Whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant. Whoever desires to be first among you shall be your bondservant, even as the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.
Jesus says this immediately after His disciples have been jostling about position, and He does not tell them off for wanting to be great. He redirects the ambition rather than extinguishing it. Greatness is still on offer. It has simply been redefined.
Look at the ladder He describes. Servant, then bondservant, then the Son of Man. Each rung is lower than the last, and the highest place belongs to the One who went furthest down.
That is the pattern He asks His people to copy, and He gives His own life as the reason rather than merely the example. He did not serve in order to earn a position. He already held the highest one, and He laid it down.
So the question today is not whether you want your life to matter. It is whether you are willing to matter in the way He did.