Greetings, dear ones.
Wow! It’s no longer morning. In fact it’s already 1:30pm on this special day—Becki’s birthday. This makes 73 of them for her. Besides following our normal routine of me delivering morning tea to her in bed about 6am, I included a little hand-made card—then we followed up with breakfast at Cindy’s Café in Molalla.
Sure is a beautiful day. I hope to get out soon and do some grass cutting. It’s close to a jungle out there. If you stand real still, you can see it grow.
Blessings on the rest of your day. Ray.
Let’s firstly reaffirm this fact: JESUS WAS NOT A VICTIM! He knew what He was here for and what His mission would entail—arrest, abuse, mockery, torture, and death. Jesus defines the nature of that mission here in this reading—Mark 10:45—“For even the Son of Man did not come expecting to be served by everyone, but to serve everyone, and to give his life as the ransom price in exchange for the salvation of many” (TPT). That foreknowledge of His suffering is cited in Hebrews 12:2—along with a practical application: “We look away from the natural realm and we fasten our gaze onto Jesus who birthed faith within us and who leads us forward into faith’s perfection. His example is this: Because his heart was focused on the joy of knowing that you would be his, he endured the agony of the cross and conquered its humiliation, and now sits exalted at the right hand of the throne of God!” (The Passion Translation).
Who said that life within the context of a fallen world would be easy?!? Jesus sure didn’t! As we face the joys and difficulties of life in this world, let’s also face the fact that we face only two options in the process: (1) Either we’re going to live, or (2) we’re going to die! It’s also important to bear in mind that both options are temporary—and both are good if we are living to serve/please our Savior/Maker. For the believer, it plays out to be an unbeatable win-win arrangement (Philippians 1:21).
Jesus’ teaching in this passage also helps to reaffirm another important truth—SLAVERY STILL EXISTS! In fact, everyone, to a degree, is a slave to someone or something. In a negative sense, people may still be a slave to a slave owner/master, a slave to oneself, a slave to sin, or a slave to a religious ideology or political system. But in the positive sense, Jesus here instructs His disciples that, “The path to promotion and prominence comes by having the heart of a bond-slave who serves everyone” (v. 44). Now there’s a revolutionary concept for modern politicians—and my own grandchildren! Paul testifies in these terms: “Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible” (1 Corinthians 9:19, NIV). And at the introduction of Romans, Paul presents himself as “a servant (or, slave) of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God” (Romans 1:1, NIV). To be sure, those who are resistant to this positive version of slavery are demonstrating their slavery to the negative version.
What would we do without this Biblical Gospel?! “So now the case is closed. There remains no accusing voice of condemnation against those who are joined in life-union with Jesus (positive slavery), the Anointed One. For the ‘law’ of the Spirit of life flowing through the anointing of Jesus has liberated us from the ‘law’ of sin and death (negative slavery)” (Romans 8:1-2. The Passion Translation).