Who is the greatest in the Church of England?

 

A historic (or ahistoric) Milestone?

There are a number of reasons why the recent appointment of Sarah Mullally as the archbishop of the Church of England poses a real problem for anyone who takes the Bible seriously.

On the one hand you could say her appointment (or the appointment of anyone to that post) is an irrelevancy since there are no archbishops (or bishops for that matter) mentioned in the Bible. It's a man-made office with no authority whatsoever in the Church of Jesus Christ.

Bible believing Christians simply do not recognise any archbishop or bishop - whoever they may be.

But on the other hand the secular press was filled with praise for the first ever appointment of a female archbishop, hailing it as a joyous and historic milestone for women's rights.

A Deep - but Elementary Misunderstanding

If it was merely the press who were thus applauding, we'd understand: the world is in darkness. But sections of the "church" were saying exactly the same thing. At last a woman had reached the "top."

Hidden in plain sight, this view exposes a deep but elementary misunderstanding of greatness that has always been the gold-standard across the world, and evidently now the standard in the eyes of many so-called Christians.

Namely, that greatness is about power, authority, fame & position.

This is how the world goes round.

And it is exactly upside down.

Hear the words of Jesus in Matthew 20:

"whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave — just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

In the Kingdom of God you descend into greatness, not ascend. You become great by becoming the servant of all, not the ruler of all.

And says Jesus, that is how the Son of Man would become great. He came into this world not to rule over people but to serve them, even to the point of giving up his life. 

In the place of pallium (I had to look it up too), the garb of a servant

Instead of a bishop's palace, a manger bare

Instead of a Canterbury Crypt, a borrowed grave

Who is the Greatest?

The greatest saint in the Church of England today is some unknown man or woman living in some nameless parish, serving her brothers and sisters faithfully, quietly, unassumingly with the gifts God has given.

We can be sure, without and beyond the shadow of any doubt, that no archbishop, dressed in those frankly ridiculous robes, is the greatest in the Church of England denomination. 

The idea that Susan Mullally's appointment signifies women - or anyone - reaching the top is a tragic misunderstanding of everything the Bible teaches about greatness and it's a sign of much wider Biblical ignorance, not confined, we are convinced, to the doctrine of greatness. 

After all if you get this elementary truth wrong..... 

AI IMAGE: A drawing of the new archbishop of the church of England Sarah Mullaly