A King Who Serves

Transcript

Hello, my friend… so glad you're with me today. This is By God's Call — day 302, A King Who Serves.

"For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." Mark 10:45.

This verse doesn't stand alone. It comes right after a somewhat awkward scene: James and John, two of Jesus's closest disciples, come asking for the best seats in the kingdom — one at his right, one at his left, when he comes into glory. And the other ten disciples get indignant, not because they thought the request was wrong, but because they wanted those seats too.

It's in that setting of ambition dressed up as devotion that Jesus speaks the line that became the standard of greatness forever after.

Notice the title he uses for himself: Son of Man. That's not just any title — it comes from the book of Daniel, chapter 7, where a heavenly figure is given everlasting dominion, glory, and a kingdom that never ends. Jesus is identifying himself with that figure of supreme power. And it is precisely that One — the One with every right to thrones, subjects, and honor — who chooses to describe his mission with a word nobody expected: serve.

He did not come to be served. Think about that. He had every right to demand it. The angels already served him in heaven. But he chose to empty himself — of privilege, comfort, position — to wash feet, heal wounds, feed crowds, and weep with those who weep.

And Jesus's service was never merely symbolic or distant. He touched lepers no one else would touch. He stopped for the woman who had been bleeding for twelve years. He knelt before his own disciples to wash their feet, the night before he died. Real service costs time, costs pride, costs comfort — and Jesus paid all of it without complaint.

But the highest point of this verse is still ahead: "to give his life as a ransom for many." Ransom is a specific word — it's the price paid to free someone who is trapped, enslaved, with no way out on their own. Jesus didn't come just to give us an example of service. He came to pay, with his own life, a debt we could never settle ourselves. His service reached its peak at the cross.

Now think about your own life for a moment. How many times have you asked, even without realizing it, for the best seat? How many times have you measured a task's worth by the recognition it would bring? Jesus invites us onto a completely different path — one where greatness is measured by how much you serve, not by how much you are served.

So today, I want to challenge you with something simple but hard: find one task nobody else wants to do. It could be at home, at work, at church. And do it gladly, in Jesus's name, without expecting anyone to notice, without expecting any praise at all. That is what it looks like to follow the King who came to serve.

Stay close to God. Pray — then act. I'll see you tomorrow, my friend.