The mother of two of Jesus’ disciples assumed, along with everyone else at the time, that Jesus was on the ascent to oust Herod and the Romans and establish himself as king. So, she asked for her sons to be given good positions in his Kingdom. But Jesus wasn’t taking the road of worldly success. That road of competitive living, in which each person seeks to rise up over the other, is what has ruined the world and Jesus had come to save the world. He hadn’t come to rise-up over others, but to stoop down to give his life for others in order that we could all be raised-up. He had not come to rise-up but to raise-up. He calls us to do the same. Our natural tendency is to want to rise-up to be important and great in the eyes of others, to compete with others for positions of influence, and to gain control over others. We have this little voice within us that says, ‘Rise-up, rise-up!’ But Jesus says, ‘Raise-up, raise-up!’ He calls us to stoop down and become servants to lift people up; to empower them. Jesus came down, not to be served but to serve. This was how Jesus exercised the authority that was given to him and it is how we must exercise the authority that he gives to us. So, we must be a people who are constantly thinking, not, how can I rise-up, but who can I raise-up. When people are being empowered and released then you know that God’s authority is at work.
Think about who you can raise up through encouragement today.
Read Matthew 20:20-34 and Mark 10:32-52.
