Following the Master - 8

Matthew 20:20-28 (TNIV)

 20Then the mother of Zebedee's sons came to Jesus with her sons and, kneeling down, asked a favor of him.

 21"What is it you want?" he asked.

      She said, "Grant that one of these two sons of mine may sit at your right and the other at your left in your kingdom."

 22"You don't know what you are asking," Jesus said to them. "Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?"

      "We can," they answered.

 23Jesus said to them, "You will indeed drink from my cup, but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared by my Father."

 24When the ten heard about this, they were indignant with the two brothers. 25Jesus called them together and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. 26Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 27and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— 28just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for man."

"But not so among you . . ." - a completely different perspective - are you listening?  Do you know what this means . . . really means? . . . think about it!

AmbitionThe recruiting slogan for the Army is "be thebest you can be."  Other may urge us to make something of ourselves.  It's not that unusual for parents to want to push their kids to achieve, to make them proud, to give them the opportunity to feel that sense of satisfaction over what they have done, acquired or secured for themselves.  Ambition can be a powerful force in our lives - and it certainly was for the mother in the story that Matthew tells (see the passage to the right).  We love the idea of getting what we want!There is something to be said for wanting to know you have made a difference in the world, for knowing that our lives and contributions matter, and for seeing the impact that our energies and efforts can have.  What is much more of a problem is what happens when our picture of what that looks like, or the way we try to get there, becomes distorted or out of focus (or what Pastor Jon describes as "arrogant ignorance").  The picture we have in mind is too often and too easily one of a different kind of Kingdom that the one Jesus came to establish.   Jesus certainly does invite us to positions of influence in His Kingdom, but just what position, and what kinds of influence He is most invested in, may be quite different from competing images in our culture which shape us, or many of the images that come to our minds, or even many generally accepted ideas about how we go about things.

This week, Pastor Jon invites us to consider the story of James and John (and perhaps their mother) who sought to secure high places of influence in the Kingdom, but without fully understanding just exactly what that would actually mean.  If you would like to hear his sermon again, or perhaps for the first time, you can click here to access our sermon library .  (If you don't see it right away, check back, sometimes it takes a little while for it to post)