The Daily Devotions from Lutheran Hour Ministries of Saint Louis, Missouri, United States "True Greatness" by Rev. Wayne Palmer for Thursday, February 25, 2016

The Daily Devotions from Lutheran Hour Ministries of Saint Louis, Missouri, United States "True Greatness" by Rev. Wayne Palmer for Thursday, February 25, 2016

(Jesus said) "Who is the greater, one who reclines at table or one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines at table? But I am among you as the One who serves" (Luke 22:27).
Read Luke 22:24 An argument arose among them as to which of them should be considered the greatest. 25 But Yeshua said to them, “The kings of the Goyim lord it over them; and those in authority over them are given the title, ‘Benefactor.’ 26 But not so with you! On the contrary, let the greater among you become like the younger, and one who rules like one who serves. 27 For who is greater? The one reclining at the table? or the one who serves? It’s the one reclining at the table, isn’t it? But I myself am among you like one who serves..
With infinite patience Jesus responds to His disciples' strife about which of them will be considered the greatest. He reminds them they are thinking the way worldly people do-striving for recognition and self-promotion. His followers will follow a different path.
The greatest among His people will regard themselves as though they were the youngest, the lowest people who have absolutely no claim over anyone else. Christian leaders will be humble people who pour themselves out in lowly service. And these apostles, when they go out to share the good news about what Jesus accomplished for all people, will go out as equals, serving the same cause, sharing the same Gospel.
That is why pastors are called ministers. That title reminds us of Jesus' humble, lowly service to us. Like Him, pastors don't do their work for their own glory or recognition, but for the benefit of those around them, and for the glory of their Savior Jesus Christ.
As He lays aside the water basin and towel and resumes His place at the table, He brings their focus back to Himself. He is the glorious Son of God, yet He set aside that glory and became human. He reminds them that He has come to serve, and not to be served. He will soon show them the greatest example of lowly, self-sacrifice as He offers Himself unto death to remove our guilt and sin.
THE PRAYER: Lord Jesus, my world seeks fame, honor, glory and distinction. But You alone deserve this attention. Give me joy in humbly serving, just as You stooped down to serve each of us. Amen.
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Today Read:
Leviticus 3:1 (iv) “‘If his offering is a sacrifice of peace offerings, then, if he offers before Adonai an animal from the herd, then, no matter whether it is male or female, it must be without defect. 2 He is to lay his hand on the head of his offering and slaughter it at the entrance to the tent of meeting; and the sons of Aharon, the cohanim, are to splash the blood against all sides of the altar. 3 He is to present the sacrifice of the peace offerings as an offering made by fire to Adonai; it is to consist of the fat covering the inner organs, all the fat above the inner organs, 4 the two kidneys, the fat on them near the flanks, and the covering of the liver, which he will remove with the kidneys. 5 Aharon’s sons will make it go up in smoke on the altar on top of the burnt offering which is on the wood on the fire; it is an offering made by fire, a fragrant aroma for Adonai.

6 “‘If his offering for a sacrifice of peace offerings to Adonai is from the flock, then, when he offers it, no matter whether it is male or female, it must be without defect. 7 If he brings a lamb for his offering, then he is to present it before Adonai. 8 He is to lay his hand on the head of his offering and slaughter it at the entrance to the tent of meeting, and the sons of Aharon are to splash its blood against all sides of the altar. 9 From the sacrifices made as peace offerings, he is to present Adonai with an offering made by fire; it is to consist of its fat, the entire fat tail, which he will remove close to the lower backbone, the fat covering the inner organs, all the fat above the inner organs, 10 the two kidneys, the fat on them near the flanks, and the covering of the liver, which he will remove with the kidneys. 11 The cohen will make it go up in smoke on the altar; it is food, an offering made by fire to Adonai.

12 “‘If his offering is a goat, then he is to present it before Adonai. 13 He is to lay his hand on its head and slaughter it in front of the tent of meeting, and the sons of Aharon are to splash its blood against all sides of the altar. 14 He is to present from it his offering, an offering made by fire to Adonai ; it is to consist of the fat covering the inner organs, all the fat above the inner organs, 15 the two kidneys, the fat on them near the flanks, and the covering of the liver, which he will remove with the kidneys. 16 The cohen will make them go up in smoke on the altar; it is food, an offering made by fire to be a fragrant aroma; all the fat belongs to Adonai. 17 It is to be a permanent regulation through all your generations wherever you live that you will eat neither fat nor blood.’”

4:1 (v) Adonai said to Moshe, 2 “Tell the people of Isra’el: ‘If anyone sins inadvertently against any of the mitzvot of Adonai concerning things which should not be done, if he does any one of them, 3 then, if it is the anointed cohen who sinned and thus brought guilt on the people, he is to offer Adonai a young bull without defect as a sin offering for the sin he committed. 4 He must bring the bull to the entrance of the tent of meeting before Adonai, lay his hand on the bull’s head and slaughter the bull in the presence of Adonai. 5 The anointed cohen is to take some of the bull’s blood and bring it to the tent of meeting. 6 The cohen is to dip his finger in the blood and sprinkle some of the blood seven times in the presence of Adonai in front of the curtain of the sanctuary. 7 The cohen is to put some of the blood on the horns of the altar for fragrant incense before Adonai there in the tent of meeting. All the remaining blood of the bull he is to pour out at the base of the altar for burnt offerings, which is at the entrance to the tent of meeting. 8 He is to remove from the bull for the sin offering all of its fat — the fat covering the inner organs, all the fat above the inner organs, 9 the two kidneys, the fat on them near the flanks, and the covering of the liver, which he will remove with the kidneys 10 as it is removed from an ox sacrificed as a peace offering; and the cohen is to make these parts go up in smoke on the altar for burnt offerings. 11 But the bull’s hide and all its flesh, with its head, the lower parts of its legs, its inner organs and dung — 12 in other words, the entire bull — he is to bring outside the camp to a clean place, where the ashes are emptied out. There he is to burn it on wood with fire; there, where the ashes are emptied out, it is to be burned up.

13 “‘If the entire community of Isra’el inadvertently makes a mistake, with the assembly being unaware of the matter, and they do something against any of the mitzvot of Adonai concerning things which should not be done, they are guilty. 14 When the sin they have committed becomes known, then the assembly is to offer a young bull as a sin offering and bring it before the tent of meeting. 15 The leaders of the community are to lay their hands on the bull’s head and slaughter the bull in the presence of Adonai. 16 The anointed cohen is to bring some of the bull’s blood to the tent of meeting. 17 The cohen is to dip his finger in the blood and sprinkle it seven times in the presence of Adonai in front of the curtain. 18 He is to put some of the blood on the horns of the altar before Adonai, there in the tent of meeting. All the remaining blood he is to pour out at the base of the altar for burnt offerings, which is at the entrance to the tent of meeting. 19 He is to remove all its fat and make it go up in smoke on the altar. 20 This is what he is to do with the bull — he must do the same with this bull as he does with the one for the sin offering. Thus the cohen will make atonement for them, and they will be forgiven. 21 He is to bring the bull outside the camp and burn it as he burned the first bull; it is the sin offering for the assembly.

22 “‘When a leader sins and inadvertently does something against any of the mitzvot of Adonai concerning things which should not be done, he is guilty. 23 If the sin which he committed becomes known to him, he is to bring as his offering a male goat without defect, 24 lay his hand on the goat’s head and slaughter it in the place where they slaughter the burnt offering in the presence of Adonai ; it is a sin offering. 25 The cohen is to take some of the blood of the sin offering with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar for burnt offerings. Its remaining blood he is to pour out at the base of the altar for burnt offerings. 26 All its fat he is to make go up in smoke on the altar, like the fat of the sacrifice for peace offerings; thus the cohen will make atonement for him in regard to his sin, and he will be forgiven.

(vi) 27 “‘If an individual among the people commits a sin inadvertently, doing something against any of the mitzvot of Adonai concerning things which should not be done, he is guilty. 28 If the sin he committed becomes known to him, he is to bring as his offering a female goat without defect for the sin he committed, 29 lay his hand on the head of the sin offering and slaughter the sin offering in the place of burnt offerings. 30 The cohen is to take some of its blood with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar for burnt offerings. All its remaining blood he is to pour out at the base of the altar. 31 All its fat he is to remove, as the fat is removed from the sacrifice for peace offerings; and the cohen is to make it go up in smoke on the altar as a fragrant aroma for Adonai. Thus the cohen will make atonement for him, and he will be forgiven.

32 “‘If he brings a lamb as his sin offering, he is to bring a female without defect, 33 lay his hand on the head of the sin offering and slaughter it as a sin offering in the place where they slaughter burnt offerings. 34 The cohen is to take some of the blood of the sin offering with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar for burnt offerings. All its remaining blood he is to pour out at the base of the altar. 35 All its fat he is to remove, as the fat of a lamb is removed from the sacrifice for peace offerings; and the cohen is to make it go up in smoke on the altar on top of the offerings for Adonai made by fire. Thus the cohen will make atonement for him in regard to the sin he committed, and he will be forgiven.

5:1 “‘If a person who is a witness, sworn to testify, sins by refusing to tell what he has seen or heard about the matter, he must bear the consequences. 2 If a person touches something unclean, whether the carcass of an unclean wild animal, a domestic animal or a reptile, he is guilty, even though he may not be aware that he is unclean. 3 If he touches some human uncleanness, no matter what the source of his uncleanness is, and is unaware of it, then, when he learns of it, he is guilty. 4 If someone allows to slip from his mouth an oath to do evil or to do good, and he doesn’t remember that he clearly spoke this oath, then, no matter what it was about, when he learns of it, he is guilty. 5 A person guilty of any of these things is to confess in what manner he sinned 6 and bring his guilt offering to Adonai for the sin he committed; it is to be a female from the flock, either a lamb or a goat, as a sin offering; and the cohen will make atonement for him in regard to his sin.

7 “‘If he can’t afford a lamb, he is to bring as his guilt offering for the sin he committed two doves or two young pigeons for Adonai — the one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering. 8 He is to bring them to the cohen, who will offer the one for a sin offering first. He is to wring its neck but not remove the head, 9 sprinkle some of the blood of the sin offering on the side of the altar and drain out the rest of the blood at the base of the altar; it is a sin offering. 10 He is to prepare the second as a burnt offering in the manner prescribed. Thus the cohen will make atonement for him in regard to the sin which he committed, and he will be forgiven.

(vii) 11 “‘But if his means are insufficient even for two doves or two young pigeons, then he is to bring as his offering for the sin he committed two quarts of fine flour for a sin offering; he is not to put any olive oil or frankincense on it, because it is a sin offering. 12 He is to bring it to the cohen, and the cohen is to take a handful of it as its reminder portion and make it go up in smoke on the altar on top of the offerings for Adonai made by fire; it is a sin offering. 13 Thus the cohen will make atonement for him in regard to the sin he committed concerning any of these things, and he will be forgiven. The rest will belong to the cohanim, as with a grain offering.’”

14 Adonai said to Moshe, 15 “If anyone acts improperly and inadvertently sins in regard to the holy things of Adonai, he is to bring as his guilt offering for Adonai a ram without defect from the flock or its equivalent in silver shekels (using the sanctuary shekel as the standard), according to your appraisal of its value; it is a guilt offering. 16 In addition, he is to make restitution for whatever he did wrong in regard to the holy thing; moreover, he is to add to that one-fifth and give it to the cohen. Then the cohen will make atonement with the ram of the guilt offering, and he will be forgiven.

17 “If someone sins by doing something against any of the mitzvot of Adonai concerning things which should not be done, he is guilty, even if he is unaware of it; and he bears the consequences of his wrongdoing. 18 He must bring a ram without defect from the flock, or its equivalent according to your appraisal, to the cohen for a guilt offering; the cohen will make atonement concerning the error which he committed, even though he was unaware of it; and he will be forgiven. 19 It is a guilt offering — he is certainly guilty before Adonai.”

20 (6:1) Adonai said to Moshe, 21 (6:2) “If someone sins and acts perversely against Adonai by dealing falsely with his neighbor in regard to a deposit or security entrusted to him, by stealing from him, by extorting him, 22 (6:3) or by dealing falsely in regard to a lost object he has found, or by swearing to a lie — if a person commits any of these sins, 23 (6:4) then, if he sinned and is guilty, he is to restore whatever it was he stole or obtained by extortion, or whatever was deposited with him, or the lost object which he found, (Maftir) 24 (6:5) or anything about which he has sworn falsely. He is to restore it in full plus an additional one-fifth; he must return it to the person who owns it, on the day when he presents his guilt offering. 25 (6:6) He is to bring as his guilt offering to Adonai a ram without defect from the flock, or its equivalent according to your appraisal, to the cohen; it is a guilt offering. 26 (6:7) Thus the cohen will make atonement for him before Adonai, and he will be forgiven in regard to whatever it was he did that made him guilty.

Mark 5:1 Yeshua and his talmidim arrived at the other side of the lake, in the Gerasenes’ territory. 2 As soon as he disembarked, a man with an unclean spirit came out of the burial caves to meet him. 3 He lived in the burial caves; and no one could keep him tied up, not even with a chain. 4 He had often been chained hand and foot, but he would snap the chains and break the irons off his feet, and no one was strong enough to control him. 5 Night and day he wandered among the graves and through the hills, howling and gashing himself with stones.

6 Seeing Yeshua from a distance, he ran and fell on his knees in front of him 7 and screamed at the top of his voice, “What do you want with me, Yeshua, Son of God Ha‘Elyon? I implore you in God’s name! Don’t torture me!” 8 For Yeshua had already begun saying to him, “Unclean spirit, come out of this man!” 9 Yeshua asked him, “What’s your name?” “My name is Legion,” he answered, “there are so many of us”; 10 and he kept begging Yeshua not to send them out of that region.

11 Now there was a large herd of pigs feeding near the hill, 12 and the unclean spirits begged him, “Send us to the pigs, so we can go into them.” 13 Yeshua gave them permission. They came out and entered the pigs; and the herd, numbering around two thousand, rushed down the hillside into the lake and were drowned. 14 The swineherds fled and told it in the town and in the surrounding country, and the people went to see what had happened. 15 They came to Yeshua and saw the man who had had the legion of demons, sitting there, dressed and in his right mind; and they were frightened. 16 Those who had seen it told what had happened to the man controlled by demons and to the pigs; 17 and the people began begging Yeshua to leave their district.

18 As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been demonized begged him to be allowed to go with him. 19 But Yeshua would not permit it. Instead, he said to him, “Go home to your people, and tell them how much Adonai in his mercy has done for you.” 20 He went off and began proclaiming in the Ten Towns how much Yeshua had done for him, and everyone was amazed.

21 Yeshua crossed in the boat to the other side of the lake, and a great crowd gathered around him. 22 There came to him a synagogue official, Ya’ir by name, who fell at his feet 23 and pleaded desperately with him, “My little daughter is at the point of death. Please! Come and lay your hands on her, so that she will get well and live!”

24 He went with him; and a large crowd followed, pressing all around him. 25 Among them was a woman who had had a hemorrhage for twelve years 26 and had suffered a great deal under many physicians. She had spent her life savings; yet instead of improving, she had grown worse. 27 She had heard about Yeshua, so she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his robe; 28 for she said, “If I touch even his clothes, I will be healed.” 29 Instantly the hemorrhaging stopped, and she felt in her body that she had been healed from the disease. 30 At the same time, Yeshua, aware that power had gone out from him, turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?” 31 His talmidim responded, “You see the people pressing in on you; and still you ask, ‘Who touched me?’” 32 But he kept looking around to see who had done it. 33 The woman, frightened and trembling, because she knew what had happened to her, came and fell down in front of him and told him the whole truth. 34 “Daughter,” he said to her, “your trust has healed you. Go in peace, and be healed of your disease.”

35 While he was still speaking, people from the synagogue official’s house came, saying, “Your daughter has died. Why bother the rabbi any longer?” 36 Ignoring what they had said, Yeshua told the synagogue official, “Don’t be afraid, just keep trusting.” 37 He let no one follow him except Kefa, Ya‘akov and Yochanan, Ya‘akov’s brother. 38 When they came to the synagogue official’s house, he found a great commotion, with people weeping and wailing loudly. 39 On entering, he said to them, “Why all this commotion and weeping? The child isn’t dead, she’s just asleep!” 40 And they jeered at him. But he put them all outside, took the child’s father and mother and those with him, and went in where the child was. 41 Taking her by the hand, he said to her, “Talita, kumi!” (which means, “Little girl, I say to you, get up!”). 42 At once the girl got up and began walking around; she was twelve years old. Everybody was utterly amazed. 43 He gave them strict orders to say nothing about this to anyone, and told them to give her something to eat.

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