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HERE are places in the Scripture where it is taught that the way to be great is to be small (Luke 22:26 is one of these places). The way to live is to die, the way to have is to give, the way to lead is to serve, the way to save is to lose, the way up is down, etc. From a simpler perspective though, there are many contrasts in the Scripture that lead us to think about the significance of one thing & the relative irrelevance of another; the goodness of one thing & the evilness of another.
In verses 2 & 4, it was the "great" people who wanted to kill Christ. The common folk did not – at least not initially. In verses 3, 21 & 22, we see that Satan & Judas were the opponents of Christ: evil against good. And, there are other comparisons & contrasts in this text, but the part that stands out most to me is verses 23-24. The twelve apostles were unsure concerning which one among them would stoop to betraying Christ. This issue then evidently led to an argument about who was the greatest of the twelve. Jesus rebuked them for even having this discussion (vs. 25-27). Basically, Jesus said that if HE was willing to serve, then the rest of us should be willing to serve as well. After all, it's our place in the heavenly millennial kingdom that matters, not our place in the current earthly kingdom of Babylon (vs. 29-30).
Now, Peter thought that he was great (vs. 33). Jesus edited Peter's opinion of himself. Jesus shared with Peter that he was standing in Satan's crosshairs (vs. 31). Jesus informed Peter that his greatness was yet future, & that some things would have to change before that greatness would be realized (vs. 32). Again, Christ went on to encourage Peter to pray for strength (vs. 40 & 46). We know, of course, that Jesus prayed for Peter (vs. 32). No surprise, when it came time to pray, the strength of Christ & the weakness of the apostles became very evident indeed.
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