Jesus called them over and said to them, “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those in high positions act as tyrants over them. But it is not so among you. On the contrary, whoever wants to become great among you will be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you will be a slave to all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:42-45, CSB)
Serving others is an incredibly important part of the Christian life, however we have to be careful in that we don’t say “yes and amen” to that and then look at service as something that should exclusively be done for us. That was the danger that some of Christ’s disciples had fallen into. They knew that the Kingdom of God had come with Jesus (Mk 1:15) and that somehow He was going to reign as Messiah over God’s people (Mk 10:37b), so they took the opportunity to ask Jesus if they could be put in such a position that they would be served and honoured by all people (Mk 10:37a). No said Jesus, they had it all backwards and upside down. If you want to really do something great, don’t look for ways to be served, look for ways to serve others (Mk 10:43-44).
From the very start of the gospel of Mark we see Jesus doing this Himself, serving all those he came in contact with. For example, in the first sermon that he preached in Capernaum, a man stood up among them who was tormented by an impure spirit. Jesus recognised what was going on and so he told the spirit to leave (Mk 1:21-27). The man was set free from something he could not set himself free from, served in such a way that his entire life was changed. Again, Jesus was taken to the house of Peter’s mother-in-law who was sick with a fever. Jesus walked in, picked her up out of bed and healed her, serving out an instant healing (Mk 1:29-31). In fact it is reported that everybody bought Jesus all the sick and Demon possessed. He served everyone He came in contact with by healing every sickness and driving out the demons (Mk 1:32-34a). There are so many more examples of our Lord doing this, serving others with all that He had, which shows us something; Our Saviour did not come seeking to be served, but instead, He continually served those the world rejected and no more clearly do we see this than in the cross (Mk 10:45).
Now you might be thinking to yourself, wow that’s incredible, Jesus certainly was an amazing model of how to serve others with all that he had. But in the same breath, you might also be thinking that you don’t have all the same powers as Jesus to serve in the same way. Well, in that you are perfectly right, we don’t all have the same powers as God in the flesh, but dear ones, we certainly don’t labor without any tools at all, as we all have gifts which have been given to us by God in the flesh, which have been given so that we might serve one another (Eph 4:7-8, 1 Pet 4:10). But this is the thing, we might have all the gifts, all the so-called tools in the shed, but without love “we are nothing” (1 Cor 13:2).
And thats the dividing line that separates Christ’s service to humanity from all others, He used all that He had, all that He is to serve others out of His great love for others, even giving His very life for His people (Heb 12:2, Gal 2:20-21). That is the example Christ set for us. His love for His Father and His people drove all that He did in service. And though gifting is good, though signs and wonders might be ‘awed’ at, love is what drives Christ and what should drive Christians in all that we do. So though we are certainly in no way Jesus with His awesome power and wonder, we have been gifted by Jesus to serve others. So as we do so, as we seek to serve let’s check our intentions and hearts and ask our Heavenly Father to deeply love all those we see to help.