Matthew 20:20-28

Matthew 20:20-28 
English Standard Version (ESV)

  **Quick request -- In a few short weeks, I'll be taking part in Pelotonia, a fundraiser here in Columbus where 100% of the funds raised goes directly to life-changing cancer research at Ohio State.  I'll be riding 50 miles and raising $1,500 as my small part in the larger effort to find a cure for cancer.  We all know too many stories of lives changed and broken by this awful disease, so if you'd like to be a part of this work, please donate here.  (I really need to start riding my bicycle more.  I rode 12 miles the other day... so I've got work to do!)**

  Here we see worldly views of power coming into direct conflict with Jesus' understandings of true power.  The worldly approach to power is to look at the most public people -- there have been various websites that have tried to calculate the power or influence of public figures.  We look at worldly leaders and see them as powerful, and James and John see the same opportunity here.  They want to sit beside Jesus on the throne, but they don't grasp that the only way to achieve this power in God's kingdom is to serve.  Jesus is on the throne only after he serves by giving himself completely, violently, to the powers of Rome.  Rome thinks that it is conquering him through the cross, but they are only bit players in a much larger story that God is telling, a story of love and redemption.  If Jesus Christ, the most powerful person to ever walk the planet, shows his power through selfless service, how then will you use whatever power you have?
  The world may consider many of us powerless, but by choosing to serve without regard for ourselves, we are telling a different story -- we are telling a story that determines human worth not by worldly standards, but rather we are proclaiming human worth and dignity simply because each person is a child of God.  We are affirming and encouraging every one we meet when we choose to serve them, and we are denying that status comes from money or fame.  We are proclaiming an eternal story, in which love is the ultimate thread in the narrative that will stand the test of time.