It seems that human beings have an inner inclination to compare themselves to others.
The apostles were not exempt from this – more than one gospel scene demonstrate it.
We are not exempt either from this laughable questioning:
‘Who is the greatest?’
Daily life reveals how people struggle and fight one another to come before, to surpass, to dominate, their fellow human beings.
Jesus is quick to correct those who want to follow him (Matthew 20:24-28).
“Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant,
and whoever wants to be first must be your slave.”
To be a servant, worse still, to make oneself the slave of someone, does not appear as a promising ideal.
But the gospel text adds:
“Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve.”
This is what he, himself, has chosen, and what he invites us to.
An invitation… to a choice… to an imitation… to a service…
Stopping useless comparisons, unhealthy competitions.
To do one’s best to be simply the best that one can become – that is enough.
Source: Image: https://www.scripture-images.com/bible-verse/gw/matthew-20-27-gw.php