El pago de las horas extras que se generaron a partir del veinte de diciembre de dos mil dieciocho al veinte de diciembre de dos mil

Traveling from Galilee to Capernaum one day, Jesus apparently overheard an argument among his students. When they arrived, He asked them about it. They grew silent, rather than admit to arguing about who was the greatest. Maybe He sensed it, because He immediately called all twelve together to explain His concept of greatness:

Mark 9:33–35

33 They came to Capernaum. When he was in the house, he ask ed them, “What were you arguing about on the road?”

34 But they k ept quiet because on the way they had argued about who was the greatest.

35 Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, “If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all.”

Scripture also says the students Jesus had around Him at His last Passover meal began to argue after He predicted one of them would betray Him:

Luk e 22:24

Also a dispute arose among them as to which of them was considered to be greatest.

Once again, they were considering who was the greatest among them. “Who’s the leader?” It was a leadership struggle.

Jesus said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles Lord it over them [the people.]” (V. 25) He corrects them. He rebukes them. He does not rebuke their desires to be great. He rebukes the process they use.

Earlier, the disciples James and John had tried to achieve greatness by gaining advantage over others, by association, or inside information, or abuse of privilege, or violating

friendship.

Matthew 20:20–21

20 Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came to Jesus with her sons and, k neeling down, ask ed a favor of him.

21 “What is it you want?” he ask ed. She said, “Grant that one of these two sons of mine may sit at your right and the other at your left in your k ingdom.”

They were trying to do what everyone does to get ahead.

They were trying to become great at the expense of their friends, at the expense of the family they lived with for three years, at the expense of people who trusted them. They did not care about the other ten. The desire for greatness and position of leadership can cause people to sell their souls, violate their consciences, isolate their relationships, and abuse people’s trust. That is what God rejects, not our desire for greatness.

The Creator of humankind is not against our grasp for greatness. God is against the process that people use to achieve it. Jesus did not discourage the desire for greatness. In fact, He encouraged the desire for it and showed the disciples how to achieve it. When His own men wanted to be great, He showed them how to become great. Jesus takes greatness and purifies it. Everyone on earth desires to be great, all of us, and Jesus says that desire is not ungodly.

“Who is the greatest?” is an eternal argument. Everybody wants to be the greatest. You want greatness, even if you do not admit it. Deep in the heart, everyone has a secret agenda to

rise to the top. That is why we scheme. That is why we network and develop contacts, why we get an education and why we look for promotions. We want greatness. It is not just an ancient quest. It is still going on.

Moreover, we should be concerned when people do not want to be great. If your children or others in your environment do not desire greatness, something is wrong with them. They need attention. Someone has broken their spirit, discouraged them, or frustrated them. They have lost something. Anyone who swears they do not desire to be great is being dishonest.

The desire for greatness is sometimes defined or described as ambition, but this inherent desire is healthy for human development and feeds the human need for passion and pursuit. The desire for greatness is the source of purpose and inspires meaning. It gives the human spirit the motivation to aspire. The desire for greatness is where the incentive for progress, development and inventions is birthed. Greatness is good!

Here’s How to Become Great . . .

When I was young, I wanted to be great, but I had a problem. I had the church telling me I should not desire it. I had my white foreign teacher telling me I do not deserve to be great. Then I had parents who said, “Well, try your best to survive.” I had my environment and the poverty reinforcing the fact that greatness was out of reach. I had all of this around me, and here comes this guy Jesus telling me, “Anyone can be great.”

I was taught, “Don’t desire greatness, don’t try to be great.”

“Look, if you want to be great . . . ,” Jesus says. “Look, he

that will be great . . .” Christ says, “Look, I’m going to show you how to become great. I know it’s natural. Here’s the process. You become great by serving yourself to the world.”

Matthew 20:26–27

26 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great [emphasis added] among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever wants to be first must be your slave.

When Jesus spoke to His leadership trainees, a.k.a.

disciples, about this, He did not tell them that it was wrong to want to be great. He acknowledged that it is natural to want greatness, and He told them how to achieve it. He did not discourage the desire for greatness. That may shock you, because that is the opposite of your image of Jesus.

Everything we think about Him is the opposite of that, that He was a humble, nice fellow who wanted everyone to be a doormat—turn the other cheek and so on. Most of us were taught that this man Jesus said to be humble, be kind to everybody, and not desire to be great. We were taught to be subservient as the mark of humility and therefore of spiritual greatness.

Jesus said whosoever will be great. That means the guy under the bridge or the guy sleeping in the castle. He places greatness in the grasp of every human. This takes leadership out of the hand of the elite few, the privileged few, and into the hand of any human who learns the secret. He is saying that greatness is not only possible but also accessible; and it is accessible to every human—whoever.

Here He is, in essence, saying, “Hey, guys, you want to be great? I’ve got the secret.” If you want to become great in My

kingdom, you don’t own people. You don’t control people. You don’t manipulate people. You don’t oppress people. You don’t threaten people. You don’t use people in My system.

Leadership in My kingdom, My country, is serving yourself to the people.”

“Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave” (Matthew 20:26–27, emphasis added). He meant this: whoever wants to be the first one people look for when they want something done has to be the slave of his gift.

If you want to be great, the greatest will be the one who is the servant of all. He serves everyone what he has. What does he have? He has his gift. If you refine your gift, develop your gift and then serve your gift to the world, you become great.

You can read the great thinkers on management, business, and philosophy, from the philosopher Plato to the

organizational management expert Peter Drucker, and you will not find in any other book the idea expressed in this lesson.

Even in Christ’s additional sessions on leadership with His disciples, it is the same idea (Matthew 20:26, Matthew 23:11, Mark 10:43, Luk e 22:26).

We can isolate Jesus as a philosopher, not as the Son of God, to test how His leadership theories stack up against others and to observe how He modeled it in His own life. When we do, His idea outshines all the other theories. That idea is that leadership has nothing to do with ruling people. It has more to do with your gift—identifying it, maximizing it, and serving that gift to the world.