The term greater or lesser is a relative and subjective term, what may seem great to one may be unimportant or even disgusting to others, something considered a sin in one place may be just a routine way of life or tradition in some other place and so on. But Bible gives us some clear insight as to what is great or least in the eye of God. About John, the Baptist, Jesus said ‘’ No one ever born on this earth is greater than John. But whoever is least important in God’s kingdom is greater than John.’’
To me in the above words Jesus was proclaiming 2 facts, first, John the Baptist is irrefutably certified by Jesus as the greatest man who ever born on this earth. Second, whoever in heaven, even if he/she is the least important there(in heaven) , is greater than the greatest person on this earth . Around an year back, I happen to view in a Malayalam Christian channel a couple ( man speaking in English and his wife translating in Malayalam) who lead a new generation church of prosperity gospel, preaching about this word of God. He was seen speaking to a large crowd, saying to them that each one present there in that meeting , the preacher couples included, were greater than the greatest prophet in the Bible! And the whole audience, which included kids , youngsters and elderly people of 70 plus or so , saying a big Hallelujah! When Jesus said no one born on this earth is greater than John , the preacher preaches , he and everyone there on this earth , I presume, that may include drunkards, drug addicts, liars, thieves or any other immoral characters that may be present there, are grater than John, the Baptist, and the crowd, exhibiting the herd mentality, supporting it with no wavering or thinking . The preacher and his followers have a different view of greatness than ( supposed to be) their master, Jesus!
When there was an argument amongst his own disciples as to who was great, Jesus said ‘’whichever one of you is the most humble is the greatest.’’ Jesus said about one group of people against whom the door was shut and another group who were gladly welcomed. Those who ware rejected were the ones who dined with Jesus, heard the Jesus speaking in their own streets and included even those who said Lord , Lord and did many miracles in His name. I wonder if this was the fate of those who dined with Jesus , what about those who think they are great and take great pride by dining with some spiritual (supposed to be ) leaders and indulge , collude and support all sort of wickedness. Jesus said in Luke 13:29,30 ‘’ People will come from all directions and sit down to feast in God’ s kingdom. There the ones who are now least important will be the most important and those who are now most important will be least important.” A clear picture of this could be seen in the story of Lazarus and the rich man.
In Lukechap 16: 15 Jesus says about pharisees ‘’ You are always making yourselves look good, but God sees what is in your heart. The things that most people think are important are worthless as far as god is concerned.’’ When God rejected Saul as King, Samuel was sent to Jesse’s home to select the next King . In 1 Samuel 16:7 Lord instructs Samuel ‘’ don’t think ….coz he’s tall and handsome. … People judge others by what they look like but I judge .. by what is there in their heart’’ Jesse presented to Samuel each one of his sons up to the seven son, but he did not consider his youngest one David, even worthy to present but God who glimpse thru the heart selected David as the King of Israel.
To Jesus , a widow who put only 2 coins was greater than those who gave much more. To holy leaders and others of that time, Zacchaeus was a despised sinner but to Jesus he was a ‘’ true son of Abraham’’
In Luke Chap 18 Jesus tells a story about people who think they are better than others and who look down on every one else. A Pharisse and a tax collector went into temple to pray and the Pharisee had many qualities to put himself above everyone else but the tax collector had nothing to boast , he just said ‘’ God , have pity on me ! I am such a sinner.’’ To the Lord , tax collector looked greater than the pharisee . A bishop was telling humbly(?) and in his usual wittiness , I am like the thief on the right side and added I don’t know which bishop is the thief on the left side. He must have been putting himself as the thief who was saved and was targeting some one else as the one who was not. Still something I did not understand is where he learnt the one on right side, Bible says in gospel of Luke as ‘one of the criminals and the other ’ and does not make it right or left.
3 persons, a Priest, a Levian and an outcast Samarian, passed by a wounded person, but the Samarian is preached in the world as greater than the other two. People feel great when they do great miracles in the name of Jesus, but Jesus said, one should feel great if his name is written in the book of life.
The stimulus which stirred up my mind to think of ‘who is greater’ was meeting with a jail evangelist. A couple of weeks back an evangelist, Thomas Abraham , who works among convicts in jails, shared the word of God with Kuwait Marthoma Church congregation. He narrated how a very dreaded convict , named Mohamma Chandran , received Jesus Christ while serving in central jail and now become a great witness of Jesus. When I heard his work , my thoughts went to another jail visit that was widely reported recently. That was by a high-profile, very popular bishop, widely acclaimed for his great humor sense. He enthralled the convicts , the jail staff and the public who happened to read his zingers reported by the media, every word that came out of his mouth was projected as pearl of wisdom. Naturally the bishop stands much greater than the poor evangelist in intellectual and philosophical thinking, social standing , humor sense, pomp and fair or by any other yardsticks of greatness that normally people could count on. The unsung heroes like Thomas Abraham are not blessed with droll-talks to make people laugh, don’t have the oratory style to engross the audience and don’t have the charisma to attract media hype but have a person with them , his name is Jesus Christ, a name that make the earth-scattering, world-changing , person –transforming. Jesus was there to save the criminal who was crucified along with Him, but today we need people like Thomas Abraham to give Jesus to transform people like Mohamma chandran . One ‘tintu mon’ cartoon could make even convicts to laugh, but that will not bring about any change in their lives, but the change brought about by the poor servants of Lord are permanent and not like a momentary giggle lost in the air. This extends to their family members and many in society whose life could have been shattered, had these convicts continued to live in the dark world. Now if a question raised as to who is greater , the popular bishop or the poor evangelist, there may be divided opinion but may be very few to favor this poor man. But I believe Jesus must be smiling at him with stretched hands to welcome and reward him.
One positive outcome of Kuwait Marthoma church crisis is that God used this as an opportunity to hear His Word from many unsung heroes like this jail evangelist, Thomas Abraham, evangelists John Raju, Paul Mahesh etc and in honor of people like them I dedicate this few words.
Sajan