Slices
Prepare
Think back to conversations you have had about who is or was the greatest or the best. What was at the root of them?
Bible passage
Jesus predicts his death a second time
30 They left that place and passed through Galilee. Jesus did not want anyone to know where they were, 31 because he was teaching his disciples. He said to them, ‘The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men. They will kill him, and after three days he will rise.’ 32 But they did not understand what he meant and were afraid to ask him about it.
33 They came to Capernaum. When he was in the house, he asked them, ‘What were you arguing about on the road?’ 34 But they kept quiet because on the way they had argued about who was the greatest.
35 Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, ‘Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all.’
36 He took a little child whom he placed among them. Taking the child in his arms, he said to them, 37 ‘Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me.’
Explore
The king and the queen of the little kingdom were overwhelmed when the prince came back from a visit to a remote village and told his parents that he had found his future queen. The entourage immediately set out to see the would-be bride, but were surprised to find the very humble home of a peasant and a charming young lady. The prince said, ‘I watched the women fetching water at the village well. This girl came first but allowed all the other women to fetch water before her and even helped several of them to do so. After everyone had filled their pitchers, she filled hers and walked home.’
Jesus tells his disciples yet again of his impending dying and rising again, and verse 32 says that the disciples were afraid to ask what he meant. Are there things that you are afraid of asking God about or things that you are struggling to understand?
But on the way back the argument the disciples had was not about what Jesus said but about who was the greatest among them.
Is there anything distracting you from serving God at this time? As Jesus taught, greatness is never in being the first or the best, but instead it is in the willingness to be the last and in the joy one finds in serving others.
Respond
Pray: ‘Teach me, O Lord, to understand the mystery of finding joy in serving and satisfaction in allowing others to be first.’
Bible in a year
Read the Bible in a year: Isaiah 23,24; Titus 3
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Pray for Scripture Union
Pray for recently appointed Marketing and Communications Officer, Eric De Souza. Ask God for creativity and clear thinking, and pray that his work will have an impact as he helps connect people with resources that share the life-giving message of Jesus.
