Over-Reaching Tyrants and Bold Requests

Suggested Reading: Mark 10:35-45

When I started reading Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time fantasy series, I didn’t realize what I was getting into at the time. Twelve books and 13,000 pages later I still had two books to go before I finished the series. In one particular adventure, a tyrant was brought down by her own ambition for power. She had come to the place where she believed that she was the law rather than one who upheld the law. Soon, she was abusing her power and violating centuries of law in order to have her own will carried out, people punished for speaking their minds, and retribution exacted when people disagreed with her. As far as being a leader goes, this woman was horrible. She had forgotten that her position existed to serve and to guide those under her rule, not to dictate and demand.

In Mark 10, James and John came to Jesus with an odd request. They boldly announced, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask” (Mark 10:35, NIV). Now, if I were Jesus, I would have rebuked them for coming to the master and saying, “Give us whatever we ask you for.” But Jesus simply asked them what they wanted and they answered that they wanted the two most prominent places in his kingdom.  Jesus turned them down, telling them those places weren’t his to give away, but the situation naturally caused a stir among the other disciples. After all, what made James and John think that they could rule over the rest of the disciples? Wasn’t Peter a bolder leader? Wasn’t Judas a better administrator? Why would these two think they could rule over the others?

So Jesus called them all together and told them that their concept of leadership, their concept of being important and prominent, must be different than the way the rest of the world viewed those things. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many (Mark 10:43-45, NIV).  Jesus wanted the disciples to get away from the idea that positions and titles and the power to command people were important and to begin realizing that the highest places of honor among his followers would belong to servants, to those who focused on helping people, on meeting needs, and on remaining humble.

Too often today, we still get those values mixed up in our churches. People want to be deacons and pastors and serve on church committees because they get to make decisions and have influence, not because they want to serve.  With astounding frequency, we focus on influence and power and forget that Jesus is not pleased with people who dictate or command, but with people who lead through acts of service and selflessness. We get caught up in the idea of “moving up” when we should be focused on stooping down to do whatever tasks need to be done for the sake of the Kingdom and for the good of the people around us. We get our feelings hurt when people don’t want us to make decisions but we aren’t willing to get our hands dirty and get down in the trenches. We get worked up over someone else being awarded a position of influence because we fail to value servants more than decision makers.

When we find ourselves in that position, Jesus says to us, “Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.” If Jesus allowed others to serve in whatever ways were necessary, even to the point of his death, can’t we let go of the idea of being important and latch onto a desire to serve? 

Getting Cheated On When You're Dead

Suggested Reading: John 13:1-12

To replace the superhero fan's Smallville addiction, the CW Network introduced a new series called Arrow. Arrow was the story of Oliver Queen, a billionaire playboy who gets stranded on an island for five years and returns to become the Green Arrow. During the five years when everyone thinks he is dead, Oliver's old girlfriend and his best friend become an item. Oliver finds out about their pairing in the course of his new superhero duties, but he refuses to let on. He continues to treat them just as he did before, and never holds their coupling while he was "dead" against them, even though he is still in love with his old girlfriend.

Jesus endured a similar, but much more difficult situation. In John 13, Jesus prepares to leave his disciples for the cross and gives them a demonstration of the attitude he wants them to have with one another. He strips down to his linens, and takes on the job of the lowliest servant, washing the disciples' feet. Naturally, Peter opposes allowing Jesus to act like a lowly servant but Jesus insists, making it a requirement of following him. Brash Peter immediately changes his tune, asking Jesus to wash not only his feet but his head and hands as well. Jesus replied, "A person who has bathed all over does not need to wash, except for the feet, to be entirely clean. And you disciples are clean, but not all of you." For Jesus knew who would betray him. This is what he meant when he said, "Not all of you are clean." After washing their feet, he put on his robe again and sat down (John 13:10-12, NLT).

I want you to think about that for a minute. Jesus is on the verge of being betrayed and handed over to be tortured and murdered. Jesus knows who is going to betray him and cause him this pain, but he never lets on. A few verses later, Jesus tells one of the disciples that Judas will betray him, but Jesus says it in such even tones that none of the other disciples understand Jesus' pronouncement, thinking Jesus has simply sent Judas out on a task. Jesus knew exactly who Judas was and how Judas was going to betray him, but he never treated him any differently. Jesus washed Judas's feet just like everybody else and then served him a meal just like everybody else, even knowing the pain Judas was going to cause him.

While we want to be like Jesus, it is a whole lot easier to hold a grudge against the people who hurt us. Our natural reaction is to pull away from those people or to treat them like the scumbags we think they are. Sometimes, we even try to be nice to those people because we know we are supposed to, but we find it difficult and our kindness may come across as forced. Jesus sets a higher standard for us. Jesus treated Judas so well that even when Jesus told John that Judas would betray him, that idea simply didn't compute.

Who has hurt or mistreated you? Maybe a family member has gone behind your back. Maybe a friend has betrayed your trust. Maybe you were hurt by someone who is so focused on themselves they still haven't realized how badly they hurt you. You may or may not need to talk to the person who hurt you about the pain they've caused. But as a follower of Christ, you must treat them as well as Jesus treated Judas. How you treat your betrayer says much more about you than it says about them.

Hiring Out Your Quiet Time

Suggested Reading: Ezekiel 44:6-14

My wife and I share a dream, a dream that one day we will be able to walk in the door and our entire house will be clean, a dream that it will happen every day, a dream that we won't actually have to be the ones to clean the house, a dream that we will be able to afford a maid. We don't mind cleaning the house, but we could do without having to wash the dishes every night and it would be nice to have someone wash, fold, and iron the laundry for us. If only we had the money to pay someone to do it for us.

While many of us probably share that dream when it comes to housework, there are other areas of life where paying someone to do the job for you simply doesn't work. One of those areas is in our relationship with God. In Ezekiel 44:8, God was listing a number of complaints about Israel's faithfulness and he specified this one: "You have not kept charge of My holy things but have appointed others to keep charge of My sanctuary for you" (HCSB). The people had decided that it was too much of a hassle to do the things God had asked them to do, so they hired out people to do what they must have considered the mundane tasks. Somehow, they missed the point that doing the tasks of worship was just as important as the tasks being done.

Just as no one can exercise for you or shower on your behalf, no one can live a life of worship for you. Yet churches act like they can all the time by hiring staff to do the work of the ministry for them. They bring in a pastor who can reach the lost for them or visit their neighbors for them. But the task of a pastor is to "set an example" (1 Timothy 4:12) to be followed by the church, to equip believers to do these things for themselves.  Far too often, we want to hire someone to do the ministry that God has strategically placed us to do. No one else has the relationship with your co-workers that you have; no one else lives closer to your next-door neighbor than you. No one else encounters the exact same people that you do every day. God has given you your life story and then strategicaly placed you to encounter people with whom that story will connect. God has allowed you to see that family's need because you can do something about it.

We might be able to hire out our house-cleaning, but it is impossible to hire someone to live the life of service and ministry into which God has created and placed you. No one else can do it for you.