Luke 22:27-30
“Who would you rather be: the one who eats the dinner or the one who serves the dinner? You’d rather eat and be served, right? But I’ve taken my place among you as the one who serves. And you’ve stuck with me through thick and thin. Now I confer on you the royal authority my Father conferred on me so you can eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and be strengthened as you take up responsibilities among the congregations of God’s people.
Scripture quotations from The Message. © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress, Colorado Springs, CO. All rights reserved.
A Facebook friend posted a link to an article about basketball legend Michael Jordan, written last year for ESPN’s Outside the Lines by Wright Thompson. “Michael Jordan Has Not Left the Building” is a sad, yet compelling commentary on the life of a 50-year-old athlete who has acquired much wealth and fame… but possibly lost his true identity and peace in the bargain. Thompson tells of the mega-millions Jordan has acquired as an athlete, and as a businessman off the court. He speaks of a failed marriage…a time when life was much simpler for Jordan…the death of MJ’s father… and his engagement to 34-year-old Yvette Prieto. And he documents what Michael Jordan himself admits is an incredibly huge ego.
Jordan talks about going to Florida to visit Yvette’s Cuban family. He notes how simple a meal at their house was… how her grandparents speak little English and do not know much about basketball… and how this visit reminded him of his youth in Wilmington, North Carolina. He told Thompson that “My ego is so big now that I expect certain things.”* And that’s the trouble with a lot of us. We’re not Michael Jordan, of course… but like him, we have attached so much imaginary importance to ourselves that we have totally lost our grip on what truly matters.
“When is it my turn?”…”What about me and what I want/need?”…”How could this happen to me?”…”Who will take care of me?”…all of these are questions many of us voice on a regular basis. Our concern is not with how we can help others, because we are too caught up in our own agendas and “What’s in it for me?” to consider being a true servant. And yet, the greatest “celebrity” of all… the One who truly had every right to be revered and respected… and placed on a pedestal like we tend to do for modern-day athletes and others – chose to live among us as one who serves. Jesus Christ modeled perfectly how we are supposed to conduct our lives. Any wealth and blessings we are allowed should be used to fuel and energize our efforts to serve others in His name.
In his article, Thompson tells of an employee who found letters that Michael Jordan wrote to his parents while he was a student at the University of North Carolina in Wilmington. The employee was astonished at how “normal” Jordan seemed… how he talked of campus life, food in the cafeteria… and how he always needed money. One letter ended with a request for his parents to “please send stamps.” I have to tell you… the overall tone of this article was that of a man who “has it all”… yet has very little. The writer paints a picture of a life that seems empty…sad…and lacking in purpose. Jordan tells him that the simpler time of life in Wilmington is gone, and he cannot get it back… that now he expects certain things that he did not require before.
Does this describe you? Have you become so wrapped up in your own desires and “needs” that you fail to think of others? Have you become a dinner guest at the table who demands to be served and never offers to take a turn at extending assistance or attention to others? How are we using God’s gifts? Are we building our egos and amassing “wealth” and attention… and losing our heart and soul in the bargain? Or are we learning from Jesus’ example and truly taking up the responsibilities among God’s people… and serving in His name?
Have we, like Michael Jordan, become so caught up in our own story that we have failed to recognize the other guy’s narrative? Is life so complicated and out-of-control that we cannot even recognize that sometimes, all someone really needs is a word of encouragement… and maybe some stamps? Isn’t it time we regained our focus? Will this be the day that you set aside your own requests and yearnings to serve someone else? Will you be “the one who eats the dinner”… or the one who serves it?
©2014 Debbie Robus
* http://espn.go.com/espn/story/_/page/Michael-Jordan/michael-jordan-not-left-building
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