Monday 6th April Message

Monday 6th April Message
by
April 06, 2020
in Minister's Daily Message
No Comments
1119

Dear Reader

Everyone likes a good seat. I’m thinking of the theatre, cinema or anywhere that gives a good view in comfort, to hear and watch the show.
It’s really annoying, though, when you’re about to park yourself in an empty seat and before doing so ask the daftest question,’Excuse me but is there anyone sitting here?’. Then comes an even dafter answer, ‘Yes! there is actually, but they’ve just nipped out to the toilet’. The seat is obviously empty or mysteriously occupied by an invisible individual who is still there but has at the same time gone to the toilet.
It is of course, just a polite ritual we all go through from time to time.
We can book our seats on planes, trains and ………..you know the other one and sometimes we have to pay for the privilege. If we can get away with it, however, the old ‘handbag trick’ will do just fine. Just leave a handbag on an empty seat and it might as well be raw plutonium because no one will touch it. Your reserved seat is safe.
Keeping our place, being given our place and invading our space are all terms we are familiar with and they have real meaning in our daily lives.
The disciples of Jesus were a rather motley crew who sometimes argued and squabbled and said and did things they were ashamed of and regretted. Just like you and me.
Over the centuries we’ve dehumanised them by sticking halos around their heads, stuck them in stained glass windows and displaced them, it’s as if they were not real people. They were.
James and John (brothers) wanted a favour from Jesus to get ahead of the rest. They wanted to book their seats too. In the big ‘show’ to come. Jesus in reply to their request teaches them a lesson in humility and also tells them that even he (Jesus) could not grant their wish.
Jesus, elsewhere in the bible was said to be ‘in the form of God but did not count equality with God, a thing to be grasped’.
Is there greatness and power in humility?
Today I ask you to think/meditate on these things.

God bless you!

MARK 10: 35-45

Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him. “Teacher,” they said, “we want you to do for us whatever we ask.”

 “What do you want me to do for you?” he asked.

They replied, “Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory.”

“You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said. “Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?”

“We can,” they answered.

Jesus said to them, “You will drink the cup I drink and be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with, but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared.”

When the ten heard about this, they became indignant with James and John. Jesus called them together and said, “You know that those who are regarded as 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 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.”

share

Recommended Posts

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *