Luke 9:43-48 (The Message)While they continued to stand around exclaiming over all the things he was doing, Jesus said to his disciples,
"Treasure and ponder each of these next words: The Son of Man is about to be betrayed into human hands."
They didn't get what he was saying. It was like he was speaking a foreign language and they couldn't make heads or tails of it. But they were embarrassed to ask him what he meant.
They started arguing over which of them would be most famous. When Jesus realized how much this mattered to them, he brought a child to his side.
"Whoever accepts this child as if the child were me, accepts me," he said.
"And whoever accepts me, accepts the One who sent me. You become great by accepting, not asserting. Your spirit, not your size, makes the difference."
The disciples were embarrassed. They didn't understand.
Embarrassment is connected to pride. And pride...well, let's just say that it "goes before a fall."
The disciples had been with Jesus long enough by now in this story to recognize that this man could really be their ticket to personal greatness.
Finally, someone in their number dared to talk about these things out loud. And a huge fight broke out.
Jesus has a wonderful way of settling fights...if we'll listen to him.
A child. This is the example of real discipleship that Jesus gives us.
"Accept, don't assert," Jesus says. Accept the child. Accept "like" a child, too. It's not about wrestling this world...or God...into submission.
Life is about accepting. What a lesson. Difficult to learn, but beautiful when lived.
Prayer: God our Father, we strain to accept this life, and those around us, whom you have made. Forgive us when we work so much harder at asserting than accepting.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be. World without end. Amen.
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