Luke 22:24-30
On Serving Others
24 A dispute also arose among them as to which of them was considered to be greatest. 25 Jesus said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who exercise authority over them call themselves Benefactors. 26 But you are not to be like that. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves. 27 For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is at the table? But I am among you as one who serves. 28 You are those who have stood by me in my trials. 29 And I confer on you a kingdom, just as my Father conferred one on me, 30 so that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
Luke 13:28-30
The Last Will Be First
28 “There will be weeping there, and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves thrown out. 29 People will come from east and west and north and south, and will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God. 30 Indeed there are those who are last who will be first, and first who will be last.”
Mark 14:61-62
Son of the Blessed One
61 But Jesus remained silent and gave no answer.
Again the high priest asked him, “Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?”
62 “I am,” said Jesus. “And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.”
Luke 23:26-34
26 As the soldiers led him away, they seized Simon from Cyrene, who was on his way in from the country, and put the cross on him and made him carry it behind Jesus. 27 A large number of people followed him, including women who mourned and wailed for him. 28 Jesus turned and said to them,“Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep for yourselves and for your children. 29 For the time will come when you will say, ‘Blessed are the childless women, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’ 30 Then
“‘they will say to the mountains, “Fall on us!”
and to the hills, “Cover us!”’
31 For if people do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?”
32 Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with him to be executed. 33 When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left. 34 Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.
2 Corinthians 12:10
When I am Weak, Then I am Strong
10 That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
How often have you heard of a Servant like Jesus?...And this Servant was in Complete Control...
Jesus taught about Him being a Servant and that is good thing when we serve and help others...Although He was and is a Servant of God and served us when He was on earth, there was very much of a paradox as He teaches about being a Servant and teaching us about the greatest and us wanting to become great...Jesus never sought out to be the greatest among men, but He became the Greatest Man to ever live on earth...And though He teaches us not to seek to be the greatest at the table, He was the Greatest at the table...There is no difference in His eyes of a greater man or a lesser man...There is no difference to Him, if one man has three houses and one man is homeless...There is no difference to Him between the man who rules over a man who serves the ruler...He says that the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves....He loves each of us...And He loves the underdog and a champion for the poor and the homeless...
What makes Him being a Servant, a paradox is that throughout His ministry and after His death, and even now -He always seems to be in control...Even when He was on trial and in front of the High Priest, He seemed calmly in control of the situation, (especially) when He said He was, in fact, the Son of the Blessed One...When He came before Pilate -He seemed like the One who was in charge, and listening to others chanting for Him to be crucified...Right before His death He was forgiving us for what we were doing to Him...And as others were casting lots and dividing up His clothes, He said “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”...
I feel that the four gospels and the epistles -very much show us His Divinity and His complete faith in His Father...He knew God's will would and will be done...And maybe because His faith knew this, He was in Great Control and He shows us this in His times of trials, with such grace and humility...His faith very much carried Him through His death on the cross...And though, as I read about Jesus and all the paradoxes He presents to me -they really are not paradoxes to Him...The story and idea of who is to be considered the greatest, or how can I win at this and that, who has the most power, and who is in control is not in the way He thinks...This, however, is very much in the way of how we think...His is a story of about a Servant, who turns our ideas upside down, where we learn the last will be first -and when we are weak then can still be strong...