your life or that of your family around their schedule for everything from gymnastics to Tae Kwan Do and soccer. It was very counter-cultural for Jesus to place a child in their midst. And at other times, he would tell them they should become like children in order to enter the Kingdom of God. Child-like faith is certainly involved here, but at this point, I think Jesus is doing something different. The disciples are arguing for who among them is going to get the title Great. Jesus knows that this very tendency is at the root of all sort of conflict. The tendency is envy and selfish ambition. Jesus doesn’t want his disciples to even go there. Our reading from the Book of James makes this plain. James writes that to prove that you are wise and understanding, you show it by your good life and your lack of envy and selfish ambition. James says, “For where there is envy and selfish ambition, there will also be disorder and wickedness of every kind.” James makes it clear that if you spend your days wanting what the other person has, then it leads to conflict and even murder. Conflicts and disputes arise from this sort of envy and selfish ambition. Both Jesus and James are pointing to another way of being human. Instead of competing with each other to see who is the greatest, we lift one another up, trying to help those we love get where they are going and in the process we too are lifted up. This is the idea behind servant leadership. Servant leadership is one expression for what Jesus is teaching his disciples and what James is making clear with his book. Selfish ambition does you know good, it doesn’t help those around you and even if it makes you great, that is greatness that will not last. There is no doubt, that selfishness and envy have fueled lots of people in a rise to power. But that sense of power is fleeting. Even if you, like Alexander the Great, succeed in building a great empire, everything you have built will fall. But if you build your life and work on an ethic of love, then what you build will last. At the practical level it works like this. A leader should be concerned that those around him or her, get what they need to succeed. Jesus made sure that his disciples were getting the on the job training and the teaching they needed. Later he gave the gift of the Holy Spirit to continue to guide them Jesus gave his followers everything they needed to turn the world upside down. And when they stopped their senseless envy and selfish pursuit of power, the disciples did make names for themselves as followers. Don’t be envious of co-workers or employees. Give them what they need to succeed. Help others and in the process you will be more and more conformed to the image of God. A couple of years ago, I interviewed Mike McKinnon for the Tribune & Georgian to talk about this very thing. Captain McKinnon had just retired as commander of Navy Submarine Base Kings Bay. During his tenure our base was named the top U.S. military installation in the world. Mike named this sort of leadership as the reason. Leading by showing true care for the people who work for you is not only a good idea or a Christian ideal, it is a proven method for influencing people to do their best work. While Mike is quick to point out that his own success in the Navy had more to do with those serving with him, the track record of his crew on the Kentucky and Submarine Base Kings Bay under his leadership show that servant leadership works in the real world. To explain why this principle is true, Mike used the analogy of a can capped with a lid. The leader who wants to control every aspect of a project is the lid on the can. People can’t expand and grow if the leader is the lid holding everything in place. The team can never function at maximum effectiveness this way. “When you control everything,” Mike said, “the effort can be no better than you. In fact the effort can’t even be as good as you, because you can’t do everything at once.” For Mike, it comes down to this, “When people know you care, they will trust you and when you say ‘This is where we need to go’ they will follow you.” I tell you a little about that conversation with Mike, because it is just an example of how what I am teaching this morning applies to the real world and gets amazing results. Jesus said stopped trying to be great and instead just welcome someone who no one else would notice. James said give up on envy and selfish ambition as those are at the root of all conflicts. The Bible is teaching us the way the world works and warning that the more we try to get ahead, the farther behind we will fall. The more we step on others, the lower we will become. Selfishness works for a moment. But it doesn’t last. Others see through it. But when someone is really concerned about you, you notice it. That care and concern are what matters. Yes, showing that sort of care and concern for others may even get results in the work world and even with your family. But we don’t care for others to get ahead. That’s just another form of selfish ambition. Instead, we learn to care for others knowing that the person no one notices matters to God as much as you matter to God. History may never remember you as great. In fact, history will very likely never remember us at all, not as individuals. But let go of envy and selfish ambition. Welcome those who no one else pays any attention to, and God will never forget it. And in the end caring for others, showing love to the unloved, making sure those around you have what they need to succeed. These are the true measures of greatness. Amen.
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