Who would Jesus promote?

Often we see people hypothetically place our Savior in the modern world and speculate what He would do. Some have asked what kind of car Jesus would drive, who He would vote for President or if He would eat bagels. Some of these are blasphemous in nature. But others are introspective.

We should wonder how he would react in certain circumstances — not for the craziness of the thought — but because we really want to live out His Red Letters in our every day life. We want to follow Him with our whole heart and being and actions. And following Him should cause us to wonder just what he would do.

Last week we talked about what kind of employee Jesus would fire — and had some interesting conversation. But we want to pose a new question — Who would Jesus promote?

The answer to this question isn’t so far away.

Look at the Sons of Thunder — James and John. We are told in Matthew that their mother came to Jesus with a request for a promotion. “Let one of them sit at Your right and the other at your left in glory.”

That was bold stuff from a mother who obviously was proud of her boys. A better lesson would have been to model humility to her sons. Her request caused an uproar among the others. But Jesus refused her request, because one of those seats is already taken.

Then Jesus proceeded to tell the others this: “Whoever wants to become great among you, must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all.”

Let’s face it. When you have really, really wanted a promotion, was it for the right reasons? Did pride, power, money and status enter into your mind?

Living out this radical faith in our everyday life means that we have to look at things entirely different. Humility is a backward way into a job — servanthood, service, picking up the rear. Does this work?

What do you think? Who would Jesus promote? Have any personal experience into this principle?