Who’s the greatest?  It’s a simple little question.  And probably, we ask it a whole lot more than we like to admit.  We know that the boxer, Muhammad Ali claimed to be the “greatest”.  He even had towels and robes with that title embroidered on them.  If you have towels, with “The Greatest” embroidered on them, does that make you the greatest?  No, probably not.  Anybody can buy fancy towels.  We could have a discussion about whether or not Muhammad Ali was even the greatest boxer, let alone Thee Greatest period.  What about Tiger Woods?  He’s a great golfer.  Is he the greatest golfer of all time?   We could argue about that.  And who was the Greatest Rock Band of all time?  Is it the Beatles or the Rolling Stones or U2?  And shouldn’t even who’s the greatest rock band be based upon more than just who’s sold the most music?  Is greatness only about commercial success?  No.  Of course, not!  Who’s the greatest Pope?  Who’s the greatest singer?  Who’s the greatest race car driver?  Who’s the greatest politician?  And whose criteria are we going to use to judge anyways?  Shouldn’t being the greatest, the greatest anything, be more than just subjective?  Everybody’s got an opinion.

       I had a friend who one day decided to go off to New York to be an actor.  He told me before he left, that we wanted to be “great”.  Now, did he really want to be a great actor, portraying characters that drew us all in and made us part of the story?  Did he really want be an artist, with a finely-honed talent for being all sorts of characters to life?   Well, when I asked him before he left, he told me that what he really wanted was to make lots of money, become very famous, and be able to have everything and anything that he wanted.  Is that greatness?  I don’t think so.  That sounds a whole lot more like the greed of an egomaniac than it does greatness.  What is true greatness?  Isn’t it more than money, and fame, and popularity?

        Maybe that’s what the disciples were trying to figure out in their discussion that day, on the way home, when Jesus caught them arguing.  Who’s most important?  Who’s the best?  Who can’t they live without?  There’s somewhat of an irony to the situation, because the Gospel text tells us that Jesus has just gotten finished telling them about what’s going to happen to Him.  Here we have Jesus Who is God, come down to earth, and if God is not the Greatest, then we really need to re-define some things!  But Jesus tells the disciples exactly what He is going to go through in the not-so-distant future, including predicting His own death and resurrection.  Jesus is giving them the key to greatness!   It is not about getting your name on something, or about priority seating at some event, or about getting the admiration of vast crowds.  Jesus both showed them and taught them, that true greatness is about service to God and service to your brothers and sisters.  If we want to be great, we will put God and others before we put ourselves.  And believe me, this was as radical, and as hard to hear back then, as it is radical and hard to hear today.

         We’re afraid of being last.  We don’t want to servants to anybody.  Jesus is upsetting the order of the world that we have learned ever since we were little kids.  When I was in grade school, we were having pizza at school one day, and the moms from the PTA, the forerunner of the PTO, came into our classrooms with pizza for everyone.  My classmates were running up and pushing each other out of line, to be first to get the pizza.  I told my friend Danny, that we should just wait, and go last, because Jesus said the last will be first.  Actually, I was thinking that they would give us more at the end of the line, than they did to those at the front.  Guess what?  They ran out of pizza.  Everybody got pizza except Danny and I.  Some mom ran out and made us peanut butter-and-jelly sandwiches.  As we were eating our delicious peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, Danny leaned over and said to me, “I am never going to be last again.”  And just as I was feeling guilty for getting my friend in this mess, the lady that was the head of the PTA came in and gave us both gift certificates for a whole pizza each at a local pizza shop.  Yes!  God always wins in the end!

        God has a better way.  He is taking care of us.  And if we follow His way of service, and humility, and sacrifice, God will show us incredible things.  The greatness of the world is all mixed up.  The greatness of God lasts forever and will never be equaled.  We’ve got to put our trust and our Faith in that!

May God bless us, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit …AMEN !!!

St. Maria Goretti…Pray for us !!!