By Michael L. Ruffin
Now, you might say, “Yes, but only Jesus could serve in the way he did because only Jesus could give his life as a ransom for sin.” And you would be right. Only Jesus could live and die to save people from their sins. That does not change the fact, though, that Jesus calls his followers to share in a life like his, a life of obedient service and sacrifice. That is what it means to be a Christian. The method of Christian ministry is service; the rationale for that service is Jesus’ own way of living and dying. It can be no other way. As it says in 1 John, “We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us — and we ought to lay down our lives for one another. How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses to help?” (1 John 3:16-17).
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In Rod Serling’s voiceover at the end of that Twilight Zone episode, he said that the story was about the “evolution of man, the cycle of going from dust to dessert, the metamorphosis from being the ruler of a planet to an ingredient in someone's soup.” James and John wanted to be rulers. They were thinking about coming out on top, not serving from the bottom. To live that way is to be eaten up by the world and by selfish ambition. We need to remember that people, the people all around us, are not ingredients in our soup. They are God’s precious creation for whom Jesus gave his life. Our calling is to give our lives for them, too.
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Michael L. Ruffin is Pastor of The Hill Baptist Church in Augusta, GA.
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NOTES:
1. The script was written by Rod Serling and was based on a short story with the same title by Damon Knight.
2. Lamar Williamson, Jr., Mark, Interpretation Commentary (Louisville: John Knox, 1983), p. 193.
