The Greatest

Alexander the Great, Catherine the Great, Ramses the Great, et al. History is full of people deemed "great." Even the disciples wanted to be known as great. So what makes a person truly great?

Sons of Thunder.

That's the nickname given by Jesus to James and John, the sons of Zebedee (Mark 3:17). They are two of the first disciples called by Jesus, a couple of guys in his inner circle.

Sons of Thunder: An awesome name for a motorcycle gang. Or a rock band.

But these two brothers think that it would be even better to be known as "the Great." So they walk up to Jesus and say, "Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you" (10:35).

Are they being presumptuous? Yes.

Narcissistic? Probably.

Out of line? Absolutely.

You might want to shake your head at their arrogance, but the request they make is really not surprising. When you believe that you are the greatest, you're naturally going to make such demands.

Think of our presidential candidates, entering the final weeks of a long and punishing campaign. They would not aspire to the highest office in the land if they did not believe that they were the greatest. And they've spent years approaching rich donors and saying, in...