Daily Lesson for June 27, 2019

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Luke chapter 22 verses 24 through 27:

24 A dispute also arose among them as to which one of them was to be regarded as the greatest. 25But he said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those in authority over them are called benefactors. 26But not so with you; rather the greatest among you must become like the least, and the leader like one who serves. 27For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one at the table? But I am among you as one who serves.”

In the Roman world of Jesus the social order was constructed in such a way as a very small number of wealthy and powerful patriarchs decided almost everything in the community. It was a patronage society and these “patrons” or “benefactors” wielded their social and economic force over the broader community by either yielding or withholding their beneficence. The patron determined the degree to which his (always his) slaves could have freedom and also the extent to which certain projects for the good of community could advance. They were called benefactors; but their regard was always tied to their social and monetary power. They were first in society; but they’re regard always came from whatever power they had over other people’s freedom and possibility. 

It was not altogether different from our own society, though the powers of coercion in our own context are more subtle and not as outrightly visible as in the first century. 

One of the primary reasons the Jesus movement gathered such force was its radical break from the Roman social construct of the time. With the Jesus community slaves were actually often considered first in the community while the most powerful “benefactors” in the broader social convention were asked to participate in the so-called “slave work” of the Jesus community — work like serving the table, washing the dishes, and burning the trash. One could become great in this new community; but one did so not by the power of coercion but rather through service and true self-giving. 

“The greatest among you must become like the least, and the leader like one who serves.”  This was the radical vision of the early Jesus movement. It is just as counter-culturally radical today. 

And the question always is, do we have the guts to put it into practice?