Archived Daily Manna | Rejoice Fellowship | A mission to release people to rejoice in the world.

Message: There is so much content in these brief verses that one could spend weeks discussing all of the ramifications. The critical distinction Paul wants to make, in order to summarize Chapter 3, is that the distinction between Jew and Greek does not exist. But he takes the opportunity to open a wider door: Every human being is an equal heir to the promise God made to Abraham, without any distinction of ethnicity, status, or gender. It is something that every one of us will do well to remember. I might have told this joke before, and it is actually a Jewish joke (that is, a joke told by Jews), so I’ll leave it in the original setting: Christian racial harmony A rabbi celebrating Shabbat is filled with a feeling of holiness and falls prostrate on the floor during the service. He cries out, “Oh Mighty Lord, I am a mere worm before you. I am nothing! I am less than nothing.” The Cantor is seized by the same spirit, and falls prostrate beside the Rabbi. “I am nothing before you, less than nothing!” he cries out. The shammes (caretaker) is standing in the wings, preparing to clean up after the service, but he too runs out before the congregation and falls on the floor in front of the altar. “My Lord, My God,” he cries, “I am nothing before you.” The Cantor raises his head and looks at the shammes. Then he leans over towards the Rabbi and whispers, “So. Look who thinks he’s nothing.” Jews, apparently, have the same feeling about pride in one’s holiness that Christians have. One can simply substitute “pastor and senior warden” or “rector and associate priest” for the rabbi and cantor, and it’s just as good a joke about Christianity. The humor lies in the irony of human imperfectability. We cannot become perfectly holy because, even if we do, we will be proud of our holiness. Our standing as souls in the eyes of God is, in a fundamental sense, equal unlike any other equality in existence. There is no temporal aspect that affects it. In a very important and fundamental sense, God sees the Pope or Billy Graham just as He sees a mass murderer who has confessed his sin and called upon Christ to save him by grace. We cannot be perfect, and it is for this reason that we must accept Christ. Jesus washing feet Like every other sin, the human characteristic of looking at some people as better than others must be constantly monitored in prayer and meditation. The Bible — and we see this very strongly in Paul’s epistles — tells certain people to accept temporal servitude or subordination without attempting to rise above it. We must be very clear that the underpinning of such teachings is that the status of one in life is ultimately utterly meaningless to God. Women, young people, and slaves (or bondservants) in particular are taught to accept subordination in some aspects of life. To the human mind, this is foolishness. But this is exactly the kind of puzzle Paul had in mind when he said, “[T]he foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.” For Christ washed the feet of His apostles. We look to Christ as our model, not to the current tech billionaire, not to the President of the United States, not to the biggest star in Hollywood. Christ humbled Himself to the uttermost, being hung on a cross to die as a cheap common criminal. “The meek,” He told us, “shall inherit the earth.” Christ turned the pecking order upside-down. But He alone, among all humanity, lived exactly what He taught. He was the greatest of all men, not in spite of His humility, but because of it. He was the slave, the wife, the obedient Son.