He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, "Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all." (Mark 9:35)

I’ve been doing mentoring interviews with my register class at school. I sit down and talk to them about how things are going, how they feel about their classes - that sort of hing. One thing I’m supposed to talk about is their ambitions - what do they want to do, what their targets are. Most of the time they don’t know. I wonder sometimes if what we actually do is instil in kids the model of what our society thinks of as success and encourage them to pursue it.

What do we mean by “successful”? Most of the time it seems to mean getting to the top in your profession, having a shedload of money or being famous. Sometimes t seems that you don’t have to be famous for any particular reason, or for having any particular talent, or for having achieved anything in particular. Being famous is success enough. It means you’ve climbed the greasy pole far enough to be recognised. That, it seems, makes you more important than others.

What of those who are very wealthy? That, too, is what our society deems as “success”. After all, isn’t that what everyone wants? The thing is, though, we often get told the story that such wealthy, successful people are where they are through some kind of moral quality - that they are determined; that they are creative; that they don’t give up when they get knocked down. That they are, then, better than the failures below them. They have climbed the greasy pole far enough to look down on those below them from a position of financial security.

That’s always a temptation in life. To seek success by climbing the greasy pole so that you can think you’re more important than others; more wealthy than others; more powerful than others. That you are king of the hill, top of the list, head of the heap, king of the hill. Sorry, I slipped into Frank Sinatra there for a moment.

This is the temptation that overtakes Jesus’s disciples on their way to Capernaum. “Who’s the greatest?” They’ve been asking which of them stands out above all the others Which of them is the ‘ranking’ apostle? I suppose they may be debating who’s cast out the most demons, healed the most sick. Which of them is most important.

Jesus takes that and turns it on its head. “Whoever wants to be first must be last and servant of all”. This is an incredible idea and it boggles the mind to think what human history would have been like if it had been adopted.

Think of all the human misery that has been caused by the selfish ambition and envy James speaks of. Some will say that religion causes all the trouble in the world. Really? Compared with selfish ambition and envy? Think, in long ago times, of the men and women taken as slaves and the violence inflicted in pursuit of booty so that powerful warlords could maintain their power by handing out gifts to their supporters and by displaying conspicuous wealth. How many wars in this world have been fought because the leaders of one country believed they were more important than those of another and set out in pursuit of conquest and power. All to climb the greasy pole - to stand out above all others as more important.

Think of the villages levelled in times gone by so that lords and ladies could have fine mansions with beautiful vistas unbroken by the labours of peasants, or the people driven from their land so that greater profit could be made from it by the great and the good. All to climb the greasy pole and ensure that folk knew you stood out from the crowd; that you were more important than those below you.

Jesus’s teaching inverts all that. Nor should that surprise anyone who takes seriously the notion of the incarnation. In Christ God came into the world. He lived the life of a human being, but not one of those human beings who climb to the top of the greasy pole and achieve the kinds of success that we’re often told to value. In Christ God came into the world and shared the life of a man who was born into poverty and walked among the poor; who worked miracles, but only to benefit others - to bring healing and wholeness and life to those in need; who, far from achieving success in the terms we would understand wound up nailed to a cross and buried in a borrowed grave.

And yet that same Christ has touched more lives, influenced more lives, changed more lives than any prince or potentate or plutocrat or celebrity who has ever lived. And he still does. For all we are taught to seek success through wealth and power and status and celebrity, for all we are taught to climb the greasy pole, there is something about the teachings of Jesus about serving others that resonates with us. 

Maybe that’s why, after Jesus has taught that “whoever wants to be first must be last and be servant of all”, he takes a little child in his arms. That he took the child in his arms tells us that this was a very small child - perhaps a baby. Their is nothing weaker and more vulnerable than a baby. There is nothing that so needs the care of others as a baby. there is nothing that cries out for compassion and kindness as a baby. Maybe Jesus is saying, look after those who are weaker, more vulnerable than you as you would look after a small child.

Perhaps this is Jesus’s answer to the human desire to climb the greasy pole out of selfish ambition and greed. What does all your status mean if the world is not one whit a better, brighter place for you being in it? What does all your wealth mean if there are people around you going hungry and homeless? What does all your power mean if all it does is make the world a sadder, colder place? Yes, you may be famous. But for what?

The least of us - you, me any one of us, we can change the world - at least our little bit of it. The least of us - you, me, anyone, can change people’s lives. The least of us - you, me, anyone, can make this world a brighter place. And it’s simple - look after each other. Serve one another. Offer a hand when folk need help. Be a shoulder to cry on when folk are hurting. Speak up for those who get forgotten in the world’s mad scramble for more and more stuff for me, me, me.

And be the voice that reminds those around you those at the bottom of the hill matter as much as the king at the top of it; that those at the bottom of the list matter as much as those at the top; that those at the bottom of the heap matter as much as those at the top. Be the voice that sings out the love of God - a love in which it doesn’t matter how wealthy you are, how powerful you are, how famous you are, you are loved beyond measure simply because you are a child of God.

I’ve talked about climbing the greasy pole. It’s called that because everyone slides back down it. However wealthy you are, you can’t take it with you. However much your face is in the papers, those papers will be wrapping chips tomorrow. Whatever title you’ve held, someone else will one day hold it. An act of love, though, ripples in eternity and makes the world a brighter place. And that is success.

Lord may we try to set aside selfish ambition and envy. Help us to follow in the way of your son who walked the path of service to the Cross and beyond.

Preached at Gretna:St. Andrews Parish church