Devotion - Monday, February 9

In Mark 9 Jesus speaks plainly about his death.  As is too often the case, his followers do not grasp what this is to mean.  Immediately following they begin to have a dispute among them as to who is the greatest.  When Jesus finds out what they were discussing, he offers words that have become familiar to most of us:  "If any one would be first, that person must be least of all and servant of all."

It is not widely encouraged, in our culture, to be the "least" or to be a "servant."  It is the aim of most self-help advice to be the greatest, the first, the one on top.  So much so, that, tragically, persons will speak of being last in line so they can be first in line in the Kingdom.  It is as if being the least or being a servant is a means to becoming (in all eternity) the one who is greatest and the one who is served.  There seems to be something terribly wrong about such thinking.

In Jesus' world, the one who is looked to and celebrated is the one who is the servant and remains the servant.  In Jesus' world, the least never aspires to be the greatest or the one with power.