Cognitive Dissonance

Gospel: Mark 10: 32-45

Jesus pulls aside the twelve and tells them all that is going to happen to him in a few short weeks:  arrest, betrayal, trial, torture, and execution - but he will rise from the dead.  One can imagine a variety of ways to respond to hearing this information.  Unlikely on that list is the way in which the twelve react to the announcement.  They proceed to argue among themselves who is the most important among Jesus' followers and who will have the seats of prominence in the kingdom.  

And yet this reaction of the disciples has become the dominant Christian activity ever since.  And ever since Jesus has continued to remind us that discipleship is about service to others, not being served and concerning oneself with power, influence, and wealth.  We can readily discern who authentic disciples of the Lord Jesus are and who are frauds based on the criteria of this passage.  Those serving others are following the Lord; those obsessed with power and influence are frauds.

Christian leaders are often busy on social media attempting to show us how they are about serving others by posting about themselves at some service project, as if this were their day to day activity when more likely it is a photo op designed to create a positive image of themselves in others so they may have more power and influence.  Let us be about the work of serving others without fanfare or self-promotion, rejecting the temptations to power, influence, and wealth.