On the night when Jesus was betrayed and arrested, there was an odd dispute among His disciples about which of them “should be considered the greatest” (Luke 22:24). While their dear Friend was setting His eyes on the cross, His disciples could not take their eyes off themselves.

We are no strangers to these kinds of discussions. Our culture is obsessed with the greatest products, players, and performances. We are drawn to greatness even within the church. Much like us, the believers in ancient Corinth were breaking off into factions based on their favorite teachers and spiritual leaders: “For it has been reported to me about you, my brothers and sisters, by members of Chloe’s people, that there is rivalry among you. What I am saying is this: One of you says, ‘I belong to Paul,’ or ‘I belong to Apollos,’ or ‘I belong to Cephas,’ or ‘I belong to Christ’” (1 Corinthians 1:11–12).

These believers seemed “arrogant, favoring one person over another” (1 Corinthians 4:6). We are not all that different. The bickering and competition show up in the comment threads of even our favorite teachers and spiritual leaders. And if we’re honest, we make the same comparisons the disciples made at the Last Supper more often than we would like to admit. How do we grow beyond petty competition, sinful comparison, and arrogant favoritism?

Let’s turn to the greatest man who ever lived for a lesson on humility.

Who Is the Greatest Man Who Ever Lived?

Who is the greatest man to ever live? Methuselah certainly lived the longest, dying at the ripe old age of 969 (Genesis 5:27). Samson is likely the strongest man to ever live, for he tore a lion with his bare hands (Judges 14:6), carried a city gate uphill on his shoulders (Judges 16:3), and brought down a temple with three thousand people on its roof alone (Judges 16:27, 30). The Bible tells us that Solomon was the wisest man to ever live (1 Kings 4:29–31). Job was a man of unmatched integrity, for the Lord said of him: “No one else on earth is like him, a man of perfect integrity, who fears God and turns away from evil” (Job 1:8). And “Moses was a very humble man, more so than anyone on the face of the earth” (Numbers 12:3). Each is exceptional in their own right. But is any one of them the greatest?

Jesus gives us the answer: “I tell you, among those born of women no one is greater than John, but the least in the kingdom of God is greater than he” (Luke 7:28). Jesus says that no one is greater than John the Baptist but those who are the least in God’s kingdom. What makes John so great as for Jesus to elevate him in this way?

Why the Greatest Man Ever Didn’t Look Impressive

At the time of this declaration, John is asking whether Jesus really is the Messiah (Luke 7:18–20). The greatest man experienced a season of uncertainty. John, who leapt in his mother’s womb at the presence of the Messiah (Luke 1:41), seems here to have wrestled with his own doubts about Jesus. Granted, he is in prison at this point, unable to set his eyes on Jesus as he once could (Luke 3:18–20).

And yet, the fact that he is imprisoned makes Jesus’s declaration all the more astonishing. The greatest man to ever live was not a free man. He was acquainted with suffering, familiar with affliction. He knew what it was to have his freedom stripped away. But even in freedom, John was not impressive by human standards.

He wore “a camel-hair garment with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey” (Matthew 3:4). He was not much to look at, much less to dine with! John didn’t have the greatest wardrobe or the greatest diet. Nor did he die a very impressive death.

John is beheaded in prison because of Herod’s foolish oath to a young girl who danced for him (Matthew 14:6–11). The girl was the daughter of Herodias, who had previously been married to Herod’s brother. Herodias resented John for confronting the two of them in their adultery. John didn’t go out in glory like Samson, nor did he live to a ripe old age like Methuselah. He died on the whim of a reckless oath.

The Man Who Always Pointed to Jesus

What makes John the Baptist the greatest is not how he dressed, dined, or died. What makes him the greatest is how he lived in the shadow of the Light. John had no delusions of grandeur. He did not walk around with an inflated ego or live for the approval of others. John was simply not about himself. When others asked him who he was, he told them plainly: “I am not the Messiah” (John 1:20; 3:28).

John recognized that “He was not the light, but he came to testify about the light” (John 1:8). John did not draw crowds in order to preach about himself but to point others to Jesus. When Jesus walked into the crowd one day, John exclaimed, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). He confessed that Jesus, John’s younger relative, came before him: “After me comes a man who ranks ahead of me, because he existed before me” (John 1:30). Though John was about six months older (Luke 1:26), he recognized that Jesus is preeminent not only in rank but in existence.

Jesus is the One who will take away the sins of the world, and John has no problem directing even his own disciples away from himself so that they can follow Jesus (John 1:35–37). When his disciples left him to follow Jesus, he didn’t wonder if he was a bad teacher. He didn’t grumble that his influence was waning or that his following was shrinking. In fact, John rejoiced (John 3:29)! He was glad to decrease so that Jesus could increase: “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30). So long as John was making much of Jesus, he could say “this joy of mine is complete” (John 3:29).

John took his own advice. He didn’t simply point others to Jesus, saying, “Look, the Lamb of God!” (John 1:36). John actually looked to Jesus himself. He set his eyes on the Messiah. He may have gone before Jesus, preparing the way for the Lord (John 1:23), but he also came after Jesus, following Him as Lord. In these texts, we see that John did not use Jesus’s name to build a platform for himself but to preach good news to the people (Luke 3:18).

In his own estimation, John wasn’t even worthy to untie the strap of Jesus’s sandals (Luke 3:16). But Jesus calls this man great—even the greatest man born of women. Even when others tried to incite jealousy and comparison in John’s heart, he was able to overcome it because he recognized the greatness of Jesus (John 3:25–30).

What John Teaches Us About Keeping Our Eyes on Jesus

The lesson from John is this: When our eyes are on Jesus, petty competition, sinful comparison, and arrogance fall by the wayside in the light of His greatness. When we see Jesus for who He is and keep our eyes on Him, we are set free from endless comparisons. John recognized his calling and found contentment being the forerunner. His joy was full serving in the background, because he knew the One whom he served. John didn’t need a large following to be glad in the Lord.

Looking to Jesus is not only the way out of self-importance; it is the way to grow in godliness. Paul writes: “We all, with unveiled faces, are looking as in a mirror at the glory of the Lord and are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory” (2 Corinthians 3:18). We are sanctified as we look upon the glory of Jesus.

So here is the challenge: Take up and read one of the four Gospels. Pay close attention to Jesus. Who is He? What is He teaching? What is He doing? Then, share what you are seeing with someone else the way John did. Participate in his joy by pointing others to the Lord of glory. John may have been the greatest man born of women, but do not miss that last phrase: “the least in the kingdom of God is greater than he” (Luke 7:28). The key to living a truly great life is joining John in declaring, with or without words, that Jesus must increase and we must decrease.

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Author Bio

K. Jack Faught serves as the Associate Pastor at Parsons Baptist Church in Columbus, Ohio. He is pursuing a D. Min. in Applied Theology from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Jack lives in Columbus with his wife, Claire, and their three children. He enjoys reading theology, making his wife laugh, and spending time with the church.

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