PODCAST
First After Me
January 26th, 2011
Mark 9:33-41
Three words, “Let’s go, Bailey,” sets my 74-pound Lab-Chow in motion. She has to be first out the door. She barrels ahead, and I had better have my footing. It would be so polite of her to let me go first, and follow behind.
Jesus and his disciples approached Jerusalem, where he would face his coming passion. Along the way, the disciples squabbled over who is the greatest among them.
Ah, human nature! The old Puritan William Jenkyn wrote, “Humility is the ornament of angels, and pride the deformity of devils.”1 When Jesus inquired what the Twelve talked about on the journey, they clammed up. What Jesus said is not what they wanted to hear.
A business columnist answered the inquiry, “What’s the key to becoming a great salesman?” He summed it up in one word, “Serving.” “If you serve people well, these people will come back for more business, and also send you other customers.”2 That almost sounds like something Jesus would say.
