At this point I let out a big sigh! It seems like human nature has not changed much over the centuries. I read the rest of the text (20:20-28) but it was this unnamed mother’s request that became the focus of my musing this week.
Here is a question which I pondered for several hours — is competition a good thing?
Of course, in a capitalist society competition is a fundamental value which drives the markets. However, that is not where I want to linger today.
Most of my pondering was about competition between people, where someone wants to be better than someone else. This unnamed mother wanted her sons to have higher honour than the other ten disciples. The ensuing result was to sow discord and division within this small company of twelve (24).
People are encultured into this mindset from being young. I remember when my kids were very small, there was lots of conversation between parents about who sat up first, who walked first, who talked first, who learnt to read first. I have had so many children that I could watch it among new parents with a smile. It all seemed rather silly, yet with some parents it was so very important to have their child reach milestones early thus being perceived as the best.
Then I thought about the competitive nature of our whole education system. Here I content myself with just another big sigh!
Then there is the competitive nature of sports where winning has become more important than playing. A couple of weeks ago my family of football fans (English football that is!) watched a European football competition. All of us were saddened to see fans booing teams from opposing countries — competition leading to nationalism.
Ultimately, the final was won on penalties which, to me, always feels a cruel way to determine a match outcome. The three young lads who missed their penalties all happened to be Black and they became subject to horrendous racism. In that instance, competition leading to racism — so very sad.
Somehow, culture seems to be permeated with the same competitive spirit that today’s text highlights, wanting to be the best and most honoured regardless of others.
Can that mindset be broken? Honestly, I’m not sure it can as it has clearly persisted over the centuries. However, I do think the text hints towards an answer — it is quite simple — serve others (26).
Imagine a society where instead of competing to be better than one’s friend, one’s acquaintance, one’s colleague, one’s sibling, even one’s enemy everyone served the Other, helping and encouraging them to be the best they could be. Maybe that would be moving towards the heart of the gospel.
