Bicker

"He placed a little kid in their midst and then nestled the child in his arms," Mark 9:36.

So when you're on the way to have your hands and feet nailed to a cross for the sins of the whole world, what do you do when your closest friends bicker stupidly among themselves about their own self-importance? Well, here's what Jesus did: He sat down in the house. He called his twelve guys into the room. He told them if they wanted to be first in line, they had to let everybody else cut in front of them. He stood a child right in the middle of them all. He lifted the kid into his arms. He said, You hug this child, you hug me. You hug me, you hug the One Who sent me. So. While we wait in this broken, uncertain world for the Risen Christ to appear in the sky, that's what we do. We receive all others, quietly. Sky kingdom.

When we receive a brother or sister today, we humbly recognize in them Jesus whom we serve. And, together, we offer thanks for the one who, incredibly, took us in his arms on the way to the cross.