You're a Mean One, Mr Great

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The tree lighting was a wonderful event. And how about our own Dickens Hepdectet? (Yes, I looked that up)

It was fun to watch the way kids and adults alike responded to the voices and the costumes. Costumes sure have an impact.

Look at the way kids and even grown ups respond to a santa suit

One costume that I did not know would be there was the grinch. To my knowledge, I don’t know that was planned by any of the Main Street Team.

It was fun though.

I grew up every year watching the original Dr Seuss special, seeing the Grinch attempt to steal Christmas from the Whos down in Whoville.

And of course the most vivid memory of that show was the voice of the narrator, Thurl Ravenscroft singing: You’re a mean one, Mr Grinch.

You can hear it too, right? It’s iconic.

Of course the Grinch thinks by stealing all the presents and decoration, that he can stop Christmas, until he finds out its about a little bit more...

Last week we started pulling on the loose threads, the lives of different characters in the Christmas story. Started with all those unnamed folks without room for Mary and Joseph.

today, we’re going to pull on the thread of the original Grinch. The man who made the first and most aggressive attempt to steal Christmas...

Matthew 2:1-8 “After Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of King Herod, wise men from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star at its rising and have come to worship him.” When King Herod heard this, he was deeply disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. So he assembled all the chief priests and scribes of the people and asked them where the Messiah would be born. “In Bethlehem of Judea,” they told him, “because this is what was written by the prophet: And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah: Because out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.” Then Herod secretly summoned the wise men and asked them the exact time the star appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. When you find him, report back to me so that I too can go and worship him.””

These wise men from the East come and worship and God warns them to go home a different way

Matthew 2:13-18 “After they were gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, “Get up! Take the child and his mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you. For Herod is about to search for the child to kill him.” So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night, and escaped to Egypt. He stayed there until Herod’s death, so that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet might be fulfilled: Out of Egypt I called my Son. Then Herod, when he realized that he had been outwitted by the wise men, flew into a rage. He gave orders to massacre all the boys in and around Bethlehem who were two years old and under, in keeping with the time he had learned from the wise men. Then what was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled: A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children; and she refused to be consoled, because they are no more.”

There are two Herods in the story of the life of Jesus. One we talk about around the crucifixion, Herod the Tetrarch, and his dad we talk about in the Christmas story, Herod the Great.

The. Great. That’s a big title.

On a whim, I looked up how many other rulers were given that honorific, and it’s a pretty long list, but with some notable names

Alexander the great, Catherine the Great, Nebuchadnezzar, Oz the great and pow…never mind.

As I went down that little rabbit hole, I noticed something.

None of them were Great family therapists.

None were known for their musical talent.

They didn’t get the title for being great parents

The common link in the chain seemed to be that they were great at destroying their enemies. And anyone who might be interested in becoming and enemy. Or anyone they had a dream about where they were an enemy…

Herod fits the title under these conditions.

Married to ten women, he killed several of them, and MANY of his own sons whom he thought might try to rise up and take his throne.

One Roman leader noted that it was safer to be one Herod’s pigs than one of his sons.

He did whatever it took to keep his throne...

His paranoia was extreme, funny enough, at the point where we meet him, he was already suffering from the disease that would kill him. He was going to lose his throne one way or another.

Somehow they had come to believe that they were the only one who could lead as was needed. Or that power was their birth right, or that they had earned it. Anyone else who had eyes on their throne was a threat to deal with.

In a word, it is pride. Pride and fear are close friends. A sense of “it has to be me”. I have to protect what is mine.

Despite the fact that Herod, wasn’t even Jewish…he was married to one…when he heard about a new born “king of the Jews” His pride forced a fear reaction.

Now the odds are against any of us becoming a regional ruler in a Roman territory. I doubt any of you or I will be put in a position where we believe we need to kill off a generation in a small town to protect our jobs.

Because the primary difference between Herod and you or I isn’t in action, it’s in opportunity.

Truth be told, we don’t know what we would do in the same situation.

So the question we have to ask, is how can we be like him?

In the scope of our lives, our circumstances, our influence, how can we allow pride to cause harm?

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And more importantly, how is Jesus Greatness different? And how does that make us different? How can we pursue Humble Greatness?

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Humble Greatness

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Serve or be Served

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There was a point in Jesus’ ministry when the mom of two of his disciples came and asked for them to have the top spots in the kingdom. This generated some…fear, anger, pride in the others. They were “indignant”

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Jesus makes a statement that draws a contrast between their attitudes (which bore resemblance to Herods) and His kingdom

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Matthew 20:25-28 “Jesus called them over and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those in high positions act as tyrants over them. It must not be like that among you. On the contrary, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must be your slave; just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.””

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The kind of greatness Jesus demonstrated and calls his disciples to practice begins with a different motive.

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If pride starts with “it has to be me”, “I deserve”, or “me first”,

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humble greatness begins when we lay our pride down.

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When we say, what is for them, what will bless, what will add to others?

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Soak in this verse,

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On the contrary…in other words, it should look different for you to have power than it does for the world.

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If you are a boss, do you serve? or do you protect your position?

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Not shockingly AT ALL, so much business research shows that leaders that serve are stronger leaders who actually see success at much higher rates. If that’s an area you want to grow, I can recommend good books to help.

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But what if you’re not the boss? Guess what, it still applies. You can still lead by serving.

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So your boss is a jerk and your coworkers leave you frustrated…you can still be a servant leader. Not a doormat…what’s the difference?

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A doormat gets walked over and does everything because they feel helpless and need to please to protect their place (see how pride comes out even here?) but it comes at the cost of feeling used.

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A servant leader chooses to take on the role that will bring success to those around them with joy. They ask themselves how they can represent Jesus in their work, how they can build up others.

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I’ll tell you what, in my experience, though servant leaders don’t always get ahead, there’s a lot of variables…people notice when they leave a company and in the long run they have more success and less stress.

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There isn’t time to apply this to every situation, but the principle here is true not only at work, but in your family, in the church, in relationships, and everywhere else.

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How would you like to have less stress in all of those areas? Practice Humble Greatness. Make it about others. Stress comes when we feel the need to protect.

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Those who practice serving, who seek greatness God’s way will find their lives less stress-filled simply because they have chosen to quit living a life protecting themselves. A God and others focused life brings peace powerfully.

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Humble Greatness also forces us to choose if we will:

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Lead or Follow

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Matthew 9:9 “As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office, and he said to him, “Follow me,” and he got up and followed him.”

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John 10:27 “My sheep hear my voice, I know them, and they follow me.”

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Luke 9:23 “Then he said to them all, “If anyone wants to follow after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me.”

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Matthew 4:19 ““Follow me,” he told them, “and I will make you fish for people.””

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Luke 18:22 “When Jesus heard this, he told him, “You still lack one thing: Sell all you have and distribute it to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.””

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Pride keeps us in the lead. Humble Greatness knows when and who to follow.

Years ago, Becca and I went hiking up a butte in the Eugene area that I had done a dozen times. On the way down, I missed the trail. We ended up cutting across through brambles to find the trail again.

Let me tell you, I kept my cool, acted like I knew what we were doing…but as the one leading, I felt responsibility for getting us down.

Somewhere along the way I had ignored a suggestion she had made about direction. Pride kept me leading, when wisdom would have followed.

The original sin in the garden had everything to do with us insisting that we lead, even when we didn’t know the way.

I picked 5 verses…could have picked from more than 20 just in the gospels. Not to mention other calls to follow the Lord throughout the old and new testaments.

It is a hard shift to learn to follow well.

It takes admitting we don’t always know the way.

It takes surrendering our need to lead in order to seek Jesus and follow

I need to be sure this is clear, if you are a Christian, then you follow Jesus. If you don’t follow Jesus, you might be able to say all the right answers…but…And I can’t and won’t judge.

We can make guesses at whether someone is or isn’t following Jesus, but we are basing our guess on where we see you on the path.

Someone can be living a disaster and following Jesus out of it and it looks one way

Someone else can be nice and stable, respectable, but not following Jesus into the battles he is calling them to.

We are all going to follow imperfectly, but be sure you are following.

Humble Greatness calls us to serve, to follow, and to walk in:

I love Paul’s description of Jesus in Philippians 2.

Philippians 2:5-11 “Adopt the same attitude as that of Christ Jesus, who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be exploited. Instead he emptied himself by assuming the form of a servant, taking on the likeness of humanity. And when he had come as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death— even to death on a cross. For this reason God highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow— in heaven and on earth and under the earth— and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

Note, he’s calling us to adopt the same attitude as Jesus, in other words: Follow that example, taking on the form of a servant (hey, there’s our last two points!)

But I steer here because he points out something else:

who existing in the form of God

Jesus walked in the power of his father…he is GOD in flesh

One of my favorite moments in John’s gospel is in the garden when the crowd comes to arrest Jesus.

jesus asks them who they are looking for and they say, Jesus!

Jesus says, I am he.

John 18:6-7 “When Jesus told them, “I am he,” they stepped back and fell to the ground. Then he asked them again, “Who is it that you’re seeking?” “Jesus of Nazareth,” they said.”

I imagine that second response from them was less aggressive.

His voice, even commanded his enemies. We’ll talk about that phrase I Am more leading up to easter, but it is the greek rendering of the name God gives moses…I AM. Not a way normal people talked. Other times Jesus drops that one, religious leaders pick up stones to throw because they rightly hear him claiming to be God.

Strength can be put on display by showing power.

Herod was an expert. Offend me, I can have you killed. Even if you are my family.

One of his sons put John the baptist to death for an offense.

Pilate would prove his authority by condemning Jesus to crucifixion

Terry Cruz is a former pro football player and actor. Big dude. Strong man.

In his autobiography, he talks about a night when some guys tried to rob him and his wife and he beat them within an inch of their lives.

He talks at length about the way he used his power…and acknowleged that all it did was reveal his weakness.

With time and healing, and getting to know Jesus, he saw that real power is gentle.

If you’ve ever seen him as the host of America’s Got Talent, you’ve seen him care for contestants, weeping openly with the sad stories, speaking candidly about his weakness.

Being gentle or meek isn’t weakness, it proves the greatest strength.

Paul goes so far as to say this (a verse I have on the wall in our house):

2 Corinthians 12:9-10 “But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is perfected in weakness.” Therefore, I will most gladly boast all the more about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may reside in me. So I take pleasure in weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and in difficulties, for the sake of Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

Application: What do I want them to do?

At Christmas we celebrate that God upended the world as a baby in a manger.

The life of Jesus we have been studying shows that this humble greatness continues in the life of Jesus.

Ultimately he proves it by giving his life at the cross. In the verse we read in the first point: Matthew 20:28 “just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.””

When we follow Jesus, we follow him in to this kind of greatness. Not control or rule, but love in unrealistic measure...

There’s a leadership saying, you can’t teach what you don’t know and you can’t lead where you won’t go.

Jesus is calling you to serve, love, forgive, lay down your desires, deny yourself, sacrifice… (pause) …he went first. HE can teach and lead in this kind of radical humility because he lived humble greatness.

Here’s a step for you to take this week. Add these to your devotional time for the rest of december.

Read through Mark’s gospel. It’s the shortest, but you get the chance to see him serve over and over again. Soak it in, take note of every time he serves, every time he shows himself gentle.

and Read and try to memorize Philippians 2:5-11 that description of Jesus’ humility we read earlier.

As you read and meditate on these, seek God’s leading in learning to walk more in the kind of humility he did.

Take action on what you learn. Practice it.

Let me close by reading that passage from Philippians one more time. Consider how different from the Greats Jesus is.

Philippians 2:5-11 “Adopt the same attitude as that of Christ Jesus, who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be exploited. Instead he emptied himself by assuming the form of a servant, taking on the likeness of humanity. And when he had come as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death— even to death on a cross. For this reason God highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow— in heaven and on earth and under the earth— and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

Pray