Father, I am exhausted! But it was worth all the effort. I had the privilege of working with a young man who will benefit greatly from seeing You fleshed out before him. Help me to be a worthy ambassador for You. We worked hard and accomplished a lot. May we do so again. Please, bless our efforts.
Mark 10:35-45 (<<click to read the passage)
For whatever reason, my brain is regularly wired to spit out idioms. And today’s is “looking at the world through rose-colored glasses”. It is defined on thefreedictionary.com as meaning: with an unduly cheerful, optimistic, or favorable view of things. And if anybody was dealing with this issue if was James and John in today’s passage.
Because they had “turned a deaf ear” to Jesus’ prophetic proclamation they now blindly put on their “rose-colored glasses”. They ask for places of honor when Jesus comes to sit on His throne. And Jesus’ response is,
“You don’t know what you are asking! Are you able to drink from the bitter cup of suffering I am about to drink? Are you able to be baptized with the baptism of suffering I must be baptized with?”
And, I’m sorry, but do James and John – these Sons of Thunder – have a big DUH! stamped across their foreheads? Their response?
“Oh yes, we are able!”
They have heard nothing! They have absolutely no idea what they are asking! They are blinded by their positioning to get to the top of the heap – they are both aiming to be top dog.
And boy, once the other disciples heard of their request, there was not a happy camper amongst them!
Jesus made it very clear that they all would get their taste of His Kingdom on this side of eternity but most importantly he once again stressed that the mindset of their world (and it continues today!) was upside down in the world of Kingdom reality!
“Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must be the slave of everyone else. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Lord Jesus, it is hard to even imagine what our world would be like if we took that as a challenge! If we put half as much effort into serving our fellowman as we do trying to one-up each other, our world would never be the same. Lord, as I draw closer to You, may that mindset be in me. May my goal be to serve. Amen.
June 11th, 2019, Tues, 6:45 pm
