Mark 10: 41-45 (The Message)
41-45 When the other ten heard of this conversation, they lost their tempers with James and John. Jesus got them together to settle things down. “You’ve observed how godless rulers throw their weight around,” he said, “and when people get a little power how quickly it goes to their heads. It’s not going to be that way with you. Whoever wants to be great must become a servant. Whoever wants to be first among you must be your slave. That is what the Son of Man has done: He came to serve, not to be served—and then to give away his life in exchange for many who are held hostage.”
The lesson the disciples needed to learn - and we do too - is that they (we) were chosen not for special rewards but for special tasks. We are to be servants, slaves, ambassadors, disciples, all things to all people, and the rewards are in God’s hands. Not to worry!
The primary reason for the Christian life is not so that I can get something after I die. The primary reason for the Christian life is so that I can give something to this life here and now.
God will take care of heaven for us! Our task is to be servants in the care of all God’s creation. To be servants in his “kingdom on earth”. Which Jesus reminds us is “within us”. Luke 17:21
What does this mean? Fr. Richard Rohr describes it this way: The phrase “kingdom of God” on Jesus’ lips, then, means almost the opposite of what an American like me might assume, living in the richest, most powerful nation on earth. To a citizen of Western civilization like me, kingdom language suggests order, stability, government, policy, domination, control, maybe even vengeance on rebels and threats of banishment for the uncooperative. But on Jesus’ lips, those words describe Caesar’s kingdom: God’s kingdom turns all of those associations upside down. Order becomes opportunity, stability melts into movement and change, status-quo government gives way to a revolution of community and neighborliness, policy bows to love, domination descends to service and sacrifice, control morphs into influence and inspiration, and vengeance and threats are transformed into forgiveness and blessing. Indeed, as the hymn Lead On, O King Eternal says…
“for not with swords loud clashing,
nor role of stirring drums,
but deeds of love and mercy
the heavenly kingdom comes.”
Prayer thought for the week: “Lord, help me to not just pray ‘Thy Kingdom come’ ,
but to help it come on earth, even a little like it is in heaven. ”
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