"Don't let anyone call you 'Rabbi,' for you have only one teacher, and all of you are equal as brothers and sisters.
And don't address anyone here on earth as 'Father', for only God in heaven is your Father.
And don't let anyone call you 'Teacher,' for you have only one teacher, the Messiah.
The greatest among you must be a servant.
But those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.
Matthew 23:8-12 NLT
Jesus is challenging all the power structures that people have created, particularly religious ones, but he also challenges here family too, and society structures that put some above, and some as less than.
Today in Aotearoa NZ our government is apparently going to apologise for generations of harm caused to people in care of the state. Abuse and harm caused by those with power. The State, religious organisations, those holding power over others. This problem is no smaller today than the one Jesus preached against 2000 years ago, because it's a heart issue. We can't be trusted with power.
And the antidote?
Serve.
Not a popular idea perhaps, but when we serve, love, give of ourselves without wanting or desiring anything back, when we serve because we love, when there is no "them", just us, things change and shift in us.
Small shifts.
#wordsofJesus
#redletterBible
#serve
#small
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