by Hugh DeLong<\/p>\n
As Jesus and the apostles gather for their last supper, the apostles continue to bicker and fuss about who among them was the ‘greatest’. This has been going on almost the whole time they have been apostles!<\/p>\n
All three gospels record one episode (cp. Mark 9:33-37; Matthew 18:1-5; Luke 9:46). Jesus calls a child and sets him (her?) before them and declares:, “If anyone wants to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all<\/em>” (Mark 9:35). At some point as they were entering Jerusalem, James and John request to be seated at His right and left hand in His glory. Of course, the other apostles were indignant (my thought was that they desired those positions for themselves and were aggravated that James and John beat them to the request). Again<\/strong>, Jesus’ response is to show them that he<\/strong>, their Lord, came to serve, not to be served (Mark 10:45). Similarly, here in John 13, they are at odds over this question.<\/p>\n Notice here in John 13:3-4: “Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come forth from God and was going back to God, got up from supper, and laid aside His garments; and taking a towel, He girded Himself<\/em>.” Then he<\/strong>, their LORD, the Son of God, washed their\u00a0<\/strong>feet.<\/p>\n While we don’t gather with dirty bare\/sandaled feet, we need to be willing to serve even in the lowliest of tasks. Jesus could do this because He knew <\/b>who He was! Doing this didn’t change who He was. Serving did not make them <\/b>greater than He. Most of our problems of such dissension over who is greatest among us is that we don’t know who we really are and what our real role is.<\/p>\n Do you know this enough to be able to serve others? Are you serving?<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Hugh DeLong As Jesus and the apostles gather for their last supper, the apostles continue to bicker and fuss about who among them was the ‘greatest’. This has been going on almost the whole time they have been apostles! All three gospels record one episode (cp. Mark 9:33-37; Matthew 18:1-5; Luke 9:46). Jesus calls…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[463,458,462],"class_list":["post-91938","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-humility","tag-servants","tag-serving-others"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":21574,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-sons-of-thunder\/","url_meta":{"origin":91938,"position":0},"title":"The Sons of Thunder","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 19, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Text: Mark 3:14-19 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Often when we talk about the apostles, we focus on the notable Peter and Paul. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0There are many things we can learn from their lives, but we also can learn from the examples of the other apostles as well. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Today I would like to direct your\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5414,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/where-were-the-apostles-from\/","url_meta":{"origin":91938,"position":1},"title":"Where were the apostles from?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 28, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Where were Jesus' apostles from? Were they Jewish before the Jesus met them? Answer: Judaism is both a religion and a nationality. All twelve of the apostles were born in Israel and were Jewish by both descent and by religious practice. All twelve ate the Passover meal with Jesus\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":44443,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/did-the-apostles-have-the-right-to-forgive-sins\/","url_meta":{"origin":91938,"position":2},"title":"Did the apostles have the right to forgive sins?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 8, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Dear sir, A question was posted a decade or so ago on John 20:21-23 and whether or not all men could forgive sins. I couldn't see that the responder actually addressed what was meant by the Apostles having the authority to forgive sins, except to say that they could\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2164,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-were-the-names-of-jesuss-twelve-apostles\/","url_meta":{"origin":91938,"position":3},"title":"What were the names of Jesus’ twelve apostles?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 31, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: What were the names of Jesus's twelve apostles? Answer: At times, names can be confusing because we use a variety of names for ourselves. There is our birth name, our common name, and our nickname. We find that happening in Scriptures. One of Jesus's apostles was named Simon, but\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":55017,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/apostolic-succession-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":91938,"position":4},"title":"Apostolic Succession (Dockens)","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 7, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"by Bryan Matthew Dockens A number of religions practice so-called apostolic succession. Roman Catholics believe the man they call \"Pope\" is the successor of the apostle Peter. Mormons claim twelve to fifteen apostles at all times. Many Pentecostal congregations identify their preachers as apostles. Such claims are totally inconsistent with\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":63873,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-apostles\/","url_meta":{"origin":91938,"position":5},"title":"The Apostles (Sermon)","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 4, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: II Corinthians 11:1-15 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I Corinthians 12:28-29; Ephesians 4:11-13 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The world contains many strange ideas regarding apostles. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The Mormons and some other denominations claim their organization is more truly like the first century church because they have apostles. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0C.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I have had some strong discussions with\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91938","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=91938"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91938\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91938"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91938"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91938"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}