October
22, 2000
Mark 10:35-45 (CEV)
James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came up to Jesus and asked,
"Teacher, will you do us a favor?"
Jesus asked them what they wanted, and they answered, "When
you come into your glory, please let one of us sit at your right
side and the other at your left."
Jesus told them, "You don't really know what you're asking!
Are you able to drink from the cup that I must soon drink from
or be baptized as I must be baptized?"
"Yes, we are!" James and John answered.
Then Jesus replied, "You certainly will drink from the cup
from which I must drink. And you will be baptized just as I must!
But it isn't for me to say who will sit at my right side and at
my left. That is for God to decide."
When the ten other disciples heard this, they were angry with
James and John. But Jesus called the disciples together and said:
"You know that those foreigners who call themselves kings
like to order their people around. And their great leaders have
full power over the people they rule. But don't act like them.
If you want to be great, you must be the servant of all the others.
And if you want to be first, you must be everyone's slave. The
Son of Man did not come to be a slave master, but a slave who
will give his life to rescue many people.
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1.
We heard last week about the man who came to Jesus to ask about
getting eternal life and Jesus said, "Sell!" This week
we hear the insiders basically asking the same question in statement
form. What is the minimum daily requirement of some quality that
it take, we all ask, to get what we want forever and ever?
2.
What! it is not something which Jesus can give? We simply need
to live and die in relationship to the larger whole? GOD will
make a decision not based on any criteria which we can fix?
3.
The rich man and the disciples are both caught out of focus. Pray
you might have the focus to see beyond your benefit to the benefit
of all.