But
Jesus called them to him, and saith unto them,
Ye
know that they which are accounted to rule over the Gentiles
exercise
lordship over them;
and
their great ones exercise authority upon them.
But
so shall it not be among you:
but
whosoever will be great among you,
shall
be your minister:
And
whosoever of you will be the chiefest,
shall
be servant of all.
For
even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto,
but
to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.
In the Gospel reading for
today, two disciples attempted to manipulate Jesus into giving them positions
of honor and authority, by asking Jesus to give them special seats in the
Kingdom of God. The appeal sounds garish,
and in other Gospel writers’ accounts, James and John even enlisted their
mother to try for an emotional appeal.
Jesus instead took the moment to teach them what true leadership in the image
of God really was: that anyone who
desired to be chiefest among them would by necessity be servant of all, and the
greatest of them would be the one who served the most selflessly. Unlike the worldly or Gentile model of
leadership where the most brutal or cunning seized power in order to reward first
themselves (cf. Mel Brook’s immortal movie quote, “It’s good to be the king!”)
Jesus’ model was one of ultimate sacrifice.
He was leading His disciples to Jerusalem where He knew He would be
betrayed, humiliated, convicted in a kangaroo court on false charges supported by
slanderous and corrupt testimony, then scourged within an inch of His life, and
nailed to a Roman cross so that His agonizing death might showcase the Roman’s
brutality, the Sanhedrin’s treachery, and Jesus’ total abasement before God and
men. Jesus, who was about to fulfil in
eternal ways the maxim He previously taught His disciples, that there is no
greater love than to lay down one’s life for his friends, was teaching them now
that greatness before God is not the exercise of worldly power, but the
self-sacrificing works of true love.
It is easy, perhaps, to
see this teaching as unique to Jesus and somehow out of phase with prior Hebrew
revelation. However, walking through the
Books of Moses and the Prophets reveals that God has always been sacrificing
Himself for the good of His people, and for the Creation as a whole. God was not deficient before the Creation of
our material universe, nor before He breathed life into the spirits of angels
and men. Indeed, God has revealed
Himself to be the perfect Unity in Trinity—a plurality in singularity, where
love is perfectly exchanged between the Divine Persons of the Father, Son, and
Holy Spirit, all fully God, and yet undivided and indivisible as One True God,
now and forever and unto ages of ages without end. The fullness of God is not increased by the
Creation, but the Creation is blessed with both existence and fellowship in the
Holy Trinity by the self-sacrificial act of God creating them. God’s Providence and Grace are moved by His
love to share what He authentically and fully has in Himself, so that others
might also live and love in Him. When angels
fall from grace and become demons in their rebellion against life and love Incarnate,
and when men fall from grace by following the lead of horrific demons rather
than the glorious company of heaven, it is God who suffers in His love for
those who hate and reject Him. And it is
the selfless, sacrificial love of God for mankind that moves Him to send His
Only Begotten Son to Calvary, that we might be restored in the Blood of the
Lamb.
The selfless love of God
expressed in service to even those who reject Him, is a far cry from the models
of power and prestige found prevalent in both the ancient and modern worlds. Too often the mind of man wanders deep into
covetous contemplation of how all resources and time can best be spent satisfying
himself. Who among us has not first
thought that his life is his own; that he is the captain of his own ship, the
crafter of his own fate? Who has not
looked at their money and thought first of what they might procure for their
enjoyment, distraction, or pleasure? Who
has not guarded their time for their own comfort and enjoyment, only begrudgingly
giving their time to others when it could not be avoided, or when it might win
for them some advantage? Who has not labored
hard in their youth, dreaming only to enjoy a self-centered retirement awash in
the spoils of business and conquest; or wasted their youth in frivolity and
sloth, so that others might support them with their own labors? The inclination of fallen man to selfishness
came with the death of godly love in our souls during our fall away from our
Creator, and so our powers of mind and body are too often motivated by the
desire to rule over others with power and honors showered upon us, leaving
others to grovel or bow before us, so that we might serve first ourselves above
all things.
Jesus’ teaching is as
much directed to us today as it was to His Disciples two millennia ago: that leadership and greatness in the Kingdom
of God will always reflect the loving and selfless nature of God, rather than
the depravity of self-loving man. Yet
knowing we are lost in this morass of darkness unable to save ourselves from the
curse coursing through our very beings, Jesus illuminated our world by His
journey to the Cross, and the demonstration before all Creation that God’s triumph
over sin, death, hell, and the devil is His perfect and selfless love. Unworthy as we are, our eyes are given new
sight by the Gospel of that Cross, and our minds given new thoughts by the
example of His saving Grace. No longer
must we yield only to the world and it’s passing fascinations, but by the power
of Jesus in His Word and Spirit, we are lifted up into Him, our temporal lives resurrected
in His eternal life, and our broken image restored by reflecting His divine
nature. The Cross of Jesus Christ is not
only our Victory over every dark force that chases rebellious insanity into the
depths of hell, but it is our calling into life restored to full communion with
the God who both made and saves us.
Jesus’ Cross teaches us that we need not serve ourselves, because our
omnipotent God is already serving us; that we need not seek our own good, because
in His unconquerable love He has already sought and procured our ultimate
good. And what we learn of God toward us
by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, we are called to reflect outward to our
neighbors, that they might know their Savior, too.
May all passions for
earthly praise be silenced, and all pursuits of selfish gain be quieted: for Jesus Christ has come not to be served,
but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for us. Let the tyrant and the sycophant both leave
their tainted follies; the manipulator and the extorter be relieved of their
foul ambitions. For all the world has
been given to see the saving Truth which sets us free, and the Cross of Jesus
Christ which makes satisfaction for every fallen thought and perversity of
every broken person to ever walk upon this tortured globe. Today is the day our Saving Lord calls us to
know Him, to trust Him, to believe Him, and to follow Him into a new life born
from above by Water and Spirit, where divine love is expressed through us in
selfless sacrifice for all creatures, and where we find the font of our very
lives in the selfless, sacrificial love of Almighty God. Soli Deo Gloria! Amen.
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