What a ride! Can you imagine – I mean can you even begin to imagine – hanging out with the Creator of the universe!?! To see Him smile; to hear Him teach; to watch Jesus as He lived life with the zest and with the love that our Creator intended from the beginning – what a rush!
But I wonder if we could handle it? I wonder if we could simply live with the joy of a relationship with Christ? Some of the disciples had been to a mountaintop and watched Jesus change so that his dazzling holiness shone through his humanity – and when the Father said, “This is my beloved Son,” they fell flat on their faces - it awed them! Jesus had shown his power over evil spirits. He exorcised demons, gave sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, speech to the mute, life to the dead! And the disciples had seen it all.
This was all in a day’s work for Jesus. He came to win salvation for all of us. God had already told people how it would happen: the suffering Messiah – God in the flesh who would allow Himself to suffer and die. But the disciples missed this. They – as we so often do – missed what really matters – what’s really important. Let’s read together as Jesus teaches:
They left that place and passed through Galilee. Jesus did not want anyone to know where they were, because he was teaching his disciples. He said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men. They will kill him, and after three days he will rise.” But they did not understand what he meant and were afraid to ask him about it. (Mark 9.30-32, NIV)
We see that Jesus made some quiet time for teaching the disciples. He got them alone, away from the rush – away from the crowds to teach them. Perhaps we need to take a hint from this! Sometimes we too need time to be alone with Christ!
A few weeks ago I visited a saint of God. This person is going through struggles and problems that make most of the things that we face pale in comparison. As we conversed, she shared with me that she and God had been having some very serious conversations – when she is alone with Him – in her room. “The conversations get really intense and we have it out,” she told me. These type of conversations – you know, the heart to heart ones – happen only when we are by ourselves with our Maker. That’s the only time that they CAN happen.
Sometimes we need to get alone with God to hear Him – to understand Him. Elijah heard God after the bustle of the wind, the shaking of the earthquake and the heat of the fire - in a gentle whisper. (1 Kings 19.11ff) The Psalmist writes, “Be still and know that I am God.” (Psalm 46.10) And today we see that Jesus was teaching his disciples away from the rush, away from the hustle and bustle. Why? - Because Jesus was telling them something critical, serious, intense. An alone conversation was needed.
The key point Jesus was teaching about was that He was going to be betrayed and killed. This is what the prophets of old had foretold. This is the way that God had chosen to restore humanity to him. It would take the death of Jesus. But the disciples just didn’t get it!
What do you do when a person who is amazing - whom you’ve seen raise the dead and exorcise demons and heal the lame and the mute and the deaf and the blind and the paralyzed – tells you He is going to be betrayed and killed? What do you do with that, friends? Maybe they thought, well, He’ll just sort this out the same way that He has been doing the amazing miracles we’ve seen Him do! The disciples just didn’t get it. It would take the death of Jesus to save them. What about us? Do we really get that the Lord of the Universe had to die for us to be saved? Or, do other things or other priorities get in the way? They did for the disciples. Let’s read about it:
They came to Capernaum. When he was in the house, he asked them, “What were you arguing about on the road?” But they kept quiet because on the way they had argued about who was the greatest. Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, “If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all.” (Mark 9.33-35, NIV)
“I’m greater than you,” is one of the continuing themes that kept coming back again and again. The disciples were striving to see who was top dog. Remember how James and John asking to sit at Jesus right and left. (Matthew 20.20-28) Remember how the other disciples reacted when they found out what James and John had asked for? This sort of thing happened a number of times with the disciples. Maybe the saddest time was when it happened at the Last Supper. Luke tells us, “Also a dispute arose among them as to which of them was considered to be greatest.” (Luke 22.24)
We have the same problem too! It is amazing how much we aspire to be greater than the person next to us. When we fail to recognize how much Christ suffered, how much He humbled Himself – we loose perspective on what greatness is really all about. And when here is a lack of humility, what rushes in to fill the void is pride and ego!
Jesus warned his disciples and us about this: “If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all.” (Mark 9.35) Pride – thinking that we are better than others is a real problem! In fact, if we study Scripture carefully, we find out that sin entered the world through pride! In the Old Testament, we often see symbols, or metaphors or types – one thing representing another. The king of Babylon was used as a type or as a symbol of Lucifer – the morning star – when the prophet Isaiah wrote these words:
How you have fallen from heaven, O morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations! You said in your heart, "I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High." But you are brought down to the grave, to the depths of the pit. (Isaiah 14.12-14, NIV)
The Scriptures warn against sinful pride and lack of humility often. Here are just a few examples: “The LORD sustains the humble but casts the wicked to the ground.“ (Psalm 147:6) “For the LORD takes delight in his people; he crowns the humble with salvation.” (Psalm 149:4) “He mocks proud mockers but gives grace to the humble.” (Proverbs 3:34)
It isn’t until we find humility that God exalts us. Remember the story of the Prodigal Son? It wasn’t until he came in humility that he got to wear the ring of a son and the fine coat and eat of the fatted calf! The principle is the same today! It isn’t until there is repentance that we receive forgiveness. It isn’t until we are baptized that we are made sons and daughters of the King! Jesus shows us a wonderful example of how this looks in the Kingdom of heaven. Let’s read about it:
He took a little child and had him stand among them. Taking him in his arms, he said to them, ”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.” (Mark 9.36-37, NIV)
Jesus lifts up children as exemplars! Children are wonderful examples of trust and dependence. They look to the parents or the adults taking care of them for everything from a diaper change to protection. It is this dependence that we, as adults also need to find a way to express. Beloved, we need to recognize that our very life depends on God. Our next heartbeat - our next breath, depends on God.
And we need to know that a great price has been paid for our forgiveness. Our life – our eternal destiny is dependent – not on us – but on the forgiveness that Jesus won for us on the cross! We are children before God and depend on Him for life. It is amazing how when we humble ourselves before God – by seeking his forgiveness; by coming to be baptized; by coming to be fed by Him at his Table – God honors us and exalts us!
The ultimate exemplar is Jesus Christ. We can’t begin to understand humility and service until we look at Jesus. Wow – wrapping a towel around his waist and washing feet! This was God doing this, friends! God – our maker – humbled Himself for our sake. Nobody tells it better than Saint Paul in Philippians chapter two:
Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.. (Philippians 2.5-11, NIV)
Amen!
