Originally posted: 07/08/2019
“For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many,” (10:45).
I saw myself in Mark 10; I’m trying so hard to consider only Him …that He would increase and I would decrease. But there I was, right in the middle of it all, in this intimate time with Jesus and His twelve;
…And again He took the twelve aside and began to tell them what was going to happen to Him; (10:32).
And Jesus confided in painstaking detail the sufferings He would soon face, all that must transpire before He would rise from the dead;
…saying, “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death and will hand Him over to the Gentiles. 34 They will mock Him and spit on Him, and scourge Him and kill Him, and three days later He will rise again,” (10:33-34).
But rather than being concerned with the torment and anguish awaiting their blessed Savior, James and John thought about …themselves;
James and John, the two sons of Zebedee, came up to Jesus, saying, “Teacher, we want You to do for us whatever we ask of You… 37 They said to Him, “Grant that we may sit, one on Your right and one on Your left, in Your glory,” (10:35, 37).
And there I was …no different from the self-absorbed brothers; “Jesus, do whatever I ask; do something miraculously marvelous …for me.” And my heart broke as I heard myself repeatedly uttering the same request. Did James and John even hear His piercing words? Were they paying attention at all? Do I?
But in my heartache, I saw Him. I saw Him increased in His humility, love and grace as He called His disciples …and me …to Himself.
Calling them to Himself, Jesus said to them… (10:42).
He called to touch lives, to open eyes and to teach the meaning of true greatness.
Consider Him Who Came to Serve
- He Came to Serve, not to force allegiance.
- Calling them to Himself, Jesus said to them, “You know that those who are recognized as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them; and their great men exercise authority over them. 43 But it is not this way among you…” (10:42-43).
- He Came to Serve as a servant and slave.
- “…but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant; 44 and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be slave of all,” (10:43-44).
- He Came to Serve and give His life.
- “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many,” (10:45).
How do we respond to Him Who Came to Serve?
Does Jesus have the right to be our Lord and exercise authority over us? Absolutely. But He will never force our allegiance. We have been given a choice to believe and follow Him, “If anyone wishes…”
And He summoned the crowd with His disciples, and said to them, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. 35 For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it,” (Mark 8:34-35).
Although it is our choice to follow, it is not an easy road. To deny self and pick up our cross, we must rely on His empowering work in us.
…for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure. (Philippians 2:13).
As we prayerfully meditate on the passage below, let us cooperate with His work and commit to follow Him Who Came to Serve as we trust Him to empower and enable us to follow His example.
Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; 4 do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. 5 Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. 8 Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross, (Philippians 2:3-8).
Jesus Who for all eternity existed as God, Came to Serve through emptying and humbling Himself to the very point of death …for us. By His death we are set free.
Let us pray as He increases in our lives, we would decrease and grow in our freedom in Christ to become more and more like Him Who Came to Serve.
For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another, (Galatians 5:13).