Day 266: Are you a saint? - Luke 9 vs 46 – 56

46 An argument arose among them as to which of them was the greatest.  47-48 But Jesus, knowing the reasoning of their hearts, took a child and put him by his side and said to them,  “Whoever receives this child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me. For he who is least among all of you is the one who is great.” 49 John answered, “Master, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he does not follow with us.” 50 But Jesus said to him, “Do not stop him, for the one who is not against you is for you.”

51-53 When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem.  And  he sent messengers ahead of him, who went and entered a village of the Samaritans, to make preparations for him. But  the people did not receive him, because his face was set towards Jerusalem. 54 And when his disciples James and John saw it, they said, “Lord, do you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” 55-56 But he turned and rebuked them.  And they went on to another village. Luke 9:46-56 English Standard Version

You've no doubt heard people speak of 'Saint Peter', 'Saint John' and 'Saint Paul'. If you asked folk in the street why they were called 'Saint', many would say it was because they were such good people. Perhaps that's even why Jesus chose them. But today's reading shows that this was not the case. How would you describe the disciples in vs 46?

Not a very positive picture there. What about John's response in vs 49, and John and James' suggestion to Jesus in vs 54?

Again, not the way one would think a saint should have behaved. We see pride, self-focus, arrogance and hard hearts. Compare their actions with how Jesus responded to each of those situations in vs 47-48, 50 and 55-56.

We see from Jesus' responses that he didn’t want his followers to be arrogant and bossy. The apostle Paul later wrote to Christians in Rome and said: “Don't think more of yourself than you should think. Instead, think in the right way toward yourself by the faith God has given you. There are many people who belong to Christ, yet, we are one body which is Christ’s. We’re all different - but we depend on each other. We all have different gifts that God has given to us by His loving-favour.” (Romans 12:3-6)

And Jesus certainly didn't want them to decide who needed to be wiped out by fire from heaven! It is God alone who knows what judgements are needed, and when. Paul commented on that too when he wrote: “Dear friends, never take revenge. Leave that to the righteous anger of God. Instead, If your enemies are hungry, feed them. If they are thirsty, give them something to drink.” (Romans 12:19-20) But I think the lesson Jesus gave to his disciples by taking a young child to his side is what really shows us what being a saint is all about. It seems that greatness in God's eyes is being humble enough to serve those who are the least important people in the eyes of the world. Being a saint is not a race to be at the top, it's being willing to stoop down to help the most needy.

These disciples were not saints when Jesus called them to follow him. They were sinful people just like us. But as they followed and learned from Jesus their lives were changed and they became saintly. When Paul wrote to Christians in the city of Corinth he referred to them as “those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints.” (1 Corinthians 1:2) The word ‘sanctify’ means to 'be set apart for God', and this was so that their lives could become saintly. So when we think of saints we mustn't think of paintings of old men with halos around their heads – but look at our own lives and ask ourselves “is Jesus changing my life so that I'm willing to serve God anywhere and in any way, even if no-one in the world ever notices what I do?”