Others Centered

#6 As the Younger

The greatest among you should be like the youngest

Jesus told the Disciples that we must be like the youngest. To them, that would have been a crushing statement. Back then, the youngest got very little if anything. The societal and familial structure was set up to leave everything to the oldest boy. This came with a sense of wealth and power and again, Jesus was going 180° from the ways of the world.

Even in today’s society, the younger child lives with the older child’s hand-me-downs. The oldest child gets the most attention, the most recognition, and the most new stuff. The younger gets the used bike, the outgrown clothes, the hand-me-down toys and is even referred to as so and so’s younger sibling. The younger is typically dominated by the older and the older is given authority by the parents.

While this is good for the older child in a scenario where the goal is to have the nicest and most stuff and reach higher levels of power and authority, Jesus was establishing a new order. Having nice, new stuff leads to the desire for nicer and newer stuff once you have grown tired of your old stuff. The world seeks after material possessions but Jesus established greatness as serving others and being a leader by example.

We see all through the Old Testament that God used the younger brother to do His work and Jesus was telling the same thing to the Disciples. If they were to be great and change the world as Jesus selected them to do, they must put away their desire to be rich and powerful like rulers of worldly systems had. Possessions made it more difficult to move when directed or focus on serving others.