Thursday 16 August 2018

As one who serves

But not so among you; on the contrary, he who is greatest among you, let him be as the younger, and he who governs as he who serves. For who is greater, he who sits at the table, or he who serves? Is it not he who sits at the table? Yet I am among you as the One who serves. – Luke 22.26-27

Last week Mary and I had a run a few errands in town. On the way back we stopped at a little coffee shop we had been looking at for years. We just got tea and a scone. Now, this place is less than a ten minute walk from home and we could easily have bought a scone while we were out and walked home and made a cup of tea. But we stopped in anyway. Why? Because sometimes it is nice to just sit down and be served.

When we go out to a place to eat like that where would you expect to see Jesus? Would He take the finest seat in the house? Would He be in the role of the owner supervising the place? Might He be the guest of honour? One day, as we will see tomorrow, He will be all of those, but in this passage He would be the server who brought us a cuppa tea and a scone. He was on earth as One who serves.

When He applies that to us He says that the greatest Christian is not the one who is most honoured here in earth. The greatest among us is the one who serves. When we serve we are following Christ. When we read about the ‘one mind’ of the church we find out that the mind is the mind of Christ and that mind is the mind of a servant.

How do we do as servants? Do we start each day with an attitude of ‘what can I do to serve today?’ It doesn’t have to be hard. It can be as simple as being the one to make the cuppa tea or unload the dishwasher or brush the floor. It can start right there are home and then follow us through the day.

Are you and I, like Jesus, among those who serve?

No comments: