Tim’s Daily Bread Devotional 10.30.21

By October 30, 2021Daily Bread

Good morning!

I hope this day finds you and your family well. I invite you to take a few moments with me to read and reflect upon today’s scripture selection — and to carry these thoughts with you into your day.

Today’s Scripture: Matthew 20: 20-28

20 Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came to Jesus along with her sons. Bowing before him, she asked a favor of him.

21 “What do you want?” he asked.

She responded, “Say that these two sons of mine will sit, one on your right hand and one on your left, in your kingdom.”

22 Jesus replied, “You don’t know what you’re asking! Can you drink from the cup that I’m about to drink from?”

They said to him, “We can.”

23 He said to them, “You will drink from my cup, but to sit at my right or left hand isn’t mine to give. It belongs to those for whom my Father prepared it.”

24 Now when the other ten disciples heard about this, they became angry with the two brothers. 25 But Jesus called them over and said, “You know that those who rule the Gentiles show off their authority over them and their high-ranking officials order them around. 26 But that’s not the way it will be with you. Whoever wants to be great among you will be your servant. 27 Whoever wants to be first among you will be your slave— 28 just as the Human One[a] didn’t come to be served but rather to serve and to give his life to liberate many people.”

In the reading for today, Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. It will not be so among you; but whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be your slave; just as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.”

Many of the world’s greatest leaders mastered this upside-down /inside-out thinking and made it a prominent feature of their leadership style. George Washington, for example, was someone who always lowered himself to elevate others. Whenever and wherever he could, Washington would pass on compliments, even ones that he had overheard, and would find ways of communicating to others his high value of them and his esteem for their virtues. Gary Wills calls Washington a “virtuoso of resignations,” someone who “perfected the art of getting power by giving it away.”  [As quoted in The New Republic, 6 February 1989, 30.]

The word “leader” was completely understood as “servant” by Archbishop William Temple. On the last night of the Archbishop’s mission to Oxford University during World War II, a crowded congregation of students swelled St. Mary’s Church with the sound of Isaac Watts’ hymn, “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross.”

Dr. Temple stopped the singing before the last verse and said, “I want you to read over this verse before you sing it. They are tremendous words. If you don’t mean them at all, keep silent. If you mean them even a little, and want them to mean more, sing them very softly.”

What are the words of that last verse?

“Were the whole realm of nature mine 

That were an offering far too small, 

Love so amazing, so divine,

Demands my soul, my life, my all.”

In the gospel of John, we read that Jesus took a basin and a towel and did the task of a servant  — he washed the feet of his disciples. He explained this very unusual act:  “I have given you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you.”

Paul wrote to the Ephesians that there are many gifts and ministries, but they all have a common denominator. They all are grounded in the ministry of Christ who took the form of a servant.

Remember Paul’s words that he wrote to Philippi: “Have this mind among yourselves which you have in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, emptied himself, and took the form of a servant.”

Principled Christian Leadership, Servant Leadership, is not just needed for the church. It is needed in the workplace, in the home, in the wider world, wherever we are.

Martin Luther, the German reformer of the church, said, “If you are a craftsman, you will find the Bible placed in your workshop, in your hands, in your heart; it teaches and preaches how you ought to treat your neighbor. Only look at your tools, your needle, your thimble, your beer barrel, your articles of trade, your scales, your measures, and you will find this saying written on them. You will not be able to look anywhere it does not strike your eyes. None of the things with which you deal daily are too trifling to tell you this incessantly, if you are but willing to hear it; and there is no lack of such preaching, for you have as many preachers as there are transactions, commodities, tools, and other implements in your house and estate; and they shout this to your face, ‘My dear, use me toward your neighbor as you would want him to act toward you with that which is his.’”

Luther believed the ministry of a barrel maker is every bit as important and valid as that of a parish pastor. In no way could it be construed as inferior. In no way was the priest entitled to lord it over the worker.

Who was the greatest? Both were great so long as they served their Lord.

Thank you for sharing this moment of your day with me, with God, and with these words of scripture and reflection.

Grace and Peace,


Dr. Tim Bruster
Senior Pastor