Life of Christ 91
What a weariness this
must have been to our Lord. He is heading into the final six months of His
life. He is facing intense earthly pressure from His family, Israel's religious
leadership, and Israel's political leadership. He is facing intense spiritual
pressure from the devil. He is preparing Himself, setting His face like a
flint, for the horrors of Calvary. He is giving everything He's got to train
and prepare the Apostles to lead an infant Church without Him. These Apostles
have just had some spectacular failures, with Peter's constant impetuosity and
the other Apostles inability to cast out a devil, and now, to top it all off,
they are fussing with themselves about who is going to be the greatest in the
coming Kingdom when the Kingdom isn't even coming anytime soon.
Edersheim says, in
relation to the grief this all must have been to Jesus:
Surely the contrast
between Christ and His disciples seems at times almost as great as between Him
and the other Jews. If we would measure His stature, or comprehend the infinite
distance between His aims and teaching and those of His contemporaries, let it
be by comparison with even the best of His disciples. It must have been part of
His humiliation and self-exinanition to bear with them. And is it not, in a
sense, still so as regards us all?
Jesus, instead of
chewing them out, uses an illustration to get His point across to them. He
calls a little child to come to Him, and, sweetly setting the child on His lap,
He points out that this child has something which is sorely lacking in the
supposedly more mature Apostles. This something is the lesson for us: Jesus
calls for us to be humble, as little children. 'Whosoever therefore shall
humble himself, as this little child, the same is the greatest in the kingdom
of heaven' (Matthew 18.4).
Now, I freely confess,
I've met a fair number of children in my life that seemed entirely unacquainted
with the concept of humility. But these are obviously not the type of children of which Jesus was speaking. No, take those spoiled,
bratty, selfish, whining, demanding, aggressive, disobedient children and put
them out of your mind. That is most definitely not who Jesus was taking about.
Instead, I want you to picture a child you know that is obedient, cheerful,
sharing, and of a sweet disposition.
First, their humility is
seen in their servant's heart. For 12 years now I've had a pre-schooler in my
home, and it never ceases to amaze me, when they are having a good day, how
happy they are to help you to do anything. They will step and fetch it at the
slightest request. They will hold tools patiently, and carry dishes carefully.
They will, with a smile, hand you a book or prop open a door. There is in them
very little of the pride that demands a higher position or more recognition, or
views a certain kind of work as beneath them.
So often those that
desire greatness want that greatness to be in the form of being noticed and
served, of being in authority, calling the shots. And yet our Saviour
consistently emphasized a different ethic, one in which greatness was defined
as serving rather than being served. 'If any man desire to be first, the same
shall be last of all, and servant of all' (Mark 9.35).
Secondly, their humility
is seen in their acceptance of all kinds of people. Did you ever notice that
children are naturally un-prejudiced? They have to be taught to dislike classes
and groups of people. Why? Because they do not think they are better than
anybody. They don't care about ethnicity, zip codes of origin, languages,
clothes, or who is in the in crowd. Yes, as they grow up they learn to care
about those things, but as little children they just gather together and play
with whoever shows up in the McDonald's Playland.
We've discussed before
the endemic racism that was so deeply inbred in the Jews of Jesus' day. But
those little Jewish children weren't born with that. They were taught it as
they humanly matured. Racism, classism, prejudice, and bigotry are learned, not
instinctive. Little children are too humble to have them.
Not coincidentally,
mature Christianity is supposed to be the same way. 'There is neither Jew nor
Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye
are all one in Christ Jesus' (Galatians 3.28).
Thirdly, their humility
is seen in their dependence. No kid comes out of the womb and says, 'Ok, Mom,
I'll take it from here.' What is the first thing they do? Cry. Because they
need something, even if they don't know what that something is or how to say
it. As they mature they learn to verbalize their dependence, and 'help me'
becomes a significant feature of their vocabulary. They readily request help in
getting dressed, brushing their teeth, tying their shoes, or using a fork. It
is rare, in little children, to see a spirit of independence.
Of course, it is only right
that this spirit of independence come naturally with human maturity, but
spiritual maturity takes the exact opposite tack from human maturity. Humanly
speaking, we are birthed small, and gradually grow larger, stronger, smarter,
and independent. Spiritually speaking, we are birthed large, and gradually grow
smaller, weaker, and less knowledgeable in our own sight. We move, in the human
life, at birth, from being completely dependent upon our parents for everything
to being completely independent of them for everything. We move, in the
Christian life, at birth, from being dependent on God for only our eternal
salvation to becoming dependent upon Him for absolutely everything.
The truth is that in the
spiritual realm my flesh doesn't like this. I don't want to be dependent on
anybody but myself. I want to handle everything myself. I want to be secure in
myself. But as long as I am then I'm not dependent on God, I'm not letting Him
handle things, and I'm not finding my security in Him rather than myself.
David was undeniably a
great man, the kind of man that the Apostles desired, in their argument, to be.
He was a world class empire builder, a tremendous tactician, a matchless leader
of men, and an author whose works have lasted for millennia. Yet he wasn't
great because of his great literary ability, administrative talents, or
military capacity. No, he was great, at least in part, because of his constant
reliance on God for protection, encouragement, direction, provision, and
timing.
We, like the Apostles,
so often harbor a desire to be lifted up. David was humble and great. The
Apostles were proud and insignificant at this point. Why? 'Humble yourselves in
the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up' (James 4.10).
No comments:
Post a Comment