Monday July 25

Saint James, Apostle

Corinthians 4: 7-15; Psalm 126: 1-6; Matthew 20:20-28

Who is the greatest?

The mother of James and John had high ambitions for her sons! Jesus teaches her and her sons and us too, that his kind of greatness is quite different. Strangely, it seems one has to be a servant and to suffer to be great in Jesus’ kingdom. Paul goes as far as to say in his letter to the Corinthians that they had become fools for Christ’s sake! Jesus himself is our model in this. He became obedient even to death on a cross, the death of a criminal. Lord, teach me what it means to be a Christian, to be your disciple, to follow you to the cross.