Sunday, June 08, 2025
Sunday Reflection: On Sacrifice
One of the hardest lessons for us Christians is one that Jesus taught over and over: that to follow this faith you have to seek sacrifice, not advantage and power. To the rich young ruler, he said to sell all he had. To the apostles, he said that he who serves the others is the greatest. His parables often centered on those virtues of humility and sacrifice that he embodies in his actions.
And yet, Christians in the US seem generally to feel entitled-- to power, to respect, to be affluent. At the banquet, they go to the front instead to the back table as Jesus taught. They pray in public to gain favor like the Pharisees Jesus condemned, rather than in a closet like he suggested.
This wrong-headed group, sadly, too often includes me. I have to continually remind myself to hold up on feeling entitled or wanting to be honored, because my instinct is to want all of it.
But... no one said Christianity would be easy.
