Mark 10

Hey lovelies!

Hope you are enjoying this beautiful weather. Here is what stood out to me today:

39 They said to Him, “We are able.”

So Jesus said to them, “You will indeed drink the cup that I drink, and with the baptism I am baptized with you will be baptized;

41 And when the ten heard it, they began to be greatly displeased with James and John. 42 But Jesus called them to Himself and said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. 43 Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant. 44 And whoever of you desires to be first shall be slave of all. 45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”

So many of us are interested in the perks of being great. We want the best, the most expensive, the most appealing...all the things that signify status. In my reading of these verses, I imagine that James and John (though they loved Jesus) also wanted his celebrity. They didn't ask if they could go with him, they asked if they could sit on the throne with him. This is a sign that they wanted the same type of status that was associated with Jesus, but they didn't necessarily want the work. They wanted to "ride the coattails" and get the perks. I think that a lot times we do this. We think that by the virtue of knowing someone we are somehow entitled to the treatment that they get. We must understand that in order to get the perks, we must do the work. Unfortunately, the work is servitude. Honestly, it's a blessing to serve because it means that we have the ability to do so. It means that we have something that is an asset to someone else and in the sense of the kingdom that is a blessing because we are able to be the LENDER. We are blessed enough to be able to give even though we don't have all that we WANT. Jesus asks them if they are going to be able to drink from the cup and be baptized in the same way as him. They say that they are and I believe that we do the same thing. We say that we are ready to ride for Jesus, but when things don't go the way we want or they are more difficult than we feel comfortable with we want to compromise. We have to remember that before the glamour is the gore. People make sacrifices (just like Jesus did) in order to get to where they are. They suffered, they struggled, they fell, but we only see what happens once they've reached the top. It is imperative for us to remember that we must have the mind and heart of a servant to be the leader. Like Donovan said in one post before, God loves HUMILITY. In order to be a leader, you must understand what it's like to be a follower. You have to understand how people work and what better way to do that than to first serve others.