"If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all." (v.35)
What does it mean for us to be last in order to be first? Jesus says that we are to be a servant to all. This clarifies it a bit. Being servant to all has a degree of selflessness in the phrase. If we serve all, we are not master of anyone. In this passage it is likely that the disciples were arguing about who would have what place in the Kingdom Jesus was going to set up. It is fairly clear they did not understand the kind of Kingdom Jesus really ment because of their confusion over Jesus' comment about the Son of Man being betrayed, killed, and raised. The disciples thought there would be a physical kingdom established. So if that were to happen they wondered, what would their place be in such a Kingdom? And the very idea that they were curious about greatness meant they had a skued view of the kind of power that existed in the Kingdom of God.
But we are to serve all. We are to think of others. Jesus also qualifies His statement with an illustration of a child. If we welcome a child in Jesus' name, we end up not only welcoming Jesus, but God as well. But what does the kid have to do with serving? I don't think I know completely, but a child is one who is dependent, who is not generally able to exert force or power over someone else. The adult is the one who rules, teaches, takes care of the child. They should be the ones following, serving, but Jesus turns this around. If we serve even the powerless, we end up lifting the ones we serve up. Also, by serving all, especially the powerless, we are serving Jesus, in fact God. Only by letting go of our want to be first and serving others do we truly come to grips with what it means to truly be great.
This is all great and wonderful to say, but so hard to do in practice. Through the power of the Spirit and discipline we can learn to be servants of all.
Monday, September 21, 2009
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Proper 19 Mark 8:27-38
"If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father's glory with the holy angels." (v.38)
Have you ever been ashamed of someone in your life? Have you ever wanted to slink away when someone in relationship with you is obnoxious, blunt, or not politically correct? Perhaps a parent or sibling? A friend? A co-worker? Your kids? Someone youl fieel is going to make you look bad in front of another person or persons whom you want a favorable reaction?
What if the person you were ashamed of was Jesus?
I imagine it is not a stretch to say this has happened to you. Say in a conversation your honest answer to a question or comment would relate to God or church, but you remain silent. Say a friend expresses a difficult situation you know needs prayer but respond only with a "that's tough". It isn't that hard to imagine.
Peter expressed his shame in the gospel by rebuking Jesus regardingHis death. Jesus rebuked Peter right after Peter confirmed Jesus' lordship as being the Christ.
Are we ashamed in our daily walks? When we are at work? With friends? At the store? If Jesus or God comes into the conversation do we say "you are the Christ" or rebuke Jesus through silence or deny Him in that moment?
Have you ever been ashamed of someone in your life? Have you ever wanted to slink away when someone in relationship with you is obnoxious, blunt, or not politically correct? Perhaps a parent or sibling? A friend? A co-worker? Your kids? Someone youl fieel is going to make you look bad in front of another person or persons whom you want a favorable reaction?
What if the person you were ashamed of was Jesus?
I imagine it is not a stretch to say this has happened to you. Say in a conversation your honest answer to a question or comment would relate to God or church, but you remain silent. Say a friend expresses a difficult situation you know needs prayer but respond only with a "that's tough". It isn't that hard to imagine.
Peter expressed his shame in the gospel by rebuking Jesus regardingHis death. Jesus rebuked Peter right after Peter confirmed Jesus' lordship as being the Christ.
Are we ashamed in our daily walks? When we are at work? With friends? At the store? If Jesus or God comes into the conversation do we say "you are the Christ" or rebuke Jesus through silence or deny Him in that moment?
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Proper 18 Mark 7:31-37
"He makes even the deaf hear and the mute speak"
"He has done everything well."
Who can do better than God? For it is God who has made the crated order, who has created what is considered good, for what is good, who is the only one who can do well. And why does God, Jesus, do so well? Is it not that He is that powerful to do so? That He is God?
Do you ever consider how powerful God is?
There is this man who can not hear and can not speak. We do not know for how long. But Jesus only needs to touch the ears and mouth and pray "be opened" for something to happen. Scripture tells us that Jesus took a long sigh before praying. This was not a sigh before praying. This was not a sigh of "oh, man, another person who wants to be healed. It's never ending...". This sigh was a settling of HIs person to be in tune with God. Now Jesus is God, but was human as well and needed to tune His human side to what was happening in His God side. We could take a lesson from this when we pray, perhaps it would be good to take a sigh to clear our mind that we may focus and be in tune with God. Notice also that Jesus' prayer was short. Being in tune with God only requires the words needed to be prayed, "be opened".
This man was healed and was excited, he kept on telling people about it, dispite Jesus asking him not to. God is powerful and can and does heal our physical ailments. This is a revelation to us. What an awesome thing to realize expecially when it happens to you. It was prophesied that when the Lord comes the blind will see, the deaf would hear, the lame walk, the mute would speak. We could say this is a spiritual thing, but it is a physical thing. The Bible says so. Why should we believe God is not able to do so? This happens to be God after all. Would God not want good for those who are in His Kingdom? So God is powerful and He heals the physical and spiritual sicknesses we have. And not only does God heal but does it well.
"He has done everything well."
Who can do better than God? For it is God who has made the crated order, who has created what is considered good, for what is good, who is the only one who can do well. And why does God, Jesus, do so well? Is it not that He is that powerful to do so? That He is God?
Do you ever consider how powerful God is?
There is this man who can not hear and can not speak. We do not know for how long. But Jesus only needs to touch the ears and mouth and pray "be opened" for something to happen. Scripture tells us that Jesus took a long sigh before praying. This was not a sigh before praying. This was not a sigh of "oh, man, another person who wants to be healed. It's never ending...". This sigh was a settling of HIs person to be in tune with God. Now Jesus is God, but was human as well and needed to tune His human side to what was happening in His God side. We could take a lesson from this when we pray, perhaps it would be good to take a sigh to clear our mind that we may focus and be in tune with God. Notice also that Jesus' prayer was short. Being in tune with God only requires the words needed to be prayed, "be opened".
This man was healed and was excited, he kept on telling people about it, dispite Jesus asking him not to. God is powerful and can and does heal our physical ailments. This is a revelation to us. What an awesome thing to realize expecially when it happens to you. It was prophesied that when the Lord comes the blind will see, the deaf would hear, the lame walk, the mute would speak. We could say this is a spiritual thing, but it is a physical thing. The Bible says so. Why should we believe God is not able to do so? This happens to be God after all. Would God not want good for those who are in His Kingdom? So God is powerful and He heals the physical and spiritual sicknesses we have. And not only does God heal but does it well.
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