A CHILDREN'S
ORIENTED SERVICE
Oct 18, 2009
with The Rev. Peter Williams

The Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Mark

The Gospel: Mark 10:35-45
One Day, two friends of Jesus, James and John, (their father’s name is Zebedee) went to talk with Jesus.
They said to Jesus, “Teacher, we want you to do a favor for us.” Jesus said ”Fine-- but what is it exactly that you want me to do?”
They said, “When you are in charge of your kingdom of glory, we want to sit up in front of everybody, Next to your throne, where you are sitting… one of us on your right side, the other on your left side.” Jesus said “if you share my glory, you might have to share my hard work and suffering too. Can you do that? I am going to go through some very rough times.” They said, “We can do it too!”
Jesus said, “Well, God will indeed call you to share the hard work and suffering I will have. But I cannot promise you a special seat next to me in the Kingdom of glory—
That is not my responsibility, and God the father has already picked people for those seats. The other 10 followers in the group heard about this conversation, and they were very annoyed with James and John! Jesus saw that there was trouble in the group, so he called all 12 of them together, and told them, “You know the people who don’t believe in God and live according to the everyday rules of this world think being the boss is very important. The leaders use their power to control everyone and give orders. It can’t be that way with my followers.
“If you want to follow me, and you want to be important, you have to help everyone else. If you want to be the most important, you have to be a servant to everyone else.
Remember, your savior did not come to the world to receive honor from everyone else,
But to help everyone, and even to give up his life to save everyone else!”