THE CALL TO SERVE

Given how little attention Jesus gave to it, the disciples seemed quite preoccupied with jockeying for positions in the coming Messianic kingdom they imagined.

Although such concerns were contradicted by much of what Jesus taught, their cultural assumptions were remarkably persistent.

As Jesus’ closest followers, they expected that they were the prime candidates for high positions and great responsibility. James and John had been particularly brazen in making their expectations clear, and the other disciples were upset with them.

So Jesus had to be strident in His attempt to shake them free from this mindset. In thinking this way, Jesus said, they were acting like their oppressors, the Gentile rulers over Israel (see Mark 10:42). This was the system of the world around them, particularly those who had no insight or understanding of the ways of God and His kingdom.

Ironically, those most striving for positions in the kingdom of God were those least fitted for them. His was not a kingdom of striving but a kingdom of serving.

Those who are most fit to lead are those who most want to serve.

And this began with Jesus Himself. He was the “suffering Servant” described by Isaiah and who would be the subject of the early Christian hymn: the one “who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage” to the extreme of “even death on a cross!” (Philippians 2:6, 8). This was Jesus’ primary qualification and action as Messiah, as Savior, as King of this kingdom. So how could His followers strive for anything less—or more? The disciples’ desire for position betrayed their profound misunderstanding of Jesus and His kingdom, but they would learn. And so can we.