Please read Mark 9:33-37
They’re GREAT! Or are they?
I wish I could have listened in on the argument the disciples were having on the road to Capernaum. There they were, posturing, splitting hairs and citing examples with each other about who is the greatest. They were jockeying for position in the kingdom. Who gets to sit on his right and his left? The disciples were woefully unaware of how they were missing the mark and still not understanding the big picture or how they fit into it.
What happens next is an amusing scene. Jesus, as if he didn’t know, asks them, “oh, by the way, what was it you were arguing about on the road back there?” Busted! Everyone clams up and shoots a sideways glance at the guy next to him. Their silence said it all. They knew instantly that their argument had backfired. Jesus, in true Jesus fashion, calls them out. He lets them sweat for a mercifully short moment before his gentle answer to them…
I love how specific his answer was. It wasn’t…if anyone wants to be first, he should sort of be in the middle somewhere or maybe toward the back. It is “if anyone wants to be first he MUST be the VERY last. “ The VERY last. This is not a new position for God to choose. It really should have been no surprise to anyone. God chose David, the youngest son that Jesse didn’t even bother to call in from the pasture. God chose Gideon, the biggest chicken from a pip-squeak tribe. God chose Jonah, a surly, lackluster runaway. God chooses us.
“….and the servant of all.” He puts a qualifier at the end of his answer. We are not just to be the very last, but a servant to all. Yes, a servant in the traditional, floor scrubbing, water fetching sense of the word. Servant-hood implies humility and deliberate effort. Jesus later demonstrated this beautifully as he washed his disciples’ feet, an act that he again calls his disciples to follow his example. This foot washing humility and servant-hood was soon to be exemplified on the cross in the ultimate act of servant-hood.
Jesus is a servant leader. He demonstrates his expectations. He leads by example. He calls us to follow suit. Be the servant of all.
1 Peter 5:6 “Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.”
Jennie Kind
Posts
I may not have high-fallutin' ambitions these days beyond just keeping up with life as it comes, but my attitude about my role in it all sure could be better. Thanks for reminding me that washing dishes, ironing clothes, grocery shopping, homework-helping, and meal preparing, serving and clean-up are nothing short of God's highest calling: servanthood. Glamorous it ain't, but Jesus never advertised that following him would be.
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