When learning something new, having an example to follow is always helpful. It is always beneficial for me to watch some perform the task I am learning rather than only reading or hearing someone talk about it. The same is true in our faith. When we have an example to follow, we can better live out our faith on a day-to-day basis. Jesus is our prime example. He modeled perfectly for us what it looks like to live a life honoring to God, and we can follow His example as we read the gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
Jesus made it very clear that He came to live a life of sacrifice, and He taught His followers to follow His example. “Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must be the slave of everyone else,” he said (Mark 10: 43-44). He then continued, “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give His life as a ransom for many” (verse 45). The lifestyle of a follower of Christ is not about being served or building up one’s own name or reputation. It is about laying one’s life down for the sake of another’s. If Jesus, the King of Kings, came to serve, you and I are certainly called to this as well.
In a world where we are taught to build our own name and our own reputation, you and I are called to something different. We are called to something better. What Jesus taught us is that His kingdom is not like the world, and in His kingdom, greatness is equivalent to service. Not only did Jesus teach this truth, but He also lived it out. Jesus came to earth and laid down His life so that humanity could be saved. He laid His life down for you and me. The question is, will we follow His example? Will we live a lifestyle of service to the people around us?
As you consider Jesus’ example of what it is like to live a life honoring to God, what stands out to you about His example? In what ways do you want to emulate His example in your own life? How can you start modeling His example today?
They were now on the way up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking ahead of them. The disciples were filled with awe, and the people following behind were overwhelmed with fear. Taking the twelve disciples aside, Jesus once more began to describe everything that was about to happen to him. “Listen,” he said, “we’re going up to Jerusalem, where the Son of Man will be betrayed to the leading priests and the teachers of religious law. They will sentence him to die and hand him over to the Romans. They will mock him, spit on him, flog him with a whip, and kill him, but after three days he will rise again.”
Jesus Teaches about Serving Others
Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came over and spoke to him. “Teacher,” they said, “we want you to do us a favor.”
“What is your request?” he asked.
They replied, “When you sit on your glorious throne, we want to sit in places of honor next to you, one on your right and the other on your left.”
But Jesus said to them, “You don’t know what you are asking! Are you able to drink from the bitter cup of suffering I am about to drink? Are you able to be baptized with the baptism of suffering I must be baptized with?”
“Oh yes,” they replied, “we are able!”
Then Jesus told them, “You will indeed drink from my bitter cup and be baptized with my baptism of suffering. But I have no right to say who will sit on my right or my left. God has prepared those places for the ones he has chosen.”
When the ten other disciples heard what James and John had asked, they were indignant. So Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers in this world lord it over their people, and officials flaunt their authority over those under them. But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must be the slave of everyone else. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
