My Favorite Verses - Vol V (Feb 17 to Jun 17)

Matthew 20:26-28 … Not to be served but to Serve
(04/08/2017)
“Whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes
to be first among you must be your slave; just as the Son of Man came not to be served
but to serve – to give his life as a ransom for many.” ~ Jesus (Matthew 20:26-28)
Once again, here we have Jesus reiterating the primary purpose of his
ministry – namely, to encourage (see, in-Courage – John 14:27 et al) us all to live
lives of Joy-full service & willing self-sacrifice …
And here again as well we have Jesus using the term “Son of Man” not to
describe himself (otherwise he would not only be exposing himself as a liar – see
Matthew 16:28, but would also be outing himself as a hypocrite – see Matthew 18:3-4) ,
but rather to refer to the free will that resides within all of us – to the Humanness
that lets us all choose between being a selfish “Son of Adam” or a holy
“Child of God” (see Matthew 9:2 & Matthew 9:22, John 1:12-13, John 12:36, John
14:12, John 14:20-26, John 15:26, 1 John 3:1, 1 John 5:19, and even Galatians 3:26).
And even if we were to hypothetically assume that he was referring to
himself in this passage, Christians & non-Christians alike would do well to
remember that Jesus told his listeners quite clearly that they were to emulate his
Love-filled life (see Matthew 16:24, John 13:15-17, John 14:6, Matthew 25:35-40,
Matthew 7:21 et al) –
that they too were
“Children of God” who
could do just as he did
and make their lives
about serving instead
of being served (see
Matthew 20:28, John
12:47-48); about not
striving for personal
salvation in the
Hereafter but rather
choosing to bring the
Calm of Heaven to the
lives of others
Here&Now (see
Matthew 5:9, John
14:27, Luke 17:20-21,
Matthew 10:7 et al).
Amen ... Let it be so.
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