Uncomfortable (S1) - Day 13

February 24th, 2023

Mark 10:37-45
37 They replied, “When you sit on your glorious throne, we want to sit in places of honor next to you, one on your right and the other on your left.”38 But Jesus said to them, “You don’t know what you are asking! Are you able to drink from the bitter cup of suffering I am about to drink? Are you able to be baptized with the baptism of suffering I must be baptized with?”39 “Oh yes,” they replied, “we are able!” Then Jesus told them, “You will indeed drink from my bitter cup and be baptized with my baptism of suffering.40 But I have no right to say who will sit on my right or my left. God has prepared those places for the ones he has chosen.” 41 When the ten other disciples heard what James and John had asked, they were indignant. 42 So Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers in this world lord it over their people, and officials flaunt their authority over those under them. 43 But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever wants to be first among you must be the slave of everyone else. 45 For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

This is one of the most paradoxical statements that Jesus made. However, when you take it a bit slower, it makes perfect sense in the kingdom of God. Jesus constantly reminded his disciples that the kingdom is not like the empires they are used to serving.
But it is so hard for us to understand this in our lives. When the kingdom takes over, things are different and so much better than what we have become comfortable with. Servants become leaders; leaders only get to lead if they become servants. Those who relish being first in line get to wait in the back and learn patience. Those who are content to sit in the back are brought to the front to experience an extraordinary life that they didn't imagine they could have.
Are you grateful for this paradox that we have been invited into? Of course, this is going to be uncomfortable. Why wouldn't it be? It should be uncomfortable. It should make you sweat. It should make you question everything. Why would Jesus come from so far and suffer so much that we can live lives that are the same as before we met the kingdom? Things should change, be scary, and be different from what we experience in the regular world.
Being a Christian is supposed to be weird, unusual, and different. If it isn't, maybe we aren't doing it right!
I will not belabor this point, but I do have a couple of questions:

1. When did you seek to be first?
2. Are you willing to be last?
3. What does it mean to live with the uncomfortable Cross always in view in your life?
4. Do you think Jesus was uncomfortable on the Cross?
5. What makes you the most uncomfortable about the Cross and the sacrifice Jesus made?

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Posted in Uncomfortable: Season 1