Post by Admin on Feb 28, 2019 7:22:43 GMT
Most interesting about tonight’s discussion was that we began with love, veered into issues of servanthood and leadership, and landed back on the subject of love – all while discussing one of the incidents in which the disciples wanted to establish a hierarchy among their group. We talked at first about why Jesus’ love challenge – to love one another as He loves us – is so difficult. In honesty, we could admit that some people treat us so poorly or behave so badly that it’s plain that they are difficult to love. We also mentioned the adage that a person most needs love when they are acting the most unlovable. Thinking about John, who in tonight’s scripture passage is jockeying for a position of power, and later becomes the Apostle of Love, we also talked about our own maturing, and whether we find ourselves more mellow, or stricter as we have lived our lives. The upshot was that we are a little of both, more knowledgeable and tolerant in some areas, wiser and less permissive in other situations.
Moving to the scripture itself, we had lively discussion over the motives of John and James, and their mother. Was she behind the request to Jesus, looking out for her boys, or did the brothers put her up to asking because as an older woman (and she may have been a relative of Jesus' mother, Mary) she was positioned to ask for a favor. Maybe the mother was convinced that Jesus was to be a king as typically imagined, and she wanted her sons to get the benefits, since they had been taking the risks. John and James themselves may have been thinking about the typical Messiah expectations, despite Jesus’ repeated attempts to warn them about his upcoming sacrifice. We were in accord that Jesus may have been chagrined that the disciples still did not understand what Jesus was facing and did not grasp fundamentals of the kingdom such as servanthood. We were also in relative agreement that they did not fully understand the “cup” and “baptism” that they would face for Jesus, although they were very quick to claim that they did. With sympathy for them, we have recognized again and again in the discussions that comprehending the new kingdom and understanding the role of Jesus’ sacrifice was impossible for the disciples until they had experienced the entirety of the story and then had the help of the Holy Spirit.
Jesus was describing the perfect leader in his remarks about being a servant, even a slave. We discussed whether we felt leaders who lord over others are as successful as those who support and serve the people they lead – no surprise that we agreed, pushers are not leaders! Jesus not only described this perfect leader, He modeled the behavior. In this “upside down” kingdom He established, He served others always and He received no benefits. Again this is the opposite of our worldly expectation, when success as a leader in any field is reflected in the benefits of power, prestige, and possessions. In talking about being servants, we found ourselves talking about loving others, doing things for them out of love, even small things like a nice word or a complement, never with the expectation of benefit. We also realized that without realizing it, we do expect all those around us to serve us; not overtly, rather in expressing frustration or negativity when things don’t go as we expect, because subconsciously, we want everyone around us to conform to what we want. Instead – let go and love.
Moving to the scripture itself, we had lively discussion over the motives of John and James, and their mother. Was she behind the request to Jesus, looking out for her boys, or did the brothers put her up to asking because as an older woman (and she may have been a relative of Jesus' mother, Mary) she was positioned to ask for a favor. Maybe the mother was convinced that Jesus was to be a king as typically imagined, and she wanted her sons to get the benefits, since they had been taking the risks. John and James themselves may have been thinking about the typical Messiah expectations, despite Jesus’ repeated attempts to warn them about his upcoming sacrifice. We were in accord that Jesus may have been chagrined that the disciples still did not understand what Jesus was facing and did not grasp fundamentals of the kingdom such as servanthood. We were also in relative agreement that they did not fully understand the “cup” and “baptism” that they would face for Jesus, although they were very quick to claim that they did. With sympathy for them, we have recognized again and again in the discussions that comprehending the new kingdom and understanding the role of Jesus’ sacrifice was impossible for the disciples until they had experienced the entirety of the story and then had the help of the Holy Spirit.
Jesus was describing the perfect leader in his remarks about being a servant, even a slave. We discussed whether we felt leaders who lord over others are as successful as those who support and serve the people they lead – no surprise that we agreed, pushers are not leaders! Jesus not only described this perfect leader, He modeled the behavior. In this “upside down” kingdom He established, He served others always and He received no benefits. Again this is the opposite of our worldly expectation, when success as a leader in any field is reflected in the benefits of power, prestige, and possessions. In talking about being servants, we found ourselves talking about loving others, doing things for them out of love, even small things like a nice word or a complement, never with the expectation of benefit. We also realized that without realizing it, we do expect all those around us to serve us; not overtly, rather in expressing frustration or negativity when things don’t go as we expect, because subconsciously, we want everyone around us to conform to what we want. Instead – let go and love.