Let the same mind be...
Illustration
"Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus ..." (v. 5). What a strange Messiah
he was. Paul would not let the church forget that Jesus was, more than anything else, a
servant. He emptied himself for the sake of the world. He took the form of a slave. God's
only Son humbled himself by obeying even when it meant a cross.
Legend says that the stole the minister wears around his or her neck was once draped over the arm, symbolic of a towel where the minister was ready and willing to wash whosever feet came his way. Through the years, the stole has become an object of decoration. Some of the stoles are quite elegant and quite costly. The stance of the disciple then and now has not changed. We are to serve as Christ served.
Albert Schweitzer understood this scripture. He left Germany where he could fill any concert hall, where he could teach at any theological school, or serve as a physician in any hospital. He left it all behind to serve Christ in an out-of-the-way place called Lambarene in Africa. One of his biographers quotes him as saying, "How easy it is for people to say, 'I would like to do some good, but I am so busy with my own responsibilities to my family and work that I don't have time....' Our greatest mistake, as individuals, is that we walk through life with closed eyes and do not notice our chances. As soon as we open our eyes ... we see many who need help, not in the big things but in little things. Wherever we turn we can find someone who needs help." (From George Marshall and Daniel Poling, Schweitzer A Biography [New York: Doubleday and Company, 1971], p. 299)
Theodore Wedel once said that this Jesus did not move from log cabin to White House. This was the way of the world. Christ reversed the order by turning the American dream upside down. Christ moved from White House to log cabin. The church that ponders this Palm Sunday text will always be called back to the essence of discipleship: We really do save our lives when we give them away.
Legend says that the stole the minister wears around his or her neck was once draped over the arm, symbolic of a towel where the minister was ready and willing to wash whosever feet came his way. Through the years, the stole has become an object of decoration. Some of the stoles are quite elegant and quite costly. The stance of the disciple then and now has not changed. We are to serve as Christ served.
Albert Schweitzer understood this scripture. He left Germany where he could fill any concert hall, where he could teach at any theological school, or serve as a physician in any hospital. He left it all behind to serve Christ in an out-of-the-way place called Lambarene in Africa. One of his biographers quotes him as saying, "How easy it is for people to say, 'I would like to do some good, but I am so busy with my own responsibilities to my family and work that I don't have time....' Our greatest mistake, as individuals, is that we walk through life with closed eyes and do not notice our chances. As soon as we open our eyes ... we see many who need help, not in the big things but in little things. Wherever we turn we can find someone who needs help." (From George Marshall and Daniel Poling, Schweitzer A Biography [New York: Doubleday and Company, 1971], p. 299)
Theodore Wedel once said that this Jesus did not move from log cabin to White House. This was the way of the world. Christ reversed the order by turning the American dream upside down. Christ moved from White House to log cabin. The church that ponders this Palm Sunday text will always be called back to the essence of discipleship: We really do save our lives when we give them away.
