383. Thursday after Seventeenth Sunday after Trinity.
Lord, today we again pray thee:
give us humility and charity. Amen.
Matthew 20, 25-28. But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Ye know that the princes of the gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them. But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister; and whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant: even as the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.
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Help us, O God, to understand and practice the lesson here taught us! It is a heavenly lesson, which the carnal mind is utterly unable to grasp; but to the spirit it is the word of wisdom. In the world the great is great, the mighty is mighty, and the ruler rules; but in the kingdom of Christ the least is the greatest, the weakest is most mighty, and the servant of all is the chief of all. This is the mystery of humility, as strange to the natural man as a sealed book, but revealed to the saints of God. If you be a disciple of Christ, you have begun to understand and practice this lesson; but you have done nothing more than to make a beginning, and most zealously seek the revelation of the mystery. There is nothing which the Lord said a greater number of times than this: “Whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.” If you wish to become great, strive to become one of the least; not in pretended, but in hearty and true lowliness of mind. Let your worldly condition be that which God has ordained, whether honored or obscure; but whatever you may be, you must not wish to become great; but your wish shall be to regard yourself and to be in truth the servant of all. This is the true dignity of love; a dignity as far from the vainglorious greatness of the world as the heaven is far from the earth. If you are to be chief, you must not, like the sons of Zebedee, ask to sit on the right and the left hand of the Lord in his glory, nor must you, like Diotrephes (3 John 9), love to have preeminence among men; but you must become the servant of the brethren, in duty bound to minister to them all. What a dignity, and what a kingly estate of liberty, to be the servant of all, never to be prevented by anything from practicing charity! “Free from all men,” says Saint Paul, “yet have I made myself servant unto all; for the love of Christ constraineth us.” Alas, I am as yet far, far from the rank of “chief”; but do thou reach out after this dignity, O my soul! Jesus will have you to be like him. “The Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.” The better you learn in the distress occasioned by your pride and love of self to apply to your heart the comfort of these gospel words, the more fully will the admonition which they contain become truth in your life and conduct, and thus cause you to descend to lower depths of humility, and to ascend to a higher rank in the kingdom of God. — Lord Jesus, give us thy mind, and shed abroad thy love in our hearts. Let us come near to thee, that the spirit of pride may depart far from us. Give us light to understand thy ministering life on earth; that we may live in the power of thy redemption, establish love and peace, and devote ourselves wholly to the service of one another. Grant us this mercy, precious Lord and Savior. Amen.*
How shall we show our love to thee,
Thou living God most high,
But loving this thy family,
For which thou deignedst to die?
If thou for me such love didst bear,
Shall I not love again?
For all are objects of thy care;
Thy love doth all sustain.
[suggested tune: St. Agnes (TLH 361; listen here)]
* Here the head of the family says a short morning or evening prayer in his own words, and closes with the Lord’s Prayer and the Benediction. This is to be done every day. If the stanzas are not sung, they may be read in their proper place before the impromptu petition and the Lord’s Prayer.