Mark 9.35
Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, “Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all.”

I’m nobody! Who are you?
Are you nobody, too?
Then there’s a pair of us – don’t tell!
They’d banish us, you know.

How dreary to be somebody!
How public, like a frog
To tell your name the livelong day
To an admiring bog!

–  Emily Dickinson

Our celebrity culture loves somebodies and banishes nobodies. We are obsessed with actors, athletes and, yes, even pastors. As a result, most of us – even if we are not egocentric maniacs – want to be somebodies. It may be for a fleeting moment, a few times a year, or every time we have to wait in line at a restaurant in the West Village. We long for “an admiring bog” to recognize us. Our culture says that we can become somebodies by, for example, having high Klout scores or attending prestigious universities. But what does the gospel say?

Jesus never criticized anyone’s quest for greatness. In fact, God made us in His image, and He wants our lives to be meaningful and significant. Yet something happened that distorted our pursuit of greatness. John Piper says that it has been corrupted into a longing not merely to be great, but “to be known as great” [1].

Even the disciples argued about who was the greatest among them. Jesus said, “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.” He then showed them that being the “servant of all” meant serving the biggest nobodies of all – children: “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me, receives not me but him who sent me.” Why children? Because children do not care about Klout scores or universities. They care about getting what they want and, when they do, they must be taught to give thanks. Therefore, as Piper concludes, “Children prove, more clearly than any other kind of people, whether you are truly great or not – whether you live to serve or live to be praised.” [2]

Prayer
Lord, we often do not pursue true greatness by being servants of all. Instead, we long for “an admiring bog” to praise us. Forgive us and crucify our impulse of self-exaltation. For we know that the greatest Somebody who ever lived came to serve, not be served. Therefore, since we want to become somebodies in your kingdom, we long to become servants of all. Amen.

Christian Identity
Part 5 of 5, read more on TheParkForum.org

Today’s Readings
Genesis 39 (Listen – 3:08)
Mark 9 (Listen – 6:16)

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This Weekend’s Readings
Saturday: Genesis 40 (Listen – 2:10); Mark 10 (Listen – 6:42)
Sunday: Genesis 41 (Listen – 7:30); Mark 11 (Listen – 3:59)

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Footnotes

[1] John Piper. “Receiving Children in Jesus’ Name.” Desiring God. 23 February 1992. | [2] Scripture referenced: Mark 9.37

Mark 8.36
What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?

TBT: Of Christ’s Humiliation | by John Meriton (c. 1659-1689)

Christ humbling himself should teach us to highly prize our souls. By the price that was paid we conceive at what a rate God values them. If God said concerning any soul, “I so esteem it that, rather than it shall perish, I will dissolve and unpin the whole fabric of heaven and earth,” that, you will say, evidently demonstrated a high valuation of souls. But the course which God has taken, shows an even higher esteem of them. 

Now let this dear-bought ware be precious. Ah! Let none of us adventure a soul for the satisfying of a base lust; let not any sin steal that away upon easy terms, which put the Lord of glory to such expenses. Christ best knows the worth of souls, for he paid for them. Christ so values them that he tells us that the gain of the world were no sufficient or satisfactory compensation for the loss of but one of them.

Did Christ thus humble himself to death for us? Let us prize him exceedingly and raise him in our esteem above riches, honor, pleasure, father, mother, husband, wife, friend, yea, life itself — or any other thing that we are apt to account precious. How ought he to be prized and preferred above all things, that prized such inconsiderable nothings as we are at so high rates as his own blood! 

If you put Christ into one end of the scale be sure he out-balances every thing that can be laid in the other: “Unto you that believe he is precious.” To a carnal heart, nothing is so low-prized and undervalued as Christ; but with believers, that have an interest in him, and know the worth of him, he is in highest esteem.  [1]

Prayers from the Past
Who can sufficiently praise
the mystery of your grace?
We have been enabled
to take our share of the gift;
may we keep it save to the end,
that so we may come to hear
the blessed voice,
the sweet, the holy, saying:
Come, you that have received
a blessing from my Father;
take possession of the kingdom
that awaits you.

— From the prayer “For Holy Saturday,” c. 200-400 C.E. 

Christian Identity
Part 4 of 5, read more on TheParkForum.org

Today’s Readings
Genesis 38 (Listen – 4:34)
Mark 8 (Listen – 4:29)

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Footnotes

[1] Abridged and language updated from Rev. John Meriton’s sermon on Philippines 2.8 in Nichols, J. (1981). Puritan Sermons (Vol. 5, p. 229). Wheaton, IL: Richard Owen Roberts, Publishers.

Mark 6.41
Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to his disciples to distribute to the people. He also divided the two fish among them all.

Jesus saw the people “as sheep without a shepherd,” Mark explains. He’s setting the context for the miracle where Jesus fed five thousand people. The shepherding language harks back to the book of Numbers where Moses, after being told he will not be permitted to enter the promised land, begs God to provide a new leader for Israel. 

In that moment God provided Joshua. Later God provided kings. But the heart of a king can be corrupted — a theme which repeated incessantly in ancient Israel’s story. The longing for someone greater than an earthly king began to grow — a King of kings.

“Every flock which does not have a shepherd to govern it does, of necessity, meet with great disasters,” recorded Philo in the first century. “It is not able, of its own power, to repel what is injurious to it, and to choose what will be advantageous.” The compassion Jesus felt for the people that day wasn’t simply because they lacked food. It wasn’t limited to their political plight as a people under the pagan culture of Rome. Jesus saw something far more injurious. [1]

The miracle Jesus performed pointed directly to him as their Messiah. The words “taking,” “blessed,” “broke,” and “gave” in the verse above are thematically similar to the blessing said before a Sabbath meal found in Deuteronomy 8. Jesus would use these exact words again during the Last Supper when he pointed to himself as the sacrifice. [2]

The hungry were not fed that day as a party trick to show God had power. They were fed to show that the shepherd had arrived. The One that humanity needed to guide it from the great disaster of a broken relationship with God was bringing his kingdom into reality. He would heal the injury of sin, death, and injustice that humanity had been powerless to repel. [3]

Prayer
Lord, we confess that we are sheep without a shepherd. Our greatest problem is admitting that there are problems that exceed our greatness. We don’t want to be dependent. Yet, in your love, you’ve offered your Son. Blessed by you, broken for us, and given to all who would trust. We are under your grace.

Christian Identity
Part 2 of 5, read more on TheParkForum.org

Today’s Readings
Genesis 35-36 (Listen – 9:33)
Mark 6 (Listen – 7:23)

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Footnotes

[1] Yonge, C. D. with Philo of Alexandria. (1995). The works of Philo: complete and unabridged (p. 138). Peabody, MA: Hendrickson. [language updated] | [2] See Deuteronomy 8.7-10. The Jewish Annotated New Testament notes that the prayer “developed into the ‘blessing for nourishment’ [“birchat ha-mason”] used at mealtime. | [3] Mark 6.34; Numbers 27.12-17; Mark 14.22-25