In Matthew 20:28 the Lord said, “The Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve.” So many, especially some of the young people who are living together, want to be served, but they never serve. They do not clean the house; they do not wash the dishes; they do not take care of their clothing; they do not do anything. They just like to sleep, rest, and enjoy life among the brothers and sisters. This is not the humanity for the church life. The humanity of the church life is one to serve, not to be served. We even have to serve at the cost of our life. We do need such a spirit to serve others. This can come only from the humanity of Jesus.
When the Lord Jesus came to Jerusalem for the last time, the chief priests and the elders asked Him where He got the authority to do the things that He was doing. The Lord Jesus was a proper man; He did not answer them. Sometimes it is better not to answer, but to turn the question to the one who asks. This is what Jesus did. He asked them whether the baptism of John was from heaven or of man. If they answered Him, He would tell them where He got His authority. So they reasoned together and realized that if they were to say that John’s baptism was from heaven, He would ask why they had not believed him. And if they were to say that John’s baptism was from man, the people would stone them because all believed that John was a prophet. So their best answer was to tell a lie. Therefore, they answered, “We do not know. He also said to them, Neither do I tell you by what authority I do these things” (Matt. 21:27). By this the Lord indicated that it was not that they did not know, but that they did not want to tell Him. They lied, but He would not lie. Because they would not tell Him, neither would He tell them. He had such a humanity.
When He was being judged before His crucifixion, the high priest asked whether or not He was the Son of God. The Lord Jesus replied, “You said it! Moreover, I say to you, Henceforth you shall see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power and coming on the clouds of heaven” (Matt. 26:64). At the beginning of the book of Matthew the Lord took His standing as a man, and at the end of the book He still stood as a man. He said that the Son of Man would sit in the heavens at the right hand of God, and the Son of Man would come on the clouds of heaven. He will be the Son of Man forever. He will never leave this standing.
Later, when He was accused by the chief priests and elders, He answered nothing. They all marveled greatly at Him. “And when He was accused by the chief priests and elders, He answered nothing....And He did not answer him, not even to one word, so that the governor marveled greatly” (Matt. 27:12, 14). Many times if we would be quiet, others would marvel at us. We make ourselves cheap by talking too much. The more we talk, the more we cheapen ourselves. The Man portrayed in the Gospel of Matthew did not say anything when it was not necessary. What a humanity we see in this book!
Now we must go on to the Gospel of Mark. Mark tells us clearly that Christ is the servant of God. But what kind of man is this servant? First of all, He is a very diligent man. Mark 1 reveals that He was exceedingly busy. I do believe that He went to bed quite late; yet verse 35 says, “And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed.” Many times people excuse themselves for not rising early because they have gone to bed so late. They feel that they can make it only to the “eleven o’clock worship service.” But the humanity which is only good for the so-called eleven o’clock service can never be good for the church life. It is only good for the eleven o’clock service. The church life needs a humanity that is diligent and alert. Sometimes the Lord was so busy that He did not have time even to eat. His relatives said that He was beside Himself (Mark 3:20-21), but sometimes we need to be the kind of man that is beside himself. The people who would not be beside themselves are usually those who are lazy. If a person is diligent in the things of the Lord, others may say that he is beside himself.
The same thing occurred in Mark 6. The Lord and His disciples were very busy, and many were coming and going so that they had no time to eat. “Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while” (Mark 6:31). Though sometimes He was beside Himself, yet at other times He withdrew from everyone. He did this not only to rest in body, but also in spirit. He was so balanced. Sometimes we must be busy, and at other times we need to stay away to rest our body and our spirit. This is the real balanced humanity.
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