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In his book The Origin of Names, Words, and Everything in Between, Patrick Foote explores what he calls “historic titles.”
Those would be descriptive names bestowed on certain individuals because of heroism – and on certain other individuals for, shall we say, less flattering reasons.
Consider Alexander the Great. The Macedonian general conquered most of the known world three centuries before Christ. In 15 years of military conquest, he never lost a single contest. His battlefield tactics are still studied in 21st century military academies.
Alexander is equally famous for resolving the riddle of the Gordian Knot. According to legend, whoever untangled that exasperating cord would rule all of Asia. Alexander, thinking outside the box, merely sliced through the knot with his sword.
The Russian czar Ivan the Terrible, grandson of Ivan the Great, really was terrible. Historians suspect he was afflicted by mental health frailties, which presumably account for the paranoia that led him to massacre an entire village of his own people.
Ivan commissioned the construction of St. Basil’s Cathedral in Moscow – arguably one of the most beautiful buildings in the world. It is said he then blinded the eyes of its architects so they would never be tempted to create anything of surpassing charm. “Terrible” seems well deserved.
Some children end up with tough names to live down on the school playground. Take William the Bastard, for instance, the out-of-wedlock son of Robert the Magnificent in 11th century France.
Edward the Confessor, king of England and William’s distant relative, promised that one day, despite his sketchy genealogy, he would inherit the English throne. Shortly before his death, however, Edward changed his mind. He bestowed the crown on another relative, Harold Godwinson.
That did not sit well with William, who gathered an army, crossed the English Channel, and decisively defeated Harold at the Battle of Hastings in 1066.
From that day forward, he answered to the far more upbeat name of William the Conqueror.
The approach of Halloween reminds us of Vlad the Impaler, the demented prince who may or may not have spent time in that region of Romania known as Transylvania. When a Turkish delegation to his court refused to remove their turbans as a gesture of respect (“We never remove our turbans”), Vlad, cynically concluding they might welcome some help keeping their hats in place, ordered they be nailed to their heads.
This was clearly not the kind of guy to whom you might send a Friend request on social media. Centuries later, the British author Bram Stoker, linking Vlad to his father Vlad Dracul (which means Vlad the Dragon), transformed him into the vampire Dracula.
Bloody Mary ruled for five years as queen of England and Ireland in the mid-1500s. A fiercely devoted Catholic, she attempted to restore Britain’s loyalty to Rome after her father, Henry VIII, had established the Protestant Church of England.
Her re-Catholicizing project failed, but not before Mary burned at the stake almost 300 Protestant sympathizers. That’s a dreadful legacy, although it pales in comparison to her father’s execution of an estimated 50,000 religious and political enemies. These days Mary is remembered most often by the blood red cocktail (usually accompanied by a stalk of celery) that bears her name.
Patrick Foote, finally, couldn’t resist making mention of Ivailo the Cabbage (also known as Ivailo the Radish), a humble Bulgarian who staged a peasant uprising in the 1200s. He ultimately served as Bulgaria’s czar for about a year.
Historians suggest that Ivailo’s one-of-a-kind name was a way of acknowledging his lifelong dependance on his peasant diet of cabbage and radishes.
There are two characters in the biblical narrative who answered to the nickname “Great” – neither of whom, most would agree, were deserving of that honor. Herod the Great, whose reign was coming to an end about the time Jesus was born, was one of the signature villains of ancient Judea. Simon Magus, described as “the Great Power of God,” was a sorcerer who deluded Samaritans with his magic (see Acts 8:9-24).
At least two other characters were eager to be associated with greatness.
James and John, one of the two pairs of brothers in Jesus’ entourage, asked for the privilege of being designated VIP Number One and VIP Number Two in his heavenly kingdom.
Their timing could not have been worse.
Jesus was just a few hours away from going to the cross, where he would die for such ludicrous pride. “He said, ‘You have no idea what you’re asking. Are you capable of drinking the cup I drink, of being baptized in the baptism I’m about to be plunged into?’ ‘Sure,’ they said. ‘Why not?’” (Mark 10:38-40).
Unsurprisingly, the other ten were shocked by such arrogance – although the Gospels strongly hint they cherished exactly the same ambition.
Their Master wasn’t having it.
“Jesus got them together to settle things down. ‘You’ve observed how godless rulers throw their weight around,’ he said, ‘and when people get a little power how quickly it goes to their heads. It’s not going to be that way with you. Whoever wants to be great must become a servant. Whoever wants to be first among you must be your slave. That is what the Son of Man has done: He came to serve, not to be served—and then to give away his life in exchange for many who are held hostage’ (10:43-45, The Message).
Would you love to be granted the title The Great?
Then be a servant. Not a conqueror, not a king, not a tech company CEO, nor an inductee into a sports Hall of Fame, nor a celebrity with whom everyone wants to snap a selfie.
Leonard Bernstein, famed conductor of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, was once asked what he thought was the most difficult instrument to play. He replied without hesitation, “The second fiddle. I can get plenty of first violinists, but to find someone who can play the second fiddle with enthusiasm – that’s a problem.”
Bernstein added, “And if we have no second fiddle, we have no harmony.”
What is the pathway to true greatness?
Make the needs of others a lifelong priority – for the simple reason that that’s what Jesus did.
That’s how to become Great for all the right reasons.