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Luke 22:26-27
‘...the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves. For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is at the table? But I am among you as one who serves.’
Jesus has predicted his own death, he is in Jerusalem, and he is eating a final meal with his disciples. Alarmed that one of them will betray Jesus, the disciples wonder who it might be. In turn, this leads to a discussion about which of them is the greatest, which one of them is the best.
At an emotional time like this, and in the presence of Jesus Christ, such thoughts and discussion seems highly inappropriate. Perhaps this is why the author of the Gospel is keen that it should happen after the meal with Jesus. It reminds us and warns us, that even when we share Communion, even when we gather around the Lord’s Table, we can suffer with pride and other sins.
Many, perhaps all, of us struggle with a love of power and recognition. We don’t suddenly become immune to this just because we eat and drink the body and blood of Jesus Christ.
As the song lyric by Bill Mallonee says, ‘They say that pride is the chief of sins, well I know all of his deputies.’ (‘She Walks on Roses’)
For me personally, humility is something that I often find myself praying for. I think the more humble I am the more able I am to be all that God wants me to be, and the more freedom I can enjoy.
