Suzanne Knight, Community Minister at St John’s, preached on Mark 10.35-45 on October 18th 2009.

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Let’s play a guessing game. Who is the greatest? Who is the greatest footballer ever? Pele / Maradona / Cruyff / George Best Who won the greatest number of Olympic Gold medals ever? 8 medals. Michael Phelps for swimming.
Who was the greatest boxer of all time? Mohammed Ali. Better known as “The Greatest.”
Who was the greatest scientist of this century? Albert Einstein?
Which singing pop group sold the greatest number platinum albums? The Beatles.
Who do Americans say was the greatest American president? Abraham Lincoln in today’s polls.
The list of “greats” and “greatests” goes on and on.
It is one thing to BE the greatest Olympian, to BE the greatest boxer, to BE the greatest scientist, to BE the greatest president. But it is quite another thing to have a need to be great, to have a need to be number one, have a need to be a big shot, a need to be better than others. That is what the gospel lesson is all about today. These disciples had a need to be number one, the best of the disciples, better than all the others. These disciples had a need be the right hand man. It amazes me that these two who were the closest to Jesus spent so much time with him, they saw his miracles and everything else that he did but they still didn’t get what he was about. They did not get it that Jesus, the greatest person in the kingdom of God was actually the person who had the heart of a servant.