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.)
In contrast to the tyrannical Roman authority in Mark 10:42-43a, Jesus provides His expectations and His example: “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 an ransom for many” (verses 43b-45). The term “minister” denotes menial service. “Servant” is an even stronger word, meaning “slave.” Given man’s sin nature, it is no surprise that the majority of people who lived in the Roman Empire fell under the sad category of slave. Jesus was not condoning slavery, of course, for He is the Lord of liberty: “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed” (John 8:36). Rather, He was again shocking His listeners with strong and memorable imagery, using the sinful institution of slavery – of a life of hard labor – to instruct Christians in the nature of our service. Our work though, is voluntary: we choose if we will follow Jesus. If we decide to receive His eternal salvation, it is reasonable for Him to expect us to follow His exemplary example of ministry, of servanthood. We discussed verse 45 a year ago in considerable detail. It is the heart of the Gospel message as is I Timothy 2:3-6a, “For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, Who gave Himself a ransom for all.” Like Jesus, then, may we “give.” We cannot “give” ourselves “a ransom for many,” “a ransom for all,” but we can live lives of giving rather than of demanding.