Who is the greatest?
THIS question brings to mind my favorite boxer of all time – Cassius Marcellus Clay (a.k.a. Muhammad Ali). In 1964 after his surprise win against the reigning heavyweight champion, Sonny Liston, he declared: “I am the greatest! I am the greatest!”
Before that fight, he guested at a radio program and was told by a reporter: “I saw Sonny Liston the other day.” Ali’s response was quick: “Ain’t he ugly? A world champ must be pretty like me.”After his victory, he shouted:“I am the boldest, the prettiest, the most superior, most scientific, most skillful fighter in the ring today.”
But such over statements were actually just for show, a part of his gamesmanship.A master at selfpromotion, he knew that in boxing, to be hated means big business. But despite his reputation as an arrogant showman with a giant ego, he was an altogether different person when not promoting his boxing fights. During one interview, he was asked how he would want to be remembered. He did not say: “I want to be remembered as the greatest!”
He told the interviewer: “I’d like for them to say I took a few cups of love, one tablespoon of patience, one teaspoon of generosity, one pint of kindness. I took one quart of laughter, one pinch of concern, and then, I mixed willingness with happiness. I added lots of faith and I stirred these up well. Then, I spread these over a span of a lifetime and I served these to each and every deserving person I met.”
I would like to think that that statement, self-effacing and mortifying, actually defines Muhammad Ali’s greatness. He became great not because he possessed large quantities of talents, charm, intelligence, and determination, but because like a well-prepared dish, his life had been a mixture of “a few cups, a tablespoon, one teaspoon, one pint, one quart, one pinch” of virtuous acts, none of which was grand, but combined with “lots of faith” enabled him to achieve epic results. In this Sunday’s gospel, the disciples are arguing among themselves who is the greatest. When he learns about it, Jesus doesn’t criticize them, or squelch their desire for greatness. He just points out a different way towards it. To bring home his point, Jesus puts before the disciples a child. A child is not expected to perform aweinspiring actions with monumental effects. Through that child, Jesus tells his disciples that greatness need not consist in breathtaking achievements but in small deeds done with great love. Indeed, if one wants to be great, he must bear in mind that small deeds done are better than great things planned. Even in boxing, Ali became famous not only through meticulous planning, but by withstanding the drudgery of going to the gym day after day, becoming the most hard-working trainee there. CompuBox, a boxing stats company, calculated that Ali was punched over the course of his career about 200,000 times. Above all, by just being himself or herself, the child mirrors the greatness that every human being, created in God’s image, possesses. Jesus Himself is great because He recognizes the greatness in all of us by emptying Himself of His glory and, becoming like us, goes all the way to die for us on the cross. We are worth that much to Him. Our final glory is meeting Him face to face. When asked what he would do when he retired from boxing, Muhammad Ali replied: “What’s the best thing I’m going
to do? Well, get ready to meet God.” This was precisely what he did when he quit boxing. In 2016, after a 32-year battle with Parkinson’s disease, Muhammad Ali passed away at the age of 74. Yes, a flawed man, but truly great nonetheless!
When asked what he would do when he retired from boxing, Muhammad Ali replied: What’s the best thing I’m going to do? Well, get ready to meet God. This was precisely what he did when he quit boxing.