Jump Start # 329

John 15:20 “Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also.”

  Our passage today comes from a long section in John in which Jesus is giving His final lessons to the disciples before He enters Jerusalem. Jesus reminds his disciples that they are part of something special and unique and the world does not grasp nor appreciate what they are doing. Jesus tells them in vs. 18, “If the world hates you…”. Again, in verse 19, “…but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you.” Our verse extends this hatred to violence, “if they persecuted me, they will persecute you.”

  There are a couple of thoughts I want to share from our verse today. First, ‘a slave is not above his master.’ Jesus had stated this in the other gospels as, “a disciple is not above his teacher.” This has to do with place, our place and His place. Looking at this in the literal sense, a slave was not greater than the master. The master owned the house and the farm. The slave did not. The slave worked for the master, not the other way around. The master set the terms of what the slave would do. A parallel for us today is the employee and the employer. The employer sets the guidelines of our jobs, the pay scale, the benefits and what we do. The employee, although necessary, is not greater than the employer.

  Having said this, we understand that no one is greater than Jesus. That includes the apostles. There is not a better example than Jesus. No one is as good as Jesus. No one loves as much as Jesus did. No one sacrificed as completely as Jesus did. The slave is not greater than the master. The slave will never be greater than the master. It bothers me some to find so many authors today having to tell their own story. I collect books on the parable of the prodigal son. I love that story from Luke 15. Most contemporary books on that story must include some sordid example of how the author was a prodigal. Don’t try to out do God’s story. You never will. The slave is not greater than the Master. God’s words are the best. God’s ways are the best. Let’s stay with God’s text.

  The second lesson here is that the world, meaning those that don’t follow Christ, hate us. That’s bold but honest. That bothers us. We often try to soften the differences. We try to make Christianity more appealing, more pleasant, more kind and more agreeable to a world that hates Jesus. It won’t work. Don’t compromise the message to try to get people who don’t want it to want it. The problem is not the message, the demands or the Christ, the problem is the world. They love darkness, as John 3 tells us. They do not want to change. They reject because they do not want to become.

  So we are set in a world of conflict. Paul told Timothy, “fight the good fight of faith.” There are ways to do this and then there are ways not to do this. Paul was set for the defense of the gospel (Phil 1). Stand up, stand up is a song we sing. Another says, “Dare to stand like Joshua.” Every generation must do this. From the college student who is ridiculed for believing in creation, to the co-worker who will not engage in crude jokes, to person who refrains from bending the rules just to do what he wants. He won’t do that. He is a disciple of Jesus. Some will not understand. Some will talk about him. Some may even test him to try to trip Him up. But he understands, they did that to Jesus and the slave is not greater than the master.

  That principle helps us to know what we should do. When threatened, Jesus did not utter threats back. When ridiculed, He did not return insults. Not Jesus. The slave is not greater than the Master. We must follow Jesus in how to act toward a world that does not want us.

We remind them. We show them that it can be done. We are light in a dark, dark place. Onward we must go. Some days may be easier than others. Some days we may dread walking into that classroom, or work room or even gathering at the family reunion. We know the whispers will start. The little insults…the little digs…the looks…but the slave is not greater than the Master. Remember Jesus. That is the key.

Roger