Today's Gospel has Jesus telling his disciples that following him means thinking of themselves as people who:
• deny themselves for Jesus’ sake and for the sake of the Gospel, this may include risking and accepting worldly shame;
• are focused on Jesus and his words above all others;
• remain humbly dependent on God’s power to do God’s work;
• do not play the games of competitiveness, one-upmanship or glory grasping but choose the role of least of all and slave to all;
• relinquish control for who does what and how they do it in the kingdom;
• keep children at the center of their work, even when it appears distracting; and
• do not become overburdened by possessions but receive the gift of the hundredfold promise.
And after all that, James and John ask for places of special recognition! Unbelievable!
• deny themselves for Jesus’ sake and for the sake of the Gospel, this may include risking and accepting worldly shame;
• are focused on Jesus and his words above all others;
• remain humbly dependent on God’s power to do God’s work;
• do not play the games of competitiveness, one-upmanship or glory grasping but choose the role of least of all and slave to all;
• relinquish control for who does what and how they do it in the kingdom;
• keep children at the center of their work, even when it appears distracting; and
• do not become overburdened by possessions but receive the gift of the hundredfold promise.
And after all that, James and John ask for places of special recognition! Unbelievable!
