Sun.’s Devo - The Servant

Read: Matthew 20-21
Jesus gave the people a parable about the workers in a vineyard but it was really about eternal salvation. He was explaining that salvation is free to all who ask for it no matter what age you are when you come into the kingdom or how much you have done. Once you come to God in repentance and ask to be in, you are in. It is God who is giving the gift of salvation and he is free to make up the rules. Jesus ends it with this statement, “so the last will be first, and the first will be last.” The owner of the vineyard had paid the ones who had come in last, first.
Right after that they got to see this in action. When James and John couldn’t get Jesus to give them his promise to sit beside him in his kingdom they must have gone to their mother because now she is coming to Jesus. They must have thought about what Jesus told them last time and decided that they were ready to be baptized with his baptism. Jesus told him it was not his authority to grant who was exalted in heaven - that was God’s place and he had already planned who would sit in the seats beside him. The other disciples found out what they had asked and were indignant. Jesus had to have a meeting and calm them down and explain to them again that God’s kingdom wasn’t like the worlds. In the world there are the CEO’s and the managers who ruled over the workers but in the kingdom the one who was the greatest servant was the one who would be the greatest ruler in God’s kingdom.
Jesus entered Jerusalem for the last time to be crucified and rise again. He explained this to his disciples but they were in denial and couldn’t grasp it. He was about to live out what he had preached to them. He was going to be the suffering servant who would give his life for all.
Lord, help us to be the servant and lay down our pride and hopes of being exalted in their world. This is not our home.