Reflection - Who is the Greatest?

by the Moderator, Rev Bruce Moore

In January this year, you could not help but be confronted on your screens with updates on 2025 Australian Open - Grand Slam Tennis Tournament. One of the headlines that got my attention was the conversation around who was “the GOAT” … who was the greatest of all time, drawing from some of the tennis legends from around the world? There was robust critique being offered in the public arena around names such as Federer, Nadal or Djokovic, being some of the more popular GOATs being considered.

This raised an even much bigger question for me around how do you define greatness?  What do you use as your point of reference or benchmark in determining greatness?  Maybe you have found yourself having a similar conversation amongst your own areas of interest or concern. Whether this being referenced around sporting personalities, political leaders, networks or other people of influence from your own life experience?

The question that I found myself left wrestling with was, what does it mean to be great in God’s eyes and walk in the ways and example of Jesus?  That’s a confronting question, isn’t it? I found myself turning to a story that is captured in Mark’s gospel (Mark 10:35-45) where two of Jesus’ disciples, James and John are wrestling with this question.  James and John are seeking the best seats in the house… jostling to sit on the right and left side of Jesus.  They want to be great in the Kingdom of Heaven, but they clearly don’t know what that means.

Jesus offers them a pathway to greatness, but I am sure it is a very different path than the one they had in mind. He calls his disciples together and says to them: “Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:43-45)

Serving others, Jesus tells us, is the path to true greatness. This very act of Jesus offering up his own life, models for a very different understanding of greatness. This passage challenges worldly ideas of power and status. Jesus redefines greatness, not as dominance or power, but as humble service. He embodies this by giving up His life for others, the ultimate act of self-sacrifice and love. His example calls us to lead by serving, to put others before ourselves, and to live with a heart of compassion, humility, and selflessness.

In a world that often values power and recognition, Jesus invites us to a different way—one that finds fulfilment in giving rather than taking, serving rather than being served. His life and death demonstrate that true greatness is found in sacrificial love.