Jesus' Prayer Life

I consider the practices Jesus had of prayer to be a solid example of prayer.  Jesus told us to imitate him in all things, and certainly prayer is no exception.  Some Christians may have other practices of prayer, which is fine, but this seems to be a good one.

Daily Prayer
Jesus was a good Jew, and like all good Jews he prayed multiple times a day.  In the ancient world, Jews prayed two times a day (morning and evening prayers), or in some times and places (like first century Jerusalem), three times a day (morning, noon and evening).  These regular prayers consisted of:

1. The Shema
"The Lord is our Lord, the Lord is one.  You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind and with all your strength." (Based on Deuteronomy 6:4-5)

2. Some version of the Eighteen Benedictions
Jesus later replaced the 18 Benedictions with the related, but more compact, gospel-oriented Lord's Prayer:

"Father, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins, For we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.'"
 (Luke 11:2-4)

3. Daily requests
Probably done during a main time of prayer, either the evening or noon prayer.

These prayers could be done by oneself or with others in a synagogue.

Regular Practices
1. Brief prayer
Jesus taught that prayer did not need to be long, especially since long prayers often call attention to oneself.  (Matt. 6:7-8)

2. Direct prayers
Jesus taught not to elongate or to have unnecessarily repetitious prayer.  Of course, the Lord's Prayer is a repeated prayer, but Jesus isn't speaking against liturgy, here, but against repeating the same words over and over.  "God already knows," Jesus says, "saying it once is sufficient to make the request." (Matt 6:7-8)

3. Secret prayer
Jesus commanded prayer in secret.  This did not mean that all prayer should be private, as the Lord's prayer and many prayers Jesus spoke were public.  But Jesus warned against all prayers being public, because prayer could be a display for others in that circumstance, and not actual speech to God. (A good warning for  religious leaders.)  (Matthew 6:6)

4. Public prayer
Jesus commanded some public prayer, such as the Lord's prayer which implies it to be done with others ("Our Father"; "give us our daily bread").

5. Spoken prayer
All the prayers we have of Jesus were spoken aloud.  Even Jesus' most private prayer "Take this cup from me" was spoken aloud. (Matt. 11:25; Mark 14:36)

Although it is not significant, the only physical position Jesus' mentions for prayer is standing. (Matt. 6:5; Luke 18:11, 13).  The only position mentioned for Jesus was on the ground (Mark 14:35), although this seems an exception.

Occasional Prayer
1. Communion with the Father
Jesus sought to spend time with God the Father as often, as he could.  During his regular ministry, it was difficult to get time alone with God, so he would occasionally get up before everyone else to pray, or send everyone away in order to have an hour with God.  His life was so busy that it wasn't always possible, and his communion time was often cut short.  (Mark 1:35; Mark 6:45-46)

2. Fasting
Of course, Jesus spent one time in fasting and prayer for 40 days before his ministry.  In this time, it seems that he didn't eat for the full period of time, but he did drink water.  (Luke 4:1-4)
      It was a common Jewish practice to spend one day a week (Friday) in fasting since the time of the Babylonian exile.  It seems that Jesus did not participate in this fast, but he suggested that his followers would participate in this practice after he was no longer with them (Luke 5:33-35).  Jesus expected his disciples to fast, which is why he gave instructions for them not to display their fasting practice to others (Matthew 6:16-18).

3. All night prayer
There were two nights in which Jesus prayed all night.  Once when he was making the decision as to who would be the 12 apostles.  The second on the night before his arrest and death.  The first seems to be a time in which Jesus needed the Father's direct guidance.  The second, as Jesus told his three closest disciples, was in order to be prepared for the time of trial that was to come. (Luke 6:12-13; Mark 14:32-42)

4. Declarative prayer
On occasion, Jesus would just proclaim an impromptu praise, or a public prayer for others.  Jesus would also use portions of the Lord's prayer as the basis for prayer in his own words.  Jesus' prayer was sometimes based on liturgy and sometimes completely spontaneous. (Matthew 11:25-26; John 17)


All kinds of Christian practice come from this pattern of prayer.  However, there is little that we can use here to condemn others. The only practices Jesus actually commanded is the use of the Lord's prayer and the practice of isolated prayer. Apart from that, there is much freedom for all Christian practice of prayer, including spontaneous prayer and liturgical prayer; forty days of fasting and no fasting; all night prayer and brief prayer.  Like Jesus, it might be good that our prayer practices vary and depend on the circumstance.

What Jesus says about Foreigners

Luke 4:24-30

Jesus said, "Truly I say to you, no prophet is welcome in his hometown. But I say to you in truth, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the sky was shut up for three years and six months, when a great famine came over all the land; and yet Elijah was sent to none of them, but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian." And all the people in the synagogue were filled with rage as they heard these things; and they got up and drove Him out of the city, and led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city had been built, in order to throw Him down the cliff. But passing through their midst, He went His way.

Matthew 8:5-13

When Jesus entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, imploring Him, and saying, "Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, fearfully tormented."  Jesus said to him, "I will come and heal him." But the centurion said, "Lord, I am not worthy for You to come under my roof, but just say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I also am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to this one, 'Go!' and he goes, and to another, 'Come!' and he comes, and to my slave, 'Do this!' and he does it." Now when Jesus heard this, He marveled and said to those who were following, "Truly I say to you, I have not found such great faith with anyone in Israel. I say to you that many will come from east and west, and recline at the table with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven;  but the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." And Jesus said to the centurion, "Go; it shall be done for you as you have believed." And the servant was healed that very moment.

Mark 7:24-30

Jesus got up and went away from there to the region of Tyre. And when He had entered a house, He wanted no one to know of it; yet He could not escape notice. But after hearing of Him, a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately came and fell at His feet. Now the woman was a Gentile, of the Syrophoenician race. And she kept asking Him to cast the demon out of her daughter. And He was saying to her, "Let the children be satisfied first, for it is not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs." But she answered and said to Him, "Yes, Lord, but even the dogs under the table feed on the children's crumbs." And He said to her, "Because of this answer go; the demon has gone out of your daughter." And going back to her home, she found the child lying on the bed, the demon having left.

Matthew 28:18-20

Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."

Matthew 24:14

This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.

Matthew 25:31-40

When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on His right, 'Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.' Then the righteous will answer Him, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?' The King will answer and say to them, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.'

Did Jesus Beat Up the Rich?

It must be admitted, as we saw in the last post, Jesus was a little tough on the rich.  And it did seem to be a little sweeping.  Why did Jesus and James seem to be so hard on this particular social class?  I mean, did they do something so wrong?  And to thoroughly condemn them seems to be a bit excessive. 

            There is a definitive reason for this that can be described in four points:

1. God commands the wealthy to use their wealth for the poor

This is a consistent ethic throughout the Scripture, as we have seen above.  There are three main sections of Hebrew Scripture: The Law, The Prophets and the Writings.  The Law commands loans and alms to be given to the poor.63  The Prophets command the poor to be assisted or God would not bless them.64  The Writings speak of the dangers that happen to the wealthy if they do not give to the poor. 65  This is not a minor theme, nor is it easily ignored.  This does not mean that the majority of Bible teachers do not have on their blinders, looking only at their theological focus, but it is clearly at the heart of loving one’s neighbor in the OT.

2. Jesus is prophetically commanding an ethic of love

Jesus is not so much establishing a new law, as he is interpreting the Mosaic Law through the rose-colored lens of acting for the benefit of everyone.⁶⁶  And Jesus’ ethic is not based in the realm of emotions, but in bold action.  Part of this action, an aspect that Jesus repeats a few times, is the need of the wealthy to give of what they have to the poor.  Jesus isn’t erasing the old Law and simply writing his own over the stone tablets—he is simply re-commanding what is already a part of God’s ethic.  This is so much so that Abraham, in one of Jesus’ parables, stated that the wealthy giving to the poor was so clearly commanded in “Moses and the Prophets:” that it should be obvious to everyone.⁶⁷

3. The wealthy only occasionally give to the poor

The command of God was not being obeyed by the wealthy.  Surely, some wealthy gave the occasional alms, and a few would assist their poor relatives.  But the heart of the command was being ignored.  Beggars lined the street, and many poor languished and suffered for their poverty.  All the while, the wealthy not only ignored them, but they condemned them.  “They must be judged by God.”  “Repent and get right with God and you will have what you need!”  Instead of the poor being assisted by the wealthy, they were ostracized by them.

4. The wealthy are judged by God

Jesus makes it clear that there are wealthy who are righteous, a part of God’s people.  But these are the wealthy who surrender their wealth, not keeping it for themselves.⁶⁸  The wealthy are to remember that their wealth is not their own, but loaned to them by their Banker, God.  When God gave them the loan, He said, “You are to give any excess you have to the poor and needy—do not keep it for yourself.”  But the wealthy ignored their Banker and used the money for themselves.  The Banker kept an eye on the accounts, until finally an accounting day came—and the Banker took back everything he had given, and more.  The wealthy are not God’s favorites.  They have been blessed by God, but that blessing comes with a condition—use the blessing for the benefit of those who most need it. ⁶⁹

Jesus was not interested in "beating up" the wealthy.  Rather, he was calling them to repent of keeping their wealth for their own power, but instead to give it to those who need it the most.  He is not saying this because he dislikes wealthy people, but because he loves them and he wants to see them have all the blessings of God.  When Jesus said that he came to "seek and save the lost" it was in the context of him convincing a wealthy man to surrender his wealth to the poor. 70

Wealth (just like fame and power) is not actually a blessing for Christians, but in reality a test.  It is a test to see if one would use the wealth as God sees fit, or would use it as the world sees fit—to increase one’s power, comfort or wealth, or to surrender it to those who need it most.  C.S. Lewis passed the test (he gave the majority of his wealth to charity, choosing to live on a limited income).  Rick Warrens passed the test (he gives more than 90% of his wealth to charity, going to the poorest in the world).  Mother Theresa famously passed the test, surrendering her life for the poor.

            I mention these exceptions, although they are rare.  The far majority of Christians who face this hardest of all tests fail miserably.  They make excuses why they should use their wealth for themselves.  They make excuses not to give to the poor.  In this way, the wealthy have become disfavored and rejected by God.  And so Jesus and James and others in the New Testament have harsh words to say to them.  Because their wealth they spend on themselves is not a sign of God’s blessing, but rather of their disobedience and arrogance.  Of their failure.

Notes

63. e.g. Deuteronomy 15:4-11

64. e.g. Jeremiah 5:28-29

65. e.g. Psalm 41:1-3; Proverbs 21:13

66. This is the point of the “You have heard it said” section of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5.  Each law or interpretation of the law is re-interpreted by the command “Love your neighbor as yourself.”  Then Jesus wraps up by saying that only the leaders who obey the love command are to be listened to, the rest are false prophets (Matthew 7:12-23).

67. Luke 16:19-31, esp. v. 29

68. Mark 10:21-25; Luke 19:1-10.  It is interesting that Job and Abraham are often given as examples of people who were wealthy but named righteous before God.  It is clear in Scripture that part of the reason they were righteous is because they generously gave to the poor and immigrants. Genesis 18:2-8; Job 29:11-16.

69. Luke 16 is the primary focus for this understanding.  In the parable of the unrighteous steward, Jesus interprets as a person using money that was not his own to make friends of the poor so he would be helped when he was poorer than they.  Jesus also in that chapter, uses the example of the rich man who didn’t help Lazarus, a destitute beggar at the rich man’s gates, and so was brutally punished in the afterlife.

70. Luke 19:1-10

Jesus and the Rich

Jesus was determined to go to Jerusalem.  He was going there to proclaim his authority over the city, but also to be killed by the leaders.  Nevertheless, he made it clear that he was heading toward Jerusalem.  Some of the Samaritans, who thought the temple in Jerusalem was not of God, was angry at Jesus because of his focus on the city, but Jesus ignored them.  Every step drew him closer to the cross, and he called everyone who followed him to take up a cross for themselves.

As Jesus was walking to Jerusalem, a young man stopped him and asked a question, “Good Teacher, what do I have to do to gain eternal life—to enter God’s kingdom?”  It seemed at first that the man was just trying to test Jesus so Jesus said, “Don’t flatter me.  Only God is ‘good.’  And as far as your question goes, everyone knows how to have eternal life, you don’t need to ask me about that.  Follow the commands from God—Don’t commit adultery, don’t bear false witness, honor your father and mother—you know all that.”

            The young man replied, “Yes, I know all that.  I have been keeping these commands all of my life.  Are you telling me that there isn’t anything more?”  Jesus then saw that the man was sincere and he desired to help him in any way he could, “If you want to be sure of God’s kingdom, then do this—sell off everything you have, then take that money and give it all to the poor.  At that point, your reward in heaven is guaranteed.  Once you’ve done that, follow me.  I am going to the cross, and anyone who would come after me must deny themselves, take up their cross and follow me.  Come.” 

            However, the young man walked away in mourning because he had many possessions and to get rid of them all was very difficult.  He didn’t know he could do it.  Watching the man, Jesus mentioned to his disciples, “It is very hard for a rich man to enter into God’s kingdom.”  The disciples were surprised at this, so Jesus said, “Are you surprised?  It is so hard for a rich man to enter into God’s kingdom, that it would be easier for me to take a camel and put it through a needle’s eye than to get a rich man into God’s kingdom.”  The disciples were shocked and said, “Then can no one be saved?  Can no one enter into God’s kingdom?”  Jesus nodded and said, “It is just about impossible.  But the things that are impossible for people are more than possible if God is with you.” 

Peter's boat, still at the Sea of Galilee

            Peter, though, thought about what Jesus said to the wealthy man and asked, “Lord?  You told that man to sell his possessions and give to the poor.  But we didn’t sell our possessions.  We left them, yes, but they are still sitting there waiting for us.  And I had no intention of selling them.  Will we gain God’s kingdom?”

            Jesus replied, “Don’t worry, Peter.  Anyone who gives up what they have for me and for the gospel—whether it be their family, their homes, their land or their job—will gain more, much more.  Those who surrender all for me will gain more family, more homes, more land and more work—and more persecutions.  And in the end, they will gain eternal life.”

            A little while later, Jesus was travelling through Jericho on his way to Jerusalem.  As he was passing through, a huge crowd surrounded him, blocking the streets.  There was a very wealthy man in Jericho named Zaccheus.  He was a chief tax collector of the Romans, and that and his wealth indicated that he had cheated money out of his fellow Jews.  Because of this, he was ostracized by all of his people, they wouldn’t even go to his house or greet him. 

            Zaccheus, however, greatly desired to be right with God.  And he figured that Jesus was one of the last chances he had to repent and make peace with God.  So Zaccheus tried to get through the crowd to meet Jesus.  But he was so short, no one even noticed he was trying to get through.  Frustrated, Zaccheus decided that even if he had to look foolish, he would meet Jesus.  So Zaccheus went ahead of the crowd and climbed a tree, and then waited for Jesus to pass it. 

            As the crowd passed, they laughed at him, but Zaccheus didn’t care.  One of those from Jericho whispered to Jesus, “This is Zaccheus, the chief tax collector of Jericho.”  That was all Jesus needed to know.  He said, “Come down Zaccheus.  I need to stay at your house today.”  Zaccheus thought that was great—he was finally having the change to make his life right with God.  But some others didn’t think it was great.  They said, “Doesn’t he know what a terrible sinner this man is?  Why is he even talking to him?”

            Zaccheus heard the accusation and said, “I say that beginning today I will give half of what I make to the poor.  And on top of that, I will do just as Moses’ law commands and give back four times as much to anyone whom I have stolen from.”  Jesus was impressed and said, “You see—today Zaccheus has come back from sin and is once again a child of Abraham.  For the Son of Man came to seek and save that which was lost.”

Cheap Grace v. Costly Grace

The following is from Deitrich Bonhoeffer's book The Cost of Discipleship.

Cheap grace is the deadly enemy of our Church. We are fighting today for costly grace. Cheap grace means grace sold on the market like cheapjacks’ wares. The sacraments, the forgiveness of sin, and the consolations of religion are thrown away at cut prices. Grace is represented as the Church’s inexhaustible treasury, from which she showers blessings with generous hands, without asking questions or fixing limits. Grace without price; grace without cost! The essence of grace, we suppose, is that the account has been paid in advance; and, because it has been paid, everything can be had for nothing.... 

Cheap grace means grace as a doctrine, a principle, a system. It means forgiveness of sins proclaimed as a general truth, the love of God taught as the Christian 'conception' of God. An intellectual assent to that idea is held to be of itself sufficient to secure remission of sins.... In such a Church the world finds a cheap covering for its sins; no contrition is required, still less any real desire to be delivered from sin. Cheap grace therefore amounts to a denial of the living Word of God, in fact, a denial of the Incarnation of the Word of God.

Cheap grace means the justification of sin without the justification of the sinner. Grace alone does everything they say, and so everything can remain as it was before. 'All for sin could not atone.' Well, then, let the Christian live like the rest of the world, let him model himself on the world’s standards in every sphere of life, and not presumptuously aspire to live a different life under grace from his old life under sin....

Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession.... Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate. 

Costly grace is the treasure hidden in the field; for the sake of it a man’ will gladly go and self all that he has. It is the pearl of great price to buy which the merchant will sell all his goods. It is the kingly rule of Christ, for whose sake a man will pluck out the eye which causes him to stumble, it is the call of Jesus Christ at which the disciple leaves his nets and follows him.

Costly grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again and again, the gift which must be asked for, the door at which a man must knock. Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ. It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life. It is costly because it condemns sin, and grace because it justifies the sinner. Above all, it is costly because it cost God the life of his Son: “ye were bought at a price,” and what has cost God much cannot be cheap for us. Above all, it is grace because God did not reckon his Son too dear a price to pay for our life, but delivered him up for us. Costly grace is the Incarnation of God.

Costly grace is the sanctuary of God; it has to be protected from the world, and not thrown to the dogs. It is therefore the living word, the Word of God, which he speaks as it pleases him. Costly grace confronts us as a gracious call to follow Jesus. It comes as a word of forgiveness to the broken spirit and the contrite heart. Grace is costly because it compels a man to submit to the yoke of Christ and follow him; it is grace because Jesus says: “My yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Jesus Doesn't Believe in Cheap Grace

It's easy to say that salvation is free. It's easy to go to seeker services and feel good, pumped up spiritually for another week.  It's easy to hear what we want to hear.  It's easy to separate what Jesus actually said and did from our lives and claim a superficial Christianity.

But Jesus didn't allow for any of that.  He isn't interested in being people's savior without being their Lord.  He'll only accept people as His when they are willing to make the greatest sacrifices.

• Jesus said we have to "hate" our family and friends.
• Jesus said we have to surrender our possessions.
• Jesus said we have to give up on selfish ambition.
• Jesus said we have to stop looking for ways to promote ourselves.
• Jesus said we need to sacrifice ourselves for others.
• Jesus said we need to accept homelessness, rejection, persecution and death.
• And Jesus said that if we ignore any of these, then we cannot be his disciple.  We cannot truthfully call him Lord.

Jesus requires these difficult requirements because in this world it is easy to get distracted by the things that will cause the world to implode.  To love wealth is to destroy others.  To have the destruction of innocent people as a tool is your belt is evil.  To see other people as less than human undermines the world.  To be so loyal to family or friends to stand with them as they do wrong is to do wrong. To get ahead by any means possible is the destruction of the weak.  To  be with Jesus is to be against all of these.

Following Jesus isn't pretty.  It requires tough minds, tough wills and tough decisions.

Why does the Protestant church insist upon free grace?  Because it is available to anyone, no matter what they've done in the past.  It's available to anyone, no matter who they are or how much money or time they have.

However, once we have committed to Jesus as Lord, we need to see how we can best follow him by the power of the Holy Spirit.  We can't make a firm step in any of these areas without the Spirit.  But with God's power, we can do all this and more.

The Cost of Discipleship

Because Jesus was going to be killed as a revolutionary, he recognized that being a follower of his is no easy task.  They would be attacked, arrested and even killed for following him.  And not only that, but Jesus wanted everyone to recognize that if they were going to be given honor from God on the judgement day, they needed to be servants and the lowest of all in this world.  This makes following Jesus very difficult, and Jesus didn’t make it easy to do.

Jesus at one point had a large crowd following him, and many of them were thinking about being his disciple.  Jesus announced to the crowd, “If you want to follow me, your parents and friends and everyone you know will think you hate them.  You will have to act like it, because you must give up everything to be my disciple.  In fact, you will have to give up your inheritance, your possessions, even your own life, if you are a disciple of mine.

            “Let’s say someone wanted to build a skyscraper, and then halfway through it, he ran out of money.  Everyone passing by would laugh at it because he didn’t plan ahead to know how much it would cost.  Even so, before you become my disciple, look at how much it will cost you.

            “In the same way, if there was a king that had an army of ten thousand, but he was being attacked by another king with an army of twenty thousand.  Wouldn’t the first king wave the white flag and ask for terms of surrender?  And wouldn’t he give up everything he has in order to gain peace?  Even so, if you want peace on the day of judgement, you will have to give up everything you possess.”

            One of the crowd then came up to Jesus and said, “I want to be your disciple. I will follow you wherever you go.”  Jesus replied, “God has provided even the animals of the world homes, but I have no home—remember that, if you choose to follow me.”

            Another wanted to be Jesus’ disciple, and they asked, “But first let me say goodbye to my family.”  Jesus replied, “Elijah allowed his disciple Elisha to say goodbye to his family.  But one more important than Elijah is here now.  If you turn back away from me, then you are not worthy of God’s kingdom.”

            Jesus came up to another and said, “Follow me.”  That one asked, “Let me first bury my father, he is sick.”  Jesus replied, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you follow me.”

            Two of Jesus’ disciples, James and John, came up to Jesus and asked, “Lord, when you are ruler of the kingdom of God, we have a great favor to ask you.”  Jesus said, “Yes, what is it?”  They replied, “We would like to rule with you, one of us on one side of you, and the other on the other.”  Jesus said, “You don’t know what you are asking.  Are you able to drink the cup I am to drink and to be baptized the way that I will?  Are you ready to suffer and die?”  They said, “Yes, anything, Lord.”  Jesus said, “Well, you will suffer like that, but I don’t think you really understand.  Even so, the high positions in the kingdom of God aren’t mine to grant—only the Father can determine those positions.”

            The other 10 heard that James and John asked this, and they were angry.  Jesus heard their murmuring and said, “Look, if you guys really want the top positions in God’s kingdom, then you’ll have to work at it now.  If you want to be first, then be last.  If you want to be great, then be lowly.  The rulers of this world, they call themselves “ministers” or “servants of the state”.  But in fact they rule harshly.  But you are not to be like that.  If you want to be the greatest, then now you need to be a slave.  In the same way, the Son of Man is giving up everything for the sake of others, in order to deliver them from slavery to sin.”

            At one point, Jesus was at a party, and he told the guests of the party, “Let me give you a good rule.  If you want to be seen as important, don’t fight for the best seats.  Otherwise your host will ask you to move somewhere else, and then you will look like an idiot.  Rather, sit in the worst places, so your host will come up to you and say, ‘Why are you sitting here?  Why don’t you sit up front?’  And then everyone will see how important you are.”

            Jesus then spoke to the host of the party, “If you want to have a party that will really give you honor, then don’t bother inviting your friends and family who can pay you back.  Sure, they’ll like you, but God will give you nothing.  But if you invite the poor, homeless and needy to your party, then God will give you honor that you would never gain on earth.”