Luke 22:24-27 New International Version
24 A dispute also arose among them as to which of them was considered to be greatest. 25 Jesus said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who exercise authority over them call themselves Benefactors. 26 But you are not to be like that. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves. 27 For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is at the table? But I am among you as one who serves.
Six months before he won the World Heavyweight boxing champion title, Cassius Clay, soon to be known as Muhammad Ali, released an album of poetic verse (a generation before this type of thing would evolve to become rap and hip hop). The album, was entitled I am the Greatest. Ali co-wrote the lyrics with comedy writer Gary Belkin, it sold 500,000 copies and was nominated for a Grammy. In 1977, NBC aired a cartoon entitled, I Am the Greatest: The Adventures of Muhammad Ali that featured the boxer as a global adventurer with a tag-along niece and nephew; it was cancelled after 13 episodes. When you try to think of ego run amok, any number of politicians, athletes, actors, and billionaires may come to mind, the list of famous people with a reputation for self-absorption is sadly long and diverse, but few of them could compete with the persona that Muhammad Ali portrayed to the world during his boxing career.
Here's the thing, setting aside a few mega-church pastors whose popularity and private jets might convince the unwary to think otherwise, the path to effective and God-honoring leadership in the Church of Jesus Christ has always been, and will always be, through humble service. Have there been those in positions of power within the Church, like Cardinal Richelieu (made famous by Dumas' portrayal of him in The Three Musketeers), for whom Church 'service' was a means-to-an-end, a path to self-aggrandizement? Of course there have been, we'd be shocked if a Church made up of people, some redeemed but still flawed, and others only pretending to be true believers, didn't have within its ranks any number of scoundrels. But, and this is key, every such person seeking their own benefit and not the will of God, everyone covered in pride, has been working AGAINST what Jesus created his Church to be.
Which brings us once again to 'Christian' Nationalism. This movement is predicated on the belief that there is only one solution, only one possible path, to cure whatever malady 'Christian' Nationalism decides to wage war upon (sometimes literally), and that one path, or worse yet one and only one leader, just happens to be themselves. Power must be gained, it must be acquired, even through unethical or illegal means, because they alone can bring about the Golden Age that God must bless them with if/when power is fully in their hands to order society to their liking. This egotism run amok neither respects the ways in which power has corrupted the Church in the past, nor does it consider in humility that God is at work all over the world, in every generation, and not just this generation in this land.
The greatest? 'Christian' Nationalism may be willing to hoist someone onto everyone else's shoulders confident that he/she must be a savior, but this cannot be an extension of the Church, or even a partnership of convenience, for it ignores one of the fundamental defining characteristics of the Church: humility and service.
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