Friday after the Eleventh Sunday after Trinity Sunday
Posted on August 20, 2021 by under
Scripture: St. Mark 9:33-37 (NKJV)
9:33 Then He came to Capernaum. And when He was in the house He asked them, “What was it you disputed among yourselves on the road?” 34 But they kept silent, for on the road they had disputed among themselves who would be the greatest. 35 And He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, “If anyone desires to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all.” 36 Then He took a little child and set him in the midst of them. And when He had taken him in His arms, He said to them, 37 “Whoever receives one of these little children in My name receives Me; and whoever receives Me, receives not Me but Him who sent Me.”
Devotion
We by nature desire greatness. We seek positions of prominence and honor. And, that can be true in regard to the Church. We want to lead and not follow. We wish things would be done our way rather than the way the Church has done them for centuries. Like Jesus’ disciples, we sometimes think we deserve positions of honor in heaven, as though we have done more, been more faithful, or are more devoted followers of Jesus than others.
But what does Jesus say? “If anyone desires to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all.” Then Jesus set a little child in the middle of them and said, “Whoever receives one of these little children in My name receives Me; and whoever receives Me, receives not Me but Him who sent Me.”
Like our Lord Jesus, who came into this world not to be served “but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45), His followers are called to serve others, even to give our lives (or use them up) that others might know and trust in Christ Jesus, their Savior.
Who will be the greatest in God’s kingdom? It may not be those who rule and hold positions of honor, but those who sit with little children and tell them of Jesus and what He has done for them.
Prayer: Almighty and Everlasting God, Who art always more ready to hear than we to pray, and art wont to give more than either we desire or deserve: Pour down upon us the abundance of Thy mercy, forgiving us those things whereof our conscience is afraid, and giving us those good things which we are not worthy to ask, but through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
