Our Gospel calls us to servitude. In our world it can be easy for everything to be about us, but in the end we are hopefully living freely. We only live freely when we give of ourself out of love. There are some who give in order to obtain something in return. The Lord shows us the alternate path of servitude.
We must remember that Christ is God made Flesh. That He is the second person of the Most Holy Trinity. Nevertheless, He did not come in order to be exalted, but in the words of the Book of Philippians: “Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness; and found human in appearance, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross.”
It is hard to wrap our mind around the fact the that being a servant or slave is something which can be good. In this application it is to live freely as we were created in the image and likeness of God. This form of holy slavery is put into action whenever we give of ourself in a sacrificial way out of love. Christ Himself displays this sacrificial love most perfectly upon the cross when He laid down His life for us out of love.
As our Gospel came to state: “Whoever wishes to be great among you will be your servant; whoever wishes to be first among you will be the slave of all.” This verse makes known the fact that our life on this earth is not to live as if we are greater then everyone else for if this be true then we will not be great in the life to come. Instead those who live truly living out sacrificial love will be those found in great degree because of the Kingdom of Heaven.
This passage should make us look inwardly upon ourself and ask how God is calling us to live out sacrificial love. The concepts of sacrifice, servitude, and holy slavery are hard for our culture to comprehend and sadly are not ingrained into who we are as a human person. Jesus must instead be the model to how we live and order our life. When we allow Him to be our model the rest of our life begins to take shape.
Therefore, let us look to the Lord who was willing to be this sacrificial servant. May we be willing to grow in modeling our life after His and thus be found willing to let go of everything which holds us back from reaching such a reality.
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