servant
Celebrating Our Risen Lord
By Linda Rex
May 4, 2025, 3rd Sunday in Easter—This past Sunday, at our Grace Communion congregation here in Big Sandy, TX, we gathered together to joyfully celebrate our resurrected Lord, and to take communion together. It was fitting that we also celebrated a confirmation and several baptisms on Resurrection Sunday. What a profound statement about how Jesus has brought us new life!
As I was reading the New Testament passage for the third Sunday in Easter, Revelation 5:11–14, I noticed the apostle John used a lot of dramatic language to describe the joyful celebration which goes on in the presence of our heavenly Father. The vast multitudes offered praise to him and to his Son, who as a willing sacrifice offered himself as a Lamb for our sakes. The magnitude of heavenly celebration was beyond John’s ability to easily convey. He pulled in words like “myriads” in the Greek because he didn’t have anything larger than that to show what in our language, we would call millions and billions. Overwhelmed with the number of angels giving praise, he then saw our entire universe respond with even more praise to the Father and the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ.
But how did Jesus, the Lamb of God, come to be worthy of such praise? Within the passage, we see that Jesus is worthy of all praise and honor and glory because, as the Son of God, he came and laid down his life for us. This speaks to our need to follow the Savior’s lead when it comes to the sevenfold collection of praiseworthy items mentioned by John: power, riches, wisdom, strength, honor, glory, and blessing. He uses the number seven to remind us it is complete and ultimate. And he shows that Jesus is worthy of all of these things. What makes this divine human so worthy?
Too often our focus in this life is on acquiring and having these very things. In and of themselves, these are not necessarily bad things. We like to have the power to make decisions and have them honored. We like to have wealth, because we believe it opens up opportunities for us. Wisdom is a good thing to have—it helps us make good decisions and have better lives. It feels good to be justly honored for the things we have done. And performers, when they take the stage, would love to have the glory that comes with the approval and admiration of their fans. And most people I know would love to receive some sort of blessing from those around them.
But the path to having these things in their ultimate completeness is the path the Son of God took: human life, death by crucifixion, followed by resurrection and ascension. Jesus was willing to go to the bottom of all our human experience, even into death itself, in order to bring humanity with him home to his Father in the Spirit. And Jesus said, if we are to be his disciples, we are to deny ourselves, pick up our own cross (whatever that may be), and to follow him, wherever he goes (Matt. 16:24; 10:38; Mark 8:34). And in the case of the first disciples of Christ, that was to the cross—not that they hung on the cross themselves, but that they participated with Jesus in his sacrificial offering on behalf of all humanity. And one day, for most of these disciples, that participation actually included their own sacrificial self-offering. It is said that Peter, at death, refused to die crucified like Christ—he asked his captors to crucify him upside down instead.
Speaking of Peter, we are drawn to the Gospel passage for this Sunday, John 21:1–19, where Peter takes six other disciples out to fish following the resurrection of Jesus Christ (notice John’s use of seven again). Did they feel at loose ends, not knowing what was going to happen next? I’m pretty sure that Peter’s last encounters with the Lord, including his rejection of Jesus, were playing through his mind as he cast one more net into the sea. I love Jesus’ sense of humor, for he once again asks them to cast their net on the other side of the boat when he hears they haven’t caught anything. And they actually did it! It is no wonder, that when their nets began to fill up to overflowing, that John says to Peter, “It is the Lord!” How could anyone forget their initial encounter with Jesus when he did this very thing for them!
Notice the quiet humility and grace with which the risen Lord meets with his disciples and reconciles with Peter. This Lord is worthy of all power, honor, glory, and blessing, and here he is, baking bread, frying fish, and feeding his disciples. Even in the supreme glory of his risen majesty, Jesus comes to humanity as a servant, a loving mentor, and a friend. In the heavenly glories, Jesus is celebrated as the slain Lamb of God, while we, here on earth, know him as the indwelling Christ by the Spirit—the One who is ever present and available, caring and concerned. May we freely participate in the praise and worship of Jesus, God in humanity, who is Lord of all, both now and on into eternity. And by the Spirit, may we faithfully participate fully in his humble service and grace toward others, and in his freely offered sacrifice on behalf of all, in his name. Amen and amen.
We celebrate you, Father, Jesus, Holy Spirit! How awesome and wonderful you are! You are worthy of all power, riches, wisdom, strength, honor, glory, and blessing. Heavenly Spirit, may we humbly and faithful truly reflect your triune glory and majesty, in your name, Jesus, now and forever. Amen.
“Then I looked again, and I heard the voices of thousands and millions of angels around the throne and of the living beings and the elders. And they sang in a mighty chorus: ‘Worthy is the Lamb who was slaughtered—to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing.” And then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea. They sang: ‘Blessing and honor and glory and power belong to the one sitting on the throne and to the Lamb forever and ever.’ And the four living beings said, ‘Amen!’ And the twenty-four elders fell down and worshiped the Lamb.” Revelation 5:11–14 NASB
See also John 21:1–19 NASB.
ON A PERSONAL NOTE:
Dear friends and spiritual family,
I have come to the place that I must step away from actively writing, recording, and posting a sermon blog, questions, and video each week, so that I can fully participate in our local Grace Communion Big Sandy ministry as Hope Avenue champion, and care for my family, my community, and my health. I also have writing, copyediting, and seminary responsibilities to fulfill. I simply cannot do all that is being asked of me.
Over the years, I have created an archive on the Our Life in the Trinity Studies page (https://ourlifeinthetrinitystudies.wordpress.com) where you can find questions, blogs, and video sermons for each week according to the Revised Common Lectionary three-year cycle. Weekly video sermons with playlists according to the lectionary year and season are on the YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/@ourlifeinthetrinity). I encourage you to check these out and make use of them in your studies and preaching.
Thank you for your support and encouragement and prayers over the years. I am very grateful for each and every one of you who has joined with me along the way. I wish you all God’s best. I am still available via the contact information on the site and on Facebook, should you need to reach out.
Blessings, Linda
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The Grace of Humility
By Linda Rex
April 13, 2025, (Palm Sunday or) Passion Sunday—One of the ways in which followers of Jesus Christ are intended to live counterculturally is through humble service. Years ago, it was common for people in the community to be actively involved in service clubs and in helping out when there were community events. Finding time to serve others and our community can be a real challenge, with the demands of work, family, and church responsibilities crying out for our full attention.
Within one of the gospel readings for this Palm or Passion Sunday, we see Jesus sitting at a last meal with his disciples before his arrest in the garden of Gethsemane. Jesus has been painfully listening to a debate between his disciples regarding who will be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. What was on Jesus’ mind, that he had tried to bring to their attention, was that there was a person at the table who was going to betray him. But they were focused on positions of power within the new kingdom. It did not occur to them at all, even with Jesus telling them, the exact price Jesus was going to have to pay for them to be a part of the kingdom of God.
Jesus reminded them that as their rabbi and teacher, he was present among them, not as an oppressive, arrogant ruler, but as a humble servant. The one who served them was the greatest, not the one who was served. This was hard for them to get their mind around. He promised the twelve disciples their place in his heavenly kingdom, but pointed out to Peter his vulnerability to Satan. Apart from Jesus’ intercession, Peter was headed for a great fall. Peter insisted on his faithfulness to Jesus, no matter what. But Jesus told him the truth—that in the moment of crisis, Peter would deny Jesus. Peter just could not see himself doing this (Luke 22:35–34). He did not have an accurate view of himself. He had not yet come to the place in his journey with Jesus that he realized his vulnerability to arrogance, pride, and self-sufficiency.
Peter had to come to a place of repentance—a turning around, a change in mind and heart. This came about as he came face to face with a humble, self-sacrificing Savior—the Lamb who went without complaint to the slaughter, on Peter’s behalf, and on behalf of the whole world. As he denied Jesus the third time, Peter caught Jesus’ eye, and the look on Jesus’ face at that moment wrecked Peter’s composure. He left the courtyard where he’d been hanging out while Jesus was being interrogated, and broke down in tears. Peter was never the same again. He had come to a true assessment of himself in the eyes of Jesus. And it hurt. But that’s what true humility is all about—seeing oneself in the eyes of Jesus, as both having missed the mark and as having been forgiven.
This is the point the apostle Paul was making in our New Testament passage, Philippians 2:5–11. As God in human flesh, Jesus had every right and every reason to live as one who was in charge, the one who others must serve and whose expectations must be met. But this is not how we see Jesus. So often, he allowed himself to be at the mercy of the humans he created and sustained by the word of his power. While on earth, he allowed himself to be insulted, rejected, and wounded by those who should have respected and venerated him. He constantly served people, creating for himself a reputation of hanging out with sinners such as tax collectors and prostitutes. He paid his taxes to the current government of his day, and he, though brutally honest about their sin, submitted himself to the human political leaders presently in power.
The humility of the Son of God involved a self-emptying, as he took on our human flesh, setting aside for a time that which made him distinctly divine, allowing it to remain hidden during his time here on earth. We find the Son of God present in human flesh in the person of Jesus Christ. He doesn’t come as a conquering warrior, but as a tiny infant in humble circumstances—a baby in a manger. We see this Son of God, as the child of Mary and stepchild of Joseph, submitting himself to his parents’ supervision and instruction. We see him sitting at the feet of the ancient Jewish leaders, allowing them to teach him, even though he knew the answers and astonished them with his responses to their questions. His entire time here on earth was spent in humble service to others. And his final act of self-offering was on behalf of all he had made.
Jesus’ assessment of himself was that he came as a humble servant, to serve others—and it was correct. He was truly human, the way every one of us was meant to be human. To have the grace of humility is to have, by his Spirit, Jesus living in and through us his own humility which was manifest in his life, death, resurrection, and ascension. May we turn our gaze towards Jesus, look into his eyes, and see ourselves with true and clear vision—both in how we miss the mark and how we are forgiven, accepted, and beloved. This is the grace of true humility.
Father, Son, and Spirit, when we look into the eyes of Jesus, we see how far short we fall from being truly human as you created us to be human. Thank you for giving us the grace of true humility, that we may serve one another in godly love. May we not only receive your forgiveness and acceptance, but also offer it to others in your name, Jesus, by your Spirit. Amen.
“Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus ‘every knee will bow,’ of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Philippians 2:5–11 NASB
“The way Jesus saw himself is the only valid way to see yourself! His being God’s equal in form and likeness was official; his Sonship did not steal the limelight from his Father! Neither did his humanity distract from the deity of God! His mission however, was not to prove his deity, but to embrace our humanity. Emptied of his reputation as God, he fully embraced our physical human form; born in our resemblance he identified himself as the servant of the human race. His love enslaved him to us! And so we have the drama of the cross in context: the man Jesus Christ who is fully God, becomes fully man to the extent of willingly dying humanity’s death at the hands of his own creation. He embraced the curse and shame of the lowest kind in dying a criminal’s death. From this place of utter humiliation, God exalted him to the highest rank. God graced Jesus with a Name that is far above as well as equally representative of every other name; The name of Jesus endorses his mission as fully accomplished! He is the Savior of the world! What his name unveils will persuade every creature of their redemption! Every knee in heaven and upon the earth and under the earth shall bow in spontaneous worship! Also every tongue will voice and resonate the same devotion to his unquestionable Lordship as the Redeemer of life! Jesus Christ has glorified God as the Father of creation! This is the ultimate conclusion of the Father’s intent!” Philippians 2:5–11 Mirror Bible
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The Wisdom of Christ’s Cross
By Linda Rex
March 3, 2024, 3rd Sunday in Preparation for Easter or Lent—Do you believe that people are able to change? I don’t mean just losing ten pounds or learning to drive a car. What I mean is, are people truly able to experience a significant life-changing transformation such as that of Ebenezer Scrooge in Charles Dicken’s story, A Christmas Carol?
One of the things I have heard over the years is people saying to me, “That’s just the way he is. He’ll always be like that.” Once a person is put in a particular box, some people refuse to consider the possibility that perhaps, this person may at some point in their life experience an epiphany or a revelation that so transforms their outlook and way of being, that they begin to form new values, new behaviors, and new goals and ambitions. The person begins to change significantly, much to the surprise of those around them. Sometimes people don’t like this change and begin to oppose it, resisting even good changes because the person is leaving behind their personal “normal,” and this makes those around the person feel uncomfortable.
The thing is, that Jesus came to us for this very reason. He came to facilitate our transformation and renewal, as those who were meant to be image-bearers of Christ who live in right relationship with God and others. In the New Testament reading for this Sunday, 1 Corinthians 1:18–25, the apostle Paul explains that apart from God’s self-revelation in Jesus Christ, no human being can ever come to know God and have a right relationship with him. Humans have for millennia attempted to seek God out, to understand and worship him, but they all failed to grasp the depths of God’s love and grace. Humans have often relied upon do-it-yourself methods of salvation, and have tended to worship the things of our own hands rather than loving the God who loves us so much, he did not want to be God without us, and so came to us to bring us home to himself.
The apostle Paul shows us that human philosophy and reason do not enable us to truly know God for who he really is. This is something God reveals himself in his own way, through Jesus in his life, death and resurrection. The wisdom and power of God is found in a crucified Christ, a Suffering Servant Messiah, a humble God in weak human flesh, through whom Jesus died and rose again, rather than in a powerful human sovereign over a temporary human kingdom. The wisdom and power of God is found in our crucified Christ—in death there is new life, because of Jesus! What we view as foolish, God views as wise. What we view as weak, God views as dynamic and powerful.
As the New Testament reading for this Sunday, John 2:13–22, shows, God’s great wisdom was that he would take on human flesh and in the process of doing so, drive out (as he drove out the animals and cleansed the temple) all of that which gets in the way of our face-to-face relationship with his Father in the Spirit. As human beings, we often clutter up our inner selves, as well as our outer lives, with a transactional mentality, a user and abuser method of relationship, and tend toward a self-absorbed and self-centered way of being. It is significant that in John’s gospel, Jesus forms a type of “scourge” as he empties out the temple, for before his crucifixion, he would experience an even more painful and dramatic scourging of his own flesh by the Roman soldiers. But his pre-crucifixion scourging, his death and resurrection were all apart of the process necessary to our salvation.
It is instructive that just as the Corinthians were focused on either receiving signs and miracles, or on the other hand, human wisdom and success, the ancient Jewish leaders in the temple wanted a sign from Jesus as proof that he had the authority to decide who could be in the temple and who couldn’t. Jesus didn’t give these leaders the satisfaction of a straight answer, but pointed them to his upcoming death and resurrection. He indicated that the place of worship, the center of our human encounters with God, would no longer be a building or a particular worship system, but would be centered in Jesus Christ.
Christ is now our place of worship, and he has forged within our human flesh through his life, death, and resurrection, the capacity for face-to-face union and communion with his Father in the Spirit. He has created, in our human flesh, a naos, or sanctuary, where we may through him, worship God in Spirit and in truth. As we trust in and participate in this spiritual reality, we experience renewal and transformation. As long as we are in this human flesh, we will still struggle and fall short of our true identity in Christ, but God’s love for us and his grace toward us is not altered by our failures and shortcomings. Rather, he reaches out compassionately, and continues to draw us to himself through Jesus and in his Spirit. And that is the good, good news!
Heavenly Father, thank you for drawing us to yourself, and for doing all that is needed through your Son and in the Spirit so we might live now and forever in right relationship with you and one another. Thank you, Jesus, for so powerfully driving out evil, sin, and death through your humility and sacrificial self-offering. Lord, grant us the grace to allow you to do whatever is necessary by your Spirit to cleanse us, fill us with your presence and your love, so we may be poured out in loving service and giving to others, just as you were for us. In your name, amen.
“For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, ‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the cleverness of the clever I will set aside.’ Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.” 1 Corinthians 1:18–25 NASB
“The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. And He found in the temple those who were selling oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. And He made a scourge of cords, and drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen; and He poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables; and to those who were selling the doves He said, ‘Take these things away; stop making My Father’s house a place of business.’ His disciples remembered that it was written, ‘zeal for Your house will consume me.’ The Jews then said to Him, ‘What sign do You show us as your authority for doing these things?’ Jesus answered them, ‘Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.’ The Jews then said, ‘It took forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?’ But He was speaking of the temple of His body. So when He was raised from the dead, His disciples remembered that He said this; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had spoken.” John 2:13–22 NASB
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The Hidden Glory
By Linda Rex
October 17, 2021, PROPER 24—One of the reasons I find the gospel stories so compelling is that they strike a chord within me. I resonate with the experience of the disciples in their foolish attempts to find significance in being the Messiah’s followers, even though their hearts were filled sincerity in the pursuit of the Christ as he made his way to the cross. Jesus often brought his disciples face to face with their pride, exclusivism, unforgiveness, and other very human traits which badly needed to be removed in his sacrificial offering of himself.
Jesus often does this for us today, bringing us face to face with those things that mar our true humanity. He longs for us to relinquish these aspects of our being that were transformed in his offering of himself in our place on our behalf. But instead of surrendering ourselves to his transformative work, we often try to hide those parts of ourselves we believe he doesn’t like. What we may not realize is that those places we hide, our weaknesses and failures to love, are often the very place where he wants to do his greatest work.
This week, as I was reading the gospel passage for this Sunday, Mark 10:35–45, I was amused to see how the moment Jesus began to tell his followers that he was going to die and rise again, they began wonder who was going to be put in charge. James and John, with the help of their mother, asked Jesus to put them in the right- and left-hand positions when he came in glory. Jesus, of course, asked James and John whether or not they could drink the cup he was going to drink and be baptized with the baptism he was facing. They agreed that they could.
However, Jesus was referring to his upcoming suffering and death on the cross. The disciples probably had no idea that this was what they were agreeing to, but simply thought Jesus was exaggerating his concerns about the upcoming messianic battle with the reigning authorities in Jerusalem. They were still focused on bringing about a new political, militaristic physical reign, while Jesus was centered on the epic spiritual battle he would soon have in his crucifixion against evil, sin, and death. The Lord had his mind on paying the price necessary to ransom the world from its spiritual captivity. The disciples had their mind on the details of a physical reign on earth.
It’s not surprising that the other disciples were indignant when they found out that these two were asking for the best positions—not because they thought James and John shouldn’t have made this request, but simply just because they didn’t get to ask Jesus for those positions first. In reality, the disciples’ motivations and attitudes and behaviors were the very reason Jesus needed to walk the path he was walking toward the cross. Every human being, apart from Christ’s redemption, is caught in slavery to their fallen will, unable to do what is right, loving, and holy. It is Jesus’ work that broke the chains that bind us, and he gives us the Spirit to awaken us to the new life he forged for us. He knew we needed redeemed and came for that very reason—to rescue us and set us free—freeing us to love, serve and obey God, and to love and serve one another.
One of the most beautiful passages in the Bible, in my opinion, is Isa. 52:13–53:12. Here, the prophet Isaiah describes in great detail the ministry of the Suffering Servant who would bear our griefs and carry our sorrows. He would take on himself our iniquity, and would be pierced for our transgressions. The ministry of this Anointed One is full of humility, suffering, and quiet endurance. What Jesus did as our Messiah fulfilled this prophetic word and accomplished what no other human could do—justifying humanity, interceding on their behalf, cleansing them of sin and reconciling them with God.
As we come to understand the servant heart of Jesus Christ, illustrated so well in Isaiah’s prophecy, we may begin to grasp what the disciples were not understanding—the Messiah came to serve, not to be served. As we reflect on the servant heart of Jesus, it may be wise to look at our own heart and ask—do I expect to be served or am I focused on serving? What is my motivation for what I do? If I am a leader, or desire to lead, what is my motivation for doing so? Does it reflect the servant heart of Jesus?
Because of what Jesus did in his sacrificial offering on the cross, each of the disciples came face to face with the reality that what they had hoped for and set their hearts on wasn’t going to happen. And they each had to deal with the reality that when they were put to the test, they let Jesus down. And, ultimately, Jesus hadn’t done what they had expected him to do. It was in this place of fear, distress and disappointment that the risen Lord met them. Here, in their loss of all their dreams and expectations, Jesus met them—risen from the grave, breathing his life into them by the Spirit.
Jesus Christ meets us right where we are—in our brokenness, our weakness, our sin, and our shame. He has taken all that on himself and in its place, he gives us his righteousness, his perfection, his renewal. This is the miracle of grace. Jesus stands right at this moment as our high priest, interceding on our behalf before the Father. He knows our weakness and our suffering because he has experienced it himself. He knows what temptation is like because he experienced it too, but without sinning. The cup of God’s judgment against sin was drunk completely by Jesus, as he offered himself in our place so that we might receive forgiveness and reconciliation and redemption—he is our salvation.
Maybe it doesn’t seem intuitive that servanthood would be a blessing and a privilege. But Jesus has made it so. He has humbled himself and served each one of us, bringing us up into his life with the Father in the Spirit. He gives us himself in the Spirit so that we can share his servant heart and begin to humbly serve one another. What we may prefer to hide, when given to Jesus, becomes in him a means by which his kingdom life may be experienced by those still living as though they are captives of evil, sin, and death. By faith in Jesus, we even now and will forever share in his glory, as we come out of hiding and begin to shine with the radiance of his goodness and love by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Loving Abba (Father), thank you for your faithful love and grace. Thank you, Jesus, for humbling yourself to serve each of us, giving yourself to us as a true self-offering, freeing us from evil, sin, and death so that we might, by your Spirit, be true reflections of your glory and goodness, now and forever. Amen.
“Surely our griefs He Himself bore, | And our sorrows He carried; | Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, | Smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was pierced through for our transgressions, | He was crushed for our iniquities; | The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, | And by His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray, | Each of us has turned to his own way; | But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all | To fall on Him.” Isaiah 53:4–6 (7–12) NASB
“For every high priest taken from among men is appointed on behalf of men in things pertaining to God, in order to offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins; he can deal gently with the ignorant and misguided, since he himself also is beset with weakness; and because of it he is obligated to offer sacrifices for sins, as for the people, so also for himself. And no one takes the honor to himself, but receives it when he is called by God, even as Aaron was. So also Christ did not glorify Himself so as to become a high priest, but He who said to Him, ‘You are my son, today I have begotten you’; just as He says also in another passage, ‘You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.’” Hebrews 5:1–6 (7–10) NASB
Leading as a Child
By Linda Rex
September 19, 2021, PROPER 20—There is a title I rarely hear anymore and it used to be commonly used for someone who worked in a public leadership role. Even the president of the United States, our congressmen, and local leaders were given this title in years past. It takes a very special leader to be willing to be called this and lead accordingly, even though it is an accurate description of what a person should be doing when fulfilling their responsibilities in the public sector.
Being called a servant or treated like a servant has such a negative connotation, many people would prefer not to be called a public servant. This is understandable. However, to be a true leader in the way in which Jesus walked before us, one must be willing to be servant of all. One must be willing to serve those they are leading and not lord it over them. Using power and authority to force one’s will on others is not the way of Jesus. His path is much different.
During his last days before his crucifixion, Jesus began to teach his disciples what would happen to him. He told his disciples that the Jewish leaders of that day would arrest him, torture and kill him, but in three days he would rise again. Since Peter had been rebuked for contradicting Jesus when he first introduced this topic, the disciples really didn’t want to ask any questions. But what they began to talk about among themselves shortly afterward was significant.
Jesus knew what they were talking about, but he asked, drawing out of them that introspection they needed so they could learn. They were concerned about who was going to be in charge in the kingdom—who would be the greatest. In their culture, this was very important, especially in the public sphere and in the synagogue. Their position in these areas, their prominence, was essential to their worth and value. What they forgot was that this was the very thing Jesus had over and over rebuked the Jewish leaders for, condemning their obsession with being noticed and fawned over by the crowds, and for throwing their weight around and harming people in the process.
Jesus told the disciples that the person who wanted to be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven needed to be the servant of all. To lead, in the way of the kingdom of God, is to serve. It is the way of humility, not the way of self-aggrandizement or pride or power. It is the path of being willing to be less than so that others might be more than. What Jesus needed them to see was that his path, and therefore theirs, was the path down the road of self-sacrifice, of laying down one’s life for the sake of others.
To make his point, Jesus took one of the most inconsequential members of their culture, a child, into his arms. A child, at that time, had no rights and really no value, and was totally dependent upon his or her parents for everything they needed. Jesus told them that their reception of a child in his name was the same as receiving him and his heavenly Father as well. The value Jesus placed on that child was his own value and his Abba’s value. Even an inconsequential child was a treasure. How much more each and every person they might meet?
In last week’s sermon we talked about God’s gift of wisdom in the gift of his Son and his Spirit. God’s wisdom at work in our hearts and minds brings about a new way of living and being—a new way of looking at our value and worth and how we interact with the people in our lives. In contrast with the way of the flesh which moves us toward selfish ambition and jealousy which results in “disorder and every evil thing,” the way of Christ by the Spirit, the divine wisdom, is “pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy” (James 3:16-17 NASB).
The apostle James points out that the person who makes peace plants the seed of righteousness. The right relationship we have with God and one another, our righteousness, is a result of the planting of God’s heart and mind in human hearts through Jesus’ life, death, resurrection, and in the sending of his Spirit. By faith, each and every person can participate now in right relationship with God and one another—there is a peace with God and others that only comes by the presence and power of the Holy Spirit at work in human hearts and minds. Our issues today with some leaders not being public servants are as a result of them not being willing to trust Jesus—to walk in his way, the way of death and resurrection.
What God calls leaders to is a willingness to lay down their life, their preferences, their benefits, for the sake of those they are leading. It is a real struggle to lead in this society by serving. How much easier it is to take advantage of all the benefits and perks of a leadership position than it is to refuse them, to humble oneself to suffer alongside others who are suffering, to serve next to those who society deems are less than and worthless. We have conflict and quarrels, sad divisions between us, James says, because our desire for pleasure or our envy of others and our longing for what they have outweighs our loving concern for them (James 4:1-3). This is why we need Jesus—we need the Spirit to change our hearts and minds, to bring about a new way of thinking and acting within ourselves as well as within those we lead.
Leadership as a position of service also involves those who follow—they must be willing to be led, and they cannot be led by someone they don’t love or trust. Being a leader carries with it a heavy responsibility. The best leaders are those who lead from a position of humble service, especially in the position of submission to the God who allowed them to have that position of leadership in the first place. Leaders who have forgotten they are public servants need to remember to wash their hands in the blood of Jesus Christ, to surrender to the reality that the only true Lord is the one who was willing to lay it all down for the sake of each of us (James 4:7-8). He calls us to be as little children—the adopted children of God we are, in and through him and by his Holy Spirit—and to trust and depend upon the Father in every circumstance, most especially in the area of leadership and public service.
May we pray for our leaders daily, whether within the church or in the public square, that God’s Spirit would fill them with divine wisdom and a heart of service. Pray that they would serve in humility, setting aside personal interest and privilege, and laying down their lives as Jesus did for the sake of those they lead. Pray also that they might have the strength and grace to be true peacemakers in a world that inevitably is led by the evil one into division and disunity.
Heavenly Father, we need you to pour your heavenly Spirit through Jesus into the hearts and minds of our leaders in every sphere of our lives. We need leaders who are submissive to your will and who are willing to serve and to lay down their lives on behalf of those they lead. Thank you, that we can all share in your servant leadership through Jesus and by your Spirit. Amen.
“From there they went out and began to go through Galilee, and He did not want anyone to know about it. For He was teaching His disciples and telling them, ‘The Son of Man is to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill Him; and when He has been killed, He will rise three days later.’ But they did not understand this statement, and they were afraid to ask Him. They came to Capernaum; and when He was in the house, He began to question them, ‘What were you discussing on the way?’ But they kept silent, for on the way they had discussed with one another which of them was the greatest. Sitting down, He called the twelve and said to them, ‘If anyone wants to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all.’ Taking a child, He set him before them, and taking him in His arms, He said to them, ‘Whoever receives one child like this in My name receives Me; and whoever receives Me does not receive Me, but Him who sent Me.’” Mark 9:30–37 NASB
Our Life in the Trinity 