Being a Servant

Matthew 20:24-28 – “When the ten heard about this, they were indignant with the two brothers.  Jesus called them together and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them.  Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant,  and whoever wants to be first must be your slave--  just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."

An old timer told me a story which ended like this, “we like the idea of being a servant until someone actually treats us as one.”  Wow! That is a lot of truth in a few words.  We pontificate and speculate about what Christ has said.  Some of the things Jesus says are much harder to put into practice than to just talk about doing.  When we serve other people, we sometimes are exposed for our true selves; a side of us we don’t want others to see.

In living life, engaging in the lives of other people, ministering to other people can be messy.  This serving can rankle us or flare to life a smoldering resentment or anger, i.e., like actually being treated as a servant.  It is much easier to talk about being a servant.  It is harder and personally more challenging to keep our head when we have to clean up our couch after a drunk vomits on it.

Jesus, in Revelations (Rev. 3:15-17) spits out people.  Who does He spit out?  The lukewarm ones of us;  the ones who talk about being a servant but smolder underneath when they have to serve…or when they are treated as a servant.

Forgive me Lord.  Amen