“But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all.” Mark 10:43-44 ESV
Reflection: what does it mean to be a Christian to you?
“Us managers do different stuff. Are you sure you want to give up what you are doing?” I still remember the words from a senior manager during an interview for my first management position. I thought at the time that his comments and question were pretty strange, simplistic, silly. But, what is eluded to was some deep wisdom that I didn’t fully realize at the time. What he really said was that, you have gone to school to learn engineering, and might love what you do. But moving into management means giving up doing the engineering work, and instead managing the work and the people. And turns out that he was absolutely right. It can be very difficult to not do the work, to give it up and truly become a leader for the team who is doing the work. I watched one of my engineering colleagues who also moved into management, return to engineering after a while as he did not like the management work as well as he liked engineering.
While not meant as a direct comparison, becoming a Christian is accepting a life that is very different than what you lived before. While we don’t necessarily understand what we have “signed up for” when we first became a Christian, we must continue to learn about and live this very different life. It turns out that it is in stark contrast to a life “in the world”, to live by the flesh, if you will. Even the word to “repent” really means to recognize being wrong, and therefore to turn away or around from the previous life and actions. Repentance is therefore an important part of accepting and living the new life in Christ. In fact, the life in Christ is
A completely different life.
The disciples wanted to know from Jesus how to be great in the kingdom of heaven. They were thinking of power and position as it is in the world, wondering who would rule with Christ. Jesus responded “And Jesus called them to him and said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles Lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”” Mark 10:42-45 ESV
I am sure the disciples, who wanted to rule with Jesus were quite shocked when they heard Jesus response. To be a servant? A slave? This was not at all what they had in mind. The life Jesus presented here was of surrender of self in servitude to others. He even talked about giving up His life, as a “ransom for many”. At a different time, Jesus made the point that this life of truly following Jesus, doing what He commanded, would cause the world to even hate us. ““If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.” John 15:18-20 ESV.
This is the life we are called to.
In hindsight, I am very grateful to this senior manager who warned me before deciding to become a manager, of how different my work life would be. While I didn’t fully understand it at the time, his words have been ringing in my mind ever since. It is different work. And being a Christian is a very different life. It is in stark contrast to the world. But, are we trying to become like Christ in this world, or are we wanting to stay in step with the world? Paul wrote “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”Romans 12:2 ESV
