Often we miss the Message

Matthew 20:24-28

Often, we miss the message in our reading of the Bible, and maybe more frequently we do not open it for spiritual direction, but when we do open it we should understand that people are people, the same then as now.  They had clay feet, and so do you, they wanted to look good, they wanted the respect of friends and family, and they wanted life to be better for their children.  As you read Matthew 20:24-28, do not look at these men differently than you would members of you own family. 

I spent forty years in the corporate world and witnessed how one moves up in the company, and it helps if they have an advanced degree, it also helps if they know how to network.  Networking is best explained as a person who spends more time on the phone and computer talking about what others are not doing, or talking to the performers, and then taking ownership for what they have accomplished.   A networker always looks for opportunity to attach themselves with the leaders, and often uses others to move up in the company.  So often, I’ve watched not the smartest, nor the best performers, but the one who knows the right person advance their career, and it can leave a person with a little indignation for such a person. 

James and John are networking with their mother, and mom is more than willing to help her sons, and if you think about it, their mother also has a selfish desire, in that if her boys are at the right and left in the kingdom, mom also has status.  We should learn from this example that others in the family, the church, the neighborhood, or the business are watching, or will hear of our desire to be first.  This is Matthew’s account of what happen, and how Jesus responds to them; “And when the ten heard it, they were indignant at the two brothers. But Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”  (Matthew 20:24-28)

If the Church would take those seven words highlighted in yellow to heart, then our light would shine bright in the lost world.  For Jesus was not speaking to non-followers but to those who are, and does this sound like a request or a command?

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice