This is Spoken Gospel.

We’re dedicated to seeing
Jesus in all of scripture.

In each episode, we see what’s
happening in a Biblical text

and how it sheds light
on Jesus and his gospel.

Let’s jump in.

Jesus’ disciples are concerned
about their status in his Kingdom.

They tell Jesus they want
to sit at his right hand.

Moments before the disciples dismiss
children as people unworthy of Jesus’ attention.

But Jesus explains that we become great by
serving the neediest and lowliest
and by becoming like children.

Almost immediately someone who
is already great, a rich young man,

approaches Jesus and asks
what it takes to get eternal life.

Jesus tells him he must become like a servant by
selling everything he has and giving it to the poor”.

Overwhelmed by the cost, the
young man walks away sorrowful

and disheartened at the
thought of giving up all he has.

Jesus says that entering God’s Kingdom by serving
everyone or giving up everything is humanly impossible.

If we are saved, it’s only
because God makes it possible.

Soon after a poor and blind man named
Bartimaeus asks for healing and Jesus gives it to him.

These two men prove the point Jesus
has been making to his disciples.

It’s not the great who enter the
Kingdom of God, but the least.

Jesus also wants his disciples to
know that following him is costly.

It will require both the death of themselves
and the things they consider precious.

Becoming great in the eyes of Jesus means
losing everything in the eyes of this world.

Jesus is the ultimate picture of the
greatest becoming like the lowest.

Jesus came not to be served but to serve,
and to give his life as a ransom for many.

Unlike the rich young man, Jesus gave
up all that he had for people
who didn’t deserve it.

Like a child, Jesus obeys his Father’s plan
and serves his disciples all the way to death.

But it was precisely through Jesus’ death, and
by becoming like a child he rose from
the grave and now sits at God’s right hand.

Jesus, the last, has become the first.

And the good news is that when we follow Jesus’ path
into becoming the least, we will be made great in him.

I pray that the Holy Spirit opens your eyes
to see the God who is greater than you are.

And may you see Jesus as the one who is
worth giving up everything you are to serve him.