Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
Ok. I’ll be the first one to admit this doesn’t make sense. Much of what the Teacher says seems upside-down. That’s because it is!
Lose to win? What in the world is He talking about?
Exactly! The Teacher is not talking about how things are usually done in this world. He is literally bringing heaven’s rule to earth.
What is up has come down, and at first it doesn’t seem to fit very well down here. This is why much of what Jesus says sounds like a foreign dialect to us. It’s the language of the Kingdom of Heaven.
While we can’t always fully grasp the Teacher’s language, thankfully, everything is clear when we simply look at His life.
Jesus lived His message! He offered Himself in service to mankind. He gave up His life on the cross. By all the principles of worldly success – Jesus loses.
Not so fast! Didn’t God exalt Him to the position of highest authority in heaven and earth? Hey, this upside-down stuff really works!
Our Teacher won by losing! He's saying His students will find real and lasting life by losing theirs too.
No, it’s not one way for Jesus and different way for us. That’s why He’s the Teacher. And He says to His students,
Anyone who does not take his cross and follow me….
Verse 42 struck me this morning. Is it saying that if we as disciples, learners, students of Jesus, do something mundane, seemingly unimportant, to the "little ones" that we will not lose our reward? I'm thinking of heaven, primarily. What a thought! May God be glorified!
ReplyDeleteSteven Y.
Service, service, service.
ReplyDeleteServe God by serving mankind.
Kinda reminds me of the 2 greatest commands.
Yet again the Teacher teaches with both words and actions.
(PS is there a Feb 29th this year?)
No 29th of Feb in 09. Thanks
ReplyDelete