Mark 10:35-45
The disciples don't get it. This is the third time they have been confronted with what is going to happen to Jesus, with the fact that it isn't all a power ride to the top, but they don't get it. There are times when we don't get it either. Sometimes out of ignorance and sometimes out of arrogance. How long have you come to church? I know for me its been my whole life and there are days I don't do get it. I forget what it means to be the servant instead of the important one. This is not the way the cross leads though and we get to look at this once again.
Job doesn't get it today either. Sometimes figuring out God or Jesus' example of God on earth isn't simple. It is about not knowing sometimes. It is about struggling with the hard questions. Jesus talks about a kingdom so it is natural for the disciples to assume they are creating a kingdom in Jerusalem. Yet this is not what the story is about and we know this. It ends in suffering and death, in giving a life for all, and this is sacrifice. It is what the life of a Christian is about. Sacrificing for others, thinking of others, and dying to our selves: what we think is most important, what will make us important, and what we want.
Job has to do this as well. He wants to know why he suffers and the only answer he receives is this one: Did you create the world? Is it you who are in control? Then why do I have to answer you when God is the one who did all of this? It is a struggle, it is not in easy answers. We get this to a lesser degree in Jonah when he sits on the hill and wants to see God wipe out Nineveh. God asks Jonah the same kind of questions: Did you make the plant from which you received shade? Did you get to help it grow? Of course the answers are no. God is the one who gets to redeem Nineveh no matter how mad Jonah is that they aren't Jewish, that they were bad people, and they were different from the chosen people.
See we aren't to live as if we know God's mind. So often we live as if Jesus gave us the inside spot on God's wishes for everyone. We know it and others don't. We know what is best and others don't. We know who is good and bad and others don't. Yet we don't know a thing. We are learning everyday.
Paul says we die to self daily and pick up and put on Christ. Christ the servant, Christ the one who didn't think only of himself but of others. We see this continually, invited to important banquets and pays attention to the woman crying at his feet. Asked to heal the beggar on the way by being shouted out and he stops and calls the man to him. Each one is not a diversion from his purpose, instead it is the opportunity to see those who others want to push out because they are not important. This is true servanthood. Paying attention to those who are pushed to the side.
Sacrifice is a hard thing. It is centered in love though. It is centered on God who created all things. It is something we are asked to take up as a towel around us in order to bend down and wash the feet of others. This is what it means to be a follower of Christ. It is in giving in which we receive abundantly and in doing that we show others what is the good news of Christ: there is love for all, not just the one.
Comments
Post a Comment