Our Lord’s first obedience was to the will of His Father, not to the needs of men; the saving of men was the natural outcome of His obedience to the Father. (From: Chambers, O. (1986). My Utmost For His Highest: Selections For The Year)
It’s hard not to get overwhelmed.
Everywhere you turn there are multiplied needs. You don’t have to be a Christian or a religious person to see it…
…simply human.
It’s on every channel of TV (so I’m told), it’s on the radio, in the margins of your browser, check your twitter feed, CBC, CTV, GLOBALnews…
…#troubleintheworld
(I don’t know what that is …it just seemed to fit☻)
I can’t imagine what it must be like to be a police officer (an early dream), Fire and Rescue, Paramedic, Nurse, Doctor… I have challenge enough just trying to journey with people through spiritual challenges! (…and let’s be honest, for the most part those are easy to hide so I’m sure I don’t see more than 10% of those).
So-o-o-o many needy people
So how did Jesus manage? The first in all of history who could meet every need He saw… heal every disease… cure every illness… restore every broken, lifeless, fragile heart.
John, the gospel-writer, records an incident in which Jesus visited a place that was crowded with the needy. According to John 5:3, “a multitude of sick-blind, lame and paralyzed”. That is to say – the needy, the powerless, the broken, the weak, the feeble and so-on. Jesus, John records, steps through this multitude and heals one man… a single person from the crowd.
We all think, “If that were me, I would have waved my hand and healed them all!”
…because we are slaves to our own neediness.
Christ served not the needy… but the Father.
That’s the point Chambers is trying to make in that opening quote.
The theological knots in this are perhaps beyond my pay-grade but the basic question is one we all need to wrestle through…
Who you gonna serve?
…as Dylan said… You gotta serve somebody…
…just sayin’