Sadly, the desire for power and control rears its ugly head in the church from time to time. Jesus clearly taught that the presence of “lording it over” had no place among His followers. Yet, it continues. Some, in the name of “protecting the church,” change the essence of what the church is meant to be. You and I can’t be trusted with power. Jesus is the Lord of the Church. We enter the Kingdom of God to become servants, not masters. We enter to learn how to lose our life and perfect being a slave. Anything else is unlike the Kingdom which Jesus came to establish among us.
So Jesus called them and said to them, “You know that among the Gentiles those whom they recognize as their rulers lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. But it is not so among you; but whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.” Mark 10:42-45 (NRSV)
