Tuesday, February 23, 2016
Luke 22:27 "For who is greater, he who sits at the table, or he who serves? Is it not he who sits at the table? Yet I am among you as the One who serves."
A WORTHY SERVANT
Moments after Jesus instituted the Lord's Supper, the disciples were squabbling about who would be greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Clearly, they still had a long way to go in their development as mature Christians. We might ponder with amazement that they could be so foolish at such a critical point in their lives. The Lord's Supper had just taken place, and they were already falling away into sin!
Is it any different for you and me? How soon after receiving the Lord's forgiveness do we backtrack because of pride? We snap at a loved one with impatience, thinking that our ideas are more important. We talk down to our Christian friend because we're so much wiser than they are, at least in our head. We work and work for earthly goals while neglecting the Lord's sanctuary on Sundays.
Each of these sins is a by-product of thinking that we are better than others. In our heads we make logical assumptions about why we are more important than others. On the surface, these things make sense, just as Jesus said that it's natural to conclude that he who sits at the table is higher than he who serves.
But Jesus takes our natural way of thinking and turns it on end. He was the only one worthy of God's favor, and He served in the greatest way possible. He did exactly the opposite of what all humans do by nature. He had no obligation to serve, and yet He made it His highest priority. And because He did, we can limp back, again and again, to His redeeming grace as it comes to us in Word and Sacrament.
