If you were asked to suggest the greatest Christian people alive today, who would you put into your 'top five'?
And if you were given the enormously difficult task of singling out one of them above all the others, what name would you come up with? Billy Graham? Pope Francis? Desmond Tutu? Joyce Meyer?
I won't keep you in suspense – I will tell you who I think the greatest Christian alive today is a little later on in this article!
But when we come to think about what Jesus considers to be greatness we are in for a shock, as so often. Because Jesus subverts and upends our human notions of the idea. The Kingdom of God, it turns out, has rather different values from how most of us instinctively tend to think.
As we continue our fortnightly pilgrimage through Mark's gospel, we find Jesus sitting in the temple at Jerusalem. And he's indulging in a spot of people-watching: 'He sat down opposite the treasury and watched the crowd putting money into the treasury,' (Mark 12v41). Maybe if it was today he would be sipping a cappuccino; perhaps in his context, he had a cup of water in his hand.
And many rich people came, Mark tells us, tossing in large sums of money to the offering boxes. According to Jewish writings of the time, there was a colonnade running around the sides of that section of the temple, and within it, against the wall, were thirteen chests for various different contributions.
These receptacles were narrow at the top and wide at the bottom – like a trumpet turned upside down – and so presumably the clink of cash could be clearly heard. As the wealthy made their donations, the chests would echo like a modern day cash machine giving change, or a fruit machine discharging its winnings.
And then, a quieter sound. Chink. Pause. Chink. Silence. A poor widow came, Mark says, 'and put in two small copper coins, which are worth a penny,' (v42). Jesus then called over his disciples and said to them: 'Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury. For all of them have contributed out of their abundance; but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.'
As Jeremy McQuoid points out: 'Mark contrasts the humble, discreet widow with the ostentation of the teachers of the law who like to walk around in flowing robes and have the most important seats in the synagogues (v38,39). Jesus hates religious showmanship, but delights in those who live for an audience of One, and give without their left hand knowing what their right hand is doing.' Tom Wright, former Bishop of Durham, sums it up succinctly: 'Her sacrifice, though small, was total.'
I am blessed to serve three countryside churches in places most people have never heard of, with congregations whose names are mostly not widely known in any sphere. But among them are some truly great Christians, at least according to the criteria of Jesus – people who pour themselves out in total love, service and sacrifice for the sake of Christ and his Kingdom.
Many of them are not even office-holders in the churches, and if I were to mention their names (which I won't) they would be astonished. My wife and I occasionally comment that some of the faithful here are going to be mighty surprised when in heaven they are invited to take the best seats in the house, metaphorically speaking. It will never even have occurred to them that Jesus regarded them as great for their total service to him.
And so to that question: 'Who is the greatest Christian alive today?' Well, Edith Schaeffer (1914-2013), co-founder of the L'Abri retreat houses across the world, was once given that very tricky conundrum to answer in an interview. I admire the simplicity and wisdom of her answer, which Paul Miller quotes in his book A Praying Life. This is what she said: 'We don't know her name. She is dying of cancer somewhere in a hospital in India.'
And what of us? As Donald English, the distinguished Methodist comments, writing on these verses: 'The issue, with Jesus at the centre, is still about giving all; total trust, utter commitment.' So how great in Jesus' eyes are you?
David Baker is a former daily newspaper journalist now working as an Anglican minister in Sussex, England. The Rough Guide to Discipleship is a fortnightly series. Find him on Twitter @Baker_David_A
