{"id":31,"date":"2013-09-10T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-09-10T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thewordthisweek.com\/index.php\/2013\/09\/10\/sunday-21st-october-2012-a-kingdom-of-service\/"},"modified":"2013-09-10T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2013-09-10T00:00:00","slug":"sunday-21st-october-2012-a-kingdom-of-service","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thewordthisweek.com\/index.php\/2013\/09\/10\/sunday-21st-october-2012-a-kingdom-of-service\/","title":{"rendered":"Sunday 21st October 2012 – A Kingdom of Service"},"content":{"rendered":"
The Word This Week

<\/span>Job 38:1-7, (34-41)<\/a> and Psalm 104:1-9, 24, 35c<\/a>
<\/span>Isaiah 53:4-12<\/a> and Psalm 91:9-16<\/a>
<\/span>Hebrews 5:1-10<\/a>
<\/span>Mark 10:35-45<\/a>
<\/span>
Thoughts on the Word<\/span><\/p>\n

Mark 10:35-45
<\/span>
<\/span>\u00a0James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came forward to him and said to him, \u2018Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.\u2019 And he said to them, \u2018What is it you want me to do for you?\u2019 And they said to him, \u2018Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.\u2019 But Jesus said to them, \u2018You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or be baptised with the baptism that I am baptised with?\u2019 They replied, \u2018We are able.\u2019 Then Jesus said to them, \u2018The cup that I drink you will drink; and with the baptism with which I am baptised, you will be baptised; but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.\u2019
<\/span>
<\/span>\u00a0When the ten heard this, they began to be angry with James and John. So Jesus called them and said to them, \u2018You know that among the Gentiles those whom they recognise as their rulers lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. But it is not so among you; but whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.\u2019 <\/strong><\/p>\n

This weeks reflection will be short – but has an important message for us.\u00a0 James and John the sons of Zebedee approach Jesus and seek something for themselves.\u00a0 They wish to be recognised as the greatest, to be honoured by Jesus as first among the apostles.\u00a0 You see James and John wanted recognition of their position because they were prideful – their priorities had gotten confused.\u00a0 It is a warning for us, that pride and self righteousness are an ever present danger which can steer us away from the Kingdom of God.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

Jesus however doesn’t get upset with them – though the other apostles certainly do! Jesus lovingly points to there failing by making a comparison to the gentiles – this doesn’t seem like such a huge deal to us, but for men who were devout Jews this would have been a stinging blow to their pride to be compared with the pagan gentiles.\u00a0 Jesus doesn’t make this comparison to upset the apostles, but to demonstrate to them that they (and we) must not seek to emulate the leadership structures and rewards of this world.\u00a0 Our eyes must always be set on the kingdom, and the way we accomplish that is through following after our Lord and King.<\/span><\/p>\n

Jesus, as he points out to his apostles, didn’t come to be served – as you would expect a King to do – rather he came to serve.\u00a0 He served us all in the most ultimate way when he lay down his life for us.\u00a0 Jesus tells us that we as his followers are called to such service.\u00a0 We are called to loving sacrifice and service for the good of others, just as he exemplified for us.\u00a0 Furthermore we are called to do this humbly, and seek no prideful recognition of it, we should merely serve out of love of neighbour and expect nothing in return – then and only then are we serving the Kingdom through our acts, and following our King.<\/span><\/p>\n

God bless you this week!<\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Word This WeekJob 38:1-7, (34-41) and Psalm 104:1-9, 24, 35cIsaiah 53:4-12 and Psalm 91:9-16Hebrews 5:1-10Mark 10:35-45Thoughts on the Word Mark 10:35-45 \u00a0James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came forward to him and said to him, \u2018Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.\u2019 And he said to them, … Continue reading “Sunday 21st October 2012 – A Kingdom of Service”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewordthisweek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewordthisweek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewordthisweek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewordthisweek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewordthisweek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thewordthisweek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewordthisweek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewordthisweek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewordthisweek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}