Learning to be unimportant

Jesus said, "Whoever wants to be my disciple must take up their cross daily.” This is not a comfortable part of his message. And - forgive me for being flippant - Roman Empire execution equipment is hard to come by in the 21st century.
Jesus was not suggesting that we should daily seek to get ourselves killed. Dying isn’t something that can be done on a daily basis. He is referring to the attitude of mind with which we live our daily lives.
Jesus understood there to be an inverse relationship between importance in this world and importance in his Father’s world. As he put it, “The one who is least among you all who is the greatest.”
Think of the way that fractions work in maths: 1/2, 1/4, 1/8. The bigger the number in the bottom half of the fraction, the smaller the resulting number. This is how Jesus understood human life. This life is like the bottom half of a fraction. The greater we become in the ways of this world, the lesser we become in ways of God.
To look at it the other way round: the only way to become significant in God’s kingdom is by daily resolving to be unimportant in this world. The simplest application of this principle is to consider other people’s needs as more important than our own. Jesus said, “Even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve.”
In Jesus' day, a man or woman seen carrying a cross was on a one-way journey towards being nothing. Their reputation was in tatters, their assets had almost certainly been seized, and they themselves were about to suffer an agonising and humiliating death. This is the path that Jesus had chosen for himself, because he knew it would benefit us. He was about to become nothing in the eyes of this world in order to achieve an unimaginable gain for the work of God.
If we wish to learn from Jesus, we must learn to put others before ourselves, especially those others who are not valued or cared for by the society around us.

Recently published:

'The Scruffy Disciple'

the life and loves of a disciple of Jesus 

by Robert Harrison

An Undesirable Job - Sunday 18th September 2017

Being a shepherd on the arid hillsides of the middle east is not a romantic occupation. Anyone who has visited that part of the world will be familiar with the sight of young men, standing in the middle of nowhere, with a long stick slung across their shoulders, surrounded by sheep. It is a boring job which involves long hours outside in the heat of the day. And, being a task that requires little skill or agility, it generally falls to teenagers or old men.
This situation was no different in the ancient world. When Jesus spoke of himself being a 'good shepherd’ he was playing on people’s prejudices against those who worked on the lowest rung of society’s ladder. Western art presents the image of Jesus as the Good Shepherd as a romantic icon, but that is not at all how the idea resonated when Jesus first said it. John’s gospel tells us that the immediate reaction of Jesus' audience was to exclaim, ‘He's out of his mind!’
By likening himself to a shepherd, Jesus was expressing astounding humility, presenting God's care and provision as an act of lowly service. By casting himself as a good shepherd, Jesus was stressing that he was proud to fulfil such a role, and do it with unprecedented care. The nearest equivalent in our modern world would be a toilet attendant who doesn’t just clean the toilets but who polishes them as well.
This is our God! God gladly takes on the undesirable role of looking after the human race, and does so with a wholehearted dedication and affection which borders on absurdity. God is proud to be a shepherd, and a good one at that.
As you go about your business, be sure to notice the low paid, low status workers - those who do the tasks no-one else wants to do. Pause to appreciate them. These are Jesus’ sort of people.

Servant of Servants - Sunday 30th April 2017

The resurrection of Jesus was not simply a matter of resuscitation. Jesus, after his death and resurrection, was different to his former self. For a start, he seems to have looked a bit different; people didn’t immediately recognise him (though that may have been because they were not expecting to see him). Also, the post-resurrection Jesus doesn’t seem to to have been subject to the laws of nature in the same way. He appeared and disappeared suddenly - even when the doors were firmly locked for fear of the Jews. In his resurrection, Jesus hadn’t returned to his old life; he had moved on to a new life.
But physical features are not that important. What really matters is character and personality because these are the foundation of our relationship with him. Was this the same Jesus as before? Or a different, heavenly version?
The story of Jesus meeting his disciples by the Sea of Galilee, early one morning after an unsuccessful night’s fishing, shows us that the post-resurrection Jesus was very much the same old Jesus. As he ever did, he surprised and confused his disciples. As he ever did, he cared for and provided for his disciples.
In his resurrection, Jesus hadn’t reverted to being an all-powerful super-being, to be treated with terrified deference. Far from it. After his resurrection, Jesus - who had once washed his friends’ stinking feet - cooked breakfast for them. Jesus hadn’t transformed into a king of kings. He remained, as he had ever been, the servant of servants. And so, we should assume, he remains to this day.