The Son of Man Came Not To Be Served but to Serve

Mathetes66

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What if Joseph took off with the money? It would certainly explain both Jesus' poverty & why Joseph makes no appearances at any point later in Jesus' life... just a thought.

The ancient historical record shows otherwise.

Matthew 1:19 'Because Joseph, her husband to be, was a righteous man...' A righteous person does what is right and lawful. On to to the next speculation to dismiss.

Matthew 13:54-56 Coming to His hometown, He taught the people in their synagogue & they were astonished. “Where did this man get such wisdom & miraculous powers?” they asked. "Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not His mother called Mary & His brothers, James & Joseph & Simon & Judas? Aren’t all His sisters with us as well? Where then did this man get all these things?

So much for the speculation that Joseph checked out early. When Jesus first began His ministry, He returned to his hometown where He grew up, Nazareth. Joseph was still alive at the beginning of His ministry & had been a faithful father, raising five boys and a number of girls, as an established carpenter. He was indeed a righteous man.

As to the persistent speculations that He was wealthy, let's dispel that too. But He does make MANY RICH, though not necessarily monetarily but with treasures in heaven & relationships on this earth.

Luke 2:8-12 And there were shepherds residing in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks by night. Just then, an angel of the Lord stood before them & the glory of the Lord shone around them & they were terrified.

10But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid! For behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people: Today in the City of David a Savior has been born to you. He is Christ the Lord! And THIS WILL BE A SIGN TO YOU: You will find a baby wrapped in SWADDLING CLOTHS & lying in a manger.”

This was a SIGN. Jews demand signs for proof & Gentiles seek for wisdom. He was born in Bethlehem, not Nazareth, THE CITY OF DAVID. The sign for the Jews was that the Messiah would be born there, fulfilling the ancient prophecy of the prophet Micah, who was a contemporary of the prophets Isaiah, Hosea & Amos.

He was writing in the 8th century & predicted that the northern tribes of Israel would go into captivity by the Assyrians, which occurred by historical record around 722BC. And He prophesied 700 years before it happened, the birth of the Messiah in Bethlehem, WHO EXISTED FROM ETERNITY, before there was time, space, matter existing.

Micah 5:2 But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, being small among the clans of Judah, out of you One will come forth to Me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth are from of old, FROM EVERLASTING.

John 7:40-42 On hearing these words, some of the people said, “This is truly the Prophet.”

[Deut 18:15-18,21,22 “The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from AMONG YOU, FROM YOUR BROTHERS—it is to him you shall listen—just as you desired of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God or see this great fire any more, lest I die.’

17And the LORD said to me, ‘They are right in what they have spoken. I will raise up for them a Prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put My words in his mouth & he shall speak to them all that I command him.

And if you say in your heart, ‘How may we know the word that the LORD has not spoken?’— when a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the LORD has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him. 1445BC]

41Others declared, “This is the Messiah!"But still others asked, “How can the Messiah come from Galilee? Doesn’t the Scripture say that the Messiah will come from the line of David & from Bethlehem, the village where David lived?"

Matt 2:1ff After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem & asked, “Where is the One who has been born king of the Jews? We saw His star when it rose & have come to worship Him.”

3When King Herod heard this he was DISTURBED AND ALL OF JERUSALEM WITH HIM. 4When he had called together all the people’s chief priests & teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. 5“In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written:

'And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a Ruler
who will shepherd my people Israel.' [Micah 5:2]

This was no small sign to a Jew. It caused an uproar in the center of Judaism, Jerusalem. Jews were expectantly looking for the Messiah & now one of the prophesies was being fulfilled in their lifetime! He had come!

Did the heavenly Father initially reveal these things to the rich & powerful? No. He revealed it to poor shepherds, who then spread the word. The Magi from the east (descendants of those who grew up with the prophet Daniel--he had taught them about the Messiah back then!) didn't come until two years later, when it says Jesus is now in a house! That's why Herod killed the male children two years old & younger.

He was born in a manger, an animal's feed trough. He was wrapped in swaddling cloths. These were BURIAL cloths that you wrapped dead people in, signs of a poor family to use such clothing. The Magi coming 2 years later primarily brought spices, again predicting Christ's burial & death, the wrappings & the spices to prepare the body.

Again another prophetic SIGN showing that the suffering Messiah of Isaiah 53 was going to suffer & die & be the Savior of all people, the 'sins of us all would fall on Him.' Here describes the Messiah Jesus in Isaiah 52 & 53.

Isaiah 52:7 How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring glad tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, “Your God reigns!”

This is the prediction (700 years prior) of what the angels told the shepherds. Then it goes on.

Isa. 53:1ff Who has believed our message? He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to Him, nothing in His appearance that we should desire Him. He was despised & rejected by mankind, a man of suffering & familiar with pain. He was assigned a grave with the wicked & WITH THE RICH in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised & we held him in low esteem.

Jesus' life of poverty was contrasted with being put in a tomb by a rich Jewish person! Again this was predicted 700 years before it happened & Jesus or anyone else could not manipulate this. Over 350 prophecies were made that came true concerning Jesus being the prophesied Messiah.

Math & the Rule of Probability are firmly on the side of Jesus being the PROPHESIED Messiah, sent to save the world from its sins.

Imagine filling the State of Texas two-feet deep with silver dollars & sending in someone blindfolded to find one marked coin. The chances of that person finding the correct coin mirror the chances of Jesus fulfilling just eight of the hundreds of prophesies that fill the Bible.

What are the Odds? - Y-Jesus.com


Isa. 52:14 Just as many were appalled at Him—His appearance was disfigured beyond that of a man & His form was marred beyond human resemblance—(Mel Gibson's, 'The Passion of Christ' gives a graphic picture of this prophecy)

Again various historical comments, even by Jesus Himself, show He wasn't materially rich WHILE HE WALKED THE EARTH as a human being.

Philippians 2:3-8 Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.

5Let THIS MIND BE IN YOU, which was also IN Christ Jesus, who, being in very nature God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but MADE HIMSELF OF NO REPUTATION, taking the form of a SLAVE & coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He HUMBLED Himself & became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. [a criminal's death though innocent]

Matt 20:28 Just as the Son of Man did NOT come TO BE SERVED, but to serve & to give His life as a ransom for many."

Rich people had other slaves serve them & wash their feet; Jesus came instead to be a slave & serve others humbly.

Peter was very indignant at first when Jesus was trying to wash his feet, which was the job of a house slave.

John 13:4-9 So He got up from the supper, laid aside His outer garments, & wrapped a towel around His waist. After that, He poured water into a basin & began to wash the disciples’ feet & dry them with the towel that was around Him. He came to Simon Peter, who asked Him, “Lord, are You going to wash my feet?”

7Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.” “Never shall You wash my feet!” Peter told Him. Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with Me.” 9“Then, Lord,” Simon Peter replied, “not only my feet, but my hands & my head as well!”

When Jesus had washed their feet & put on His outer garments, He reclined with them again & asked, “Do you know what I have done for you? You call Me Teacher & Master & rightly so, because I am.

14So if I, your Lord & Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example so that you should do as I have done for you. Truly, truly, I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.

Luke 22:25-27 So Jesus declared, “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them & those in authority over them call themselves benefactors. But you are not to be like that. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves. For who is greater, the one who reclines at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines? But I am among you as the One who serves.

Luke 12:37 Blessed are those servants whom the Master finds on watch when he returns. Truly I tell you, he will dress himself to serve & will have them recline at the table & he himself will come & wait on them.

Luke 9:23-26,57-60 Then Jesus said to all of them, “If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself & take up his cross daily & follow Me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. What does it profit a man to gain the whole world, yet lose or forfeit his very soul? If anyone is ashamed of Me & My words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when He comes in His glory & in the glory of the Father & of the holy angels.

As they were walking along the road, someone said to Jesus, “I will follow You wherever You go.” Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens & birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay His head.” Then He said to another man, “Follow Me.” The man replied, “Lord, first let me go & bury my father.” But Jesus told him, “Let the {spiritually} dead bury their own {physically} dead. You, however, go & proclaim the kingdom of God.”

Matt 6:19,20 Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth & rust destroy & where thieves break in & steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth & rust do not destroy & where thieves do not break in & steal.

Luke 12:33 Sell your possessions & give to the poor. Provide yourselves with purses that will not wear out, an inexhaustible treasure in heaven, where no thief approaches & no moth destroys.

Luke 18:18ff Then a certain ruler asked Him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” “Why do you call Me good?” Jesus replied. “No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not bear false witness, honor your father & mother.’ ”

21“All these have I kept from my youth,” he said. [Mark 10:21 Jesus looked at him, loved him & said to him]...“You STILL lack one thing: Sell everything you own & give to the poor & you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow Me.”

23But when the ruler heard this, he became very sad, because he was extremely wealthy. Seeing the man’s sorrow, Jesus said, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! Indeed, it is easier for a camel to pass through an eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”

26Those who heard this asked, “Who then can be saved?” But Jesus said, “What is impossible with man is possible with God.” “Look,” said Peter, “we have left everything we had to follow You.”

Luke 23:34 Then Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." And they divided up His garments by casting lots. {Psalm 22:18 prophesied 1000 years beforehand}