Jaw-dropping Jewels about Jesus
Rarely does Jesus, God the Son, do exactly what we expect of Him. It seems odd that He so frequently surprises us, given that He never changes. Hebrews 13:8 makes this absolute statement: “Jesus the same yesterday, and today, and forever.” Still, though He is blessedly consistent in His goodness, Jesus does unforeseen things. Even when He does what is expected, He does not always do it in the way that we anticipate. Let us join with Jesus on a jaw-dropping journey. (I will be using this opening paragraph for each of the brief messages in this series. The following material will change daily.)
To buttress His lucid teaching to His disciples, Jesus provides a masterful object lesson: “And He sat down, and called the twelve, and saith unto them, ‘If any man desire to be first, the same shall be last of all, and servant of all.’ And He took a child, and set him in the midst of them: and when He had taken him in His arms, He said unto them, ‘Whosoever shall receive one of such children in My name, receiveth Me: and whosoever shall receive Me, receiveth not Me, but Him that sent Me.’” (Mark 9:35-37). The adult disciples had been bickering like petulant children. Jesus then presents “a child” to them and tells them that they need to move from the worst of childhood – childishness – to the best – childlikeness, an openness and sensitivity to others. In fact, Jesus would have been speaking in Aramaic (the everyday language in Israel at that time), a language which used the same word for “child” and “servant.” His message could not be clearer: to be His follower is to be a servant. Mark 10:45, which we studied in detail earlier this year, demonstrates that Jesus has always practiced what He preached: “For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many.” Let us be countercultural in our me-first, instant-gratification society; follow Jesus; and rejoice in the truth that to be a Christian is to be a servant.