From Alec Satin - Lutheran Librarian - A Little Loy

“There are even now some outspoken Rationalists who call themselves Lutherans, as there are others who, in regard to the distinctive doctrines of the Lutheran Church, are in open sympathy with Reformed parties, though for some reason they would rather be called Lutherans. Such persons cannot be included in a Lutheran union, because they lack that which the Lutheran name imports and which is distinctive of the Lutheran Church.”

From The Columbus Theological Magazine, Vol. 6. 1886. “Lutheran Union. Second Part.”

Post-Gardening Symptoms - No Pain

 

I was quite used to having a lot of pain in my hands after digging, carrying, lifting. Yesterday, I had the strangest sensation a day after digging holes for the bulbs - no pain. I hardly used the shovel, since the clay soil was soft where I had watered. I used a trowel.

Before, I normally had exquisite pain after such work. 

I attribute the change to eating a variety of vegetables and fruit as my main (but not only) source of food. Hip pain went away at first - now agony in the hands - gone. Dr. Fuhrman calls it the repair work of the nutritious foods (vegetables, fruit, nuts, greens). 

When I was able to grow food instead of fattening rabbits and squirrels (as I do now), I had a similar change.

When the Going Gets Tough, The Tough Plant Bulbs

Grape hyacinth - long blooming.

We were 6 inches behind the annual rainfall average, here in Tysonville. The soil was so dry that it was more like dust, even after frequent watering.

Weathermen predicted possible rain yesterday and more definite rain today. Sassy stood guard as I got out daffodils and grape hyacinths to dig in. The second bag was not one of grapes or hyacinths, but they are grape sized and long blooming. I usually plant small bulbs with the standard ones.

The meteorologists were right - one drop of rain fell and Sassy retreated to the doorway for watching. When I was done with about 100 bulbs, the rain fell gently for a few minutes while I was watering. That is how pessimistic I was, wanting to give the bulbs a good start. I planted them just in front of the patio and all the way down the driveway. 

My garden planning has been based on concentrating where the flowers can be enjoyed the most. 

I enjoy sitting on or near the soil and planting by hand. In this case, I had cement to slide along and hand tools plus a shovel for heavy duty labor (not needed). Absent cement, I slide along on a square of cardboard.

Many daffodils and grape hyacinths were doubles or triples, so the count was higher. A few daffodils did not seem healthy but the triples more than made up for them. 

The hosta garden facing the kitchen windows, recently edited heavily by the crew, is ideal for shade plants plus some color. That is where I will put the special daffodils with weird colors and shapes. When they are done showing off, the hostas will grow, raise up flowers for hummingbirds, and retire for the year.

Some like to get worms and relax while fishing. I provide a paradise for worms and relax looking at their work. Sitting around promotes jumping from one thought to another. Digging in the soil is a lesson in Creation and the creatures the Lord of Creation has provided us. I see loss and surprising progress every time. Three neighbors have been getting roses as they flourish with city water. The more I cut them, the more they grow. Jesus' Parable of the Vine teaches that those who remain on the True Vine flourish. They are cleansed (absolved of sin) to grow even more abundantly. 

I have to remind recipients that cleansing the rose is the best way to enjoy even more roses. When a new rose is seven feet tall and bursting with blooms, they understand.

Neighbors will little note nor long remember the time I spent digging in bulbs, sitting on the driveway or the soil. They have never watched a rabbit walk casually by, a few feet away, while working. The bulbs disappear and are forgotten by everyone but me. In the spring, the flowers buried (for a true bulb is a complete flower waiting to rise up) will burst into color.

Today we had a cloudburst, lots of thunder, and about an hour of rain.

Two Views of the Scriptures - Only One Is Correct

 Did you buy your beer mug from Jack Cascione to honor the 500th anniversary of the Reformation? 

 

Divide and Conquer is a famous slogan, proven many times through experience. In the Apostolic era, the two parties were 

1. a tiny group of Christian believers and
2. everyone else. 

We should be astounded that Herman Otten put these words on the back of his book about Dr. Walter A. Maier. Otten rejected the twin truths -

• The Inerrancy of Holy Scripture
• Justification by Faith.

Otten rejected Biblical inerrancy by promoting and selling the blasphemous Beck Bible, still sold by Christian News, Inc. Beck - far from being a scholar - was glory-hound who approved and copied the Westcott-Hort-Aland destruction of the Majority text behind the Greek New Testament of the King James Bible.

Kurt Aland's second wife took over his institute, but that did not last for long. Apparently, the next generation of shredders is already at work, making it even worse than Westcott-Hort.

Reading Christian News shows that Otten also loved every confession of faith - except Luther's.

The issues are clear, but overlooked. Biblical inerrancy is not strong and clear enough for our generation of fast-talking improvers of the Word. Calvinists are necessarily against the Lutheran Reformation because they teach the Scriptures as dead letter, unable to do anything on their own unless made appealing, relevant, and germane by man's efforts. That is how Calvinists become Unitarians in one generation - human reason.

The bedrock is knowing and believing the Scriptures are the Holy Spirit at work, and the Word/Spirit union is never split, the one departing from the other. Anyone picking up the King James Version and reading its passages will be affected by the Spirit at work - converting or hardening, enlightening or blinding. 

Because the Mod Lutherans (LCMS-WELS-ELS-CLC) do not recognize or teach the efficacy of the Word, they are unable to grasp the message of the Bible. They are Fuller DMin clowns teaching future DMin morons to rail against the Sacred Scriptures and bring down the remnants of the true Church.

Because the Mod Lutherans do not trust the efficacy of the Word, they cling to their Peter Drucker five-year plans as they sink slowly into self-anihilation. Thanks to Covid, they have new excuses to add to the reasons they are shrinking and unable to fill their dorms - or - to strew their libraries with seminarians. 

Our little congregation, operating from a spare room in a rented house, has a simple plan - teach and preach the Word every way possible:

1. Means of Grace liturgical worship, broadcast and printed.
2. Books interpreting church history, Lutheran doctrine, and the Scriptures.
3. Classes on Lutheran history, Biblical doctrine, and the KJV Scriptures.
4. Visits with members and neighbors. One neighbor was baptized as an adult before she died.

We do not ask, "Is this working?" because the Spirit is always at work in the Word. Our town is presently 6 inches short of the rainfall expected during a normal year. The clay soil is harder than a Fuller professor's heart. Rain is predicted for today, and everyone is glad. Will it have no effect on the trees, bushes, flowers, grass, and weeds? No one questions that, but Mod Lutherans do.

KJV Isaiah 55:7 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.

9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

10 For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater:

11 So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.

12 For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.

A Retired Pope Will Edit the WELS Magazine

Could the magazine get even more boring than ever? WELS and the dwindling CLC (sic) used to post their articles for a boost in Christian News. CN is now so soul-killing that anything copied from WELS might wake up the last few readers of CN - to discuss something more important than the infallibility of CFW Walther, the kidnapper.

Mirthless Mark Schroeder seems worried. The sect's Church Growth gamble was a bigger flop than the Edsel; many of us still remember that Ford beauty.

Fifty plus years ago, these clobber-heads conspired to make WELS a major customer of Fuller Seminary's expensive Church Growth nonsense. That was a prime example of the GA double-take they enjoy so much, smirking about their juvenile secret code. They denied up and down that there was such a thing in WELS. The great Wayne Mueller published that there was no such thing in their sect. 

How does Hartman's published confession of sin harmonize with Wayne Mueller's smirky denial? That reminds me of the unjust steward, who was very good at stealing and cooking the books. However, the parable is about working hard, not being a bald-faced liar.

Bivens, like Valleskey, gushed over Fuller Seminary (in his mortician style voice) when it was safe, and denied it when exposed. Anyone who said they went to Fuller Seminary was a liar!

Speaking of popes, Roger Kovaciny, who could have posed in papal robes, considered himself a pioneer in Church Growth. He specialized in ethnic jokes. Even utility poles fear him.

Pope's qualification is that he will carry out the synod's bizarre code of abuse-ministry so cherished by WELS. No, I do not know him. Hazing abuse (physical, emotional, sexual) is the foundation of WELS. One is either in it or extended the left boot of fellowship.  Just look over their overwhelming love for cross-dressing, enough to make ELCA rosy cheeked with jealousy. GA is not a part of WELS: it is WELS.

No one can top Donkey Basketball at the CLC's high-school-college-seminary.

Martin Chemnitz Was a Major Force in Re-Establishing Biblical Lutheran Doctrine.

 

How many shrines are in the State of Missouri for CFW Walther, kidnapping Calvinist?

 Be sure to visit the slave cabins in Perryville.

One of the creepy shrines.

Rydecki:

The first of the nine points is an agreement to “uphold those principles which Dr. Chemnitz affirmed regarding the Superintendency.” “Those principles” do not include everything Chemnitz wrote in his Church Order. The statement is followed explicitly by the four principles from Chemnitz which we agree to uphold. None of these four principles grants the bishop the authority to decide on all matters of adiaphora (or any matters of adiaphora, for that matter) within our congregations. When Chemnitz states that “each one does not build up himself or act as lord in his congregation and do what he pleases…” this does not imply that the bishop may then act as lord in our congregations and do what he pleases. It implies that we will each be careful not to act in ways that cause offense within our own congregations or among our sister congregations, but will take one another into consideration in love and not enact practices that are likely to cause offense. 

***

GJ - The Joy pastor collected thousands of people who wanted entertainment and a huge staff for managing the entertainment. When the pastor had a heart attack and came to his senses, he fired the staff and the Joy church was taken over by Pentecostals. When the ELDONUTS run out of boot-lickers, they will go the same way.

Heiser established fellowship with an Objective Justification splinter group.

Heiser also pursued fellowship with the fanatical Objective Justification Rolf Synod. Rolf does not cite his father's Justification and Rome book anymore, but he lovea to sip Ovaltine with the ALPB Quasi-Rome Forum.

Matthias Loy - On Strutting Peacocks Like Jim Heiser, Matt the Fatt, Mirthless Mark. ELCA Stole a March on You All, But You Are Catching Up

 

Thought you might find this passage by Matthias Loy on Lutheran union strengthening and encouraging.  It's from volume 6 of his Magazine.  Have a good week everyone.  —Alec Satin

"This requires, first, the rejection of all claims to lordship in the Church by any creature, whether called pope or otherwise and on whatever plea asserted, and the recognition of Christ alone as Lord. As the Lutheran Reformation was characterized by unrelenting war against the papal Antichrist, it may be presumed that no adherent of popery would claim the Lutheran name, or desire to be included in a Lutheran union. But the popish principle has by no means lost all influence in Protestant minds, and even among those calling themselves Lutherans, it is possible to find papal power conceded to some sinful man, though the man of sin at Rome be renounced. When it is maintained, for instance, that the laity, being unlearned and incapable of judging doctrine, are bound to accept as articles of faith whatever the pastor of the congregation or the highest official in synod may think it proper to impose as such, a principle which has been the curse of Romanism is admitted, and must, although in the beginning the usurped divine authority may be used with discretion and by some even with scrupulous fidelity to the Scriptures, in the end work out the same disastrous results which it exhibits in Romanism."

Matt the Fatt's gown cost more than the plane ticket.
When in Rome, dress up!

Why be a bishop when you can be a Pope.
Ask Walther.

Why be a bishop when you can be The Pope.

Former ELDONUT Rydecki:

"But this understanding was solidified in the Episcopal Address and ensuing discussion that took place at the 2022 Synod. I am very disappointed to discover that it is, in fact, the prevailing understanding and expectation within the diocese that the bishop’s responsibility of “oversight” and “administration” “encompasses all that has been associated with this [episcopal] polity in the historic sense,” as stated in the Bishop’s Episcopal Address, including “obliging the parsons and deacons of their superintendency to conform in all things according to our ‘Church Order.’” 

No more belly button jokes, I promise. That does water down the solemnity of the masks, with two blues inside and two whites outside. Almy built a new wing, just for ELDONA finery. Did the foundation donor realize he was funding another outbreak of popery?

The Roses Are Still Blooming - Rain May Arrive Tonight

 

 The Paradise rose in the centeris posed on the hood of a Lincoln Town Car. Easy Does It rose is on the left.

I found a new way to protect flowers from the devouring weed-eater. I have used plastic collars, but carboard boxes are even better - shorter, flaps easily folded inward, rugged, and soil enriching. The entire yard has been covered with cardboard and wood mulch, one time or another. Rich soil is also loved by weeds, so I circulate among the plants and trim back the weeds and let them rot into the greedy soil, always looking for more organic enrichment.

White Knockout roses flourished for a time. White roses are weaker because the redness has been downplayed.

Double red Knockouts were a great way to fill in vases of flowers. We took them in plastic cups to various medical offices. Several doctors said, "You are in another league altogether." Yes - bush league.

These roses were gathered as a favor for a chiropractor's office promotion. The staff loved the bounty of roses.

 Notice the fine Limoges rose vase. No wait, that is a soft drink cup.

The 17th Sunday after Trinity, 2022

Yes, I did not turn on the sound at first. Start where I am talking on the cell phone.

Link to Today's Service

Vimeo Player:

The Hymn #37            Lord Tis Not That I Did Choose Thee              

The Confession of Sins
The Absolution
The Introit p. 16

Righteous art Thou, O Lord: and upright are Thy judgments.

Deal with Thy servant: according to Thy mercy.

Psalm. Blessed are the undefiled in the way: 

who walk in the Law of the Lord.

The Gloria Patri
The Kyrie p. 17
The Gloria in Excelsis
The Salutation and Collect p. 19

Lord, we beseech Thee, grant Thy people grace to withstand the temptations 

of the devil and with pure hearts and minds to follow Thee, the only God; 

through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, who liveth, etc.

The Epistle and Gradual       

Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord: 

and the people whom He hath chosen for His own inheritance.

V. By the Word of the Lord were the heavens made: 

and all the host of them by the Breath of His mouth. 

Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

V. The right hand of the Lord is exalted: the right hand of the Lord doeth valiantly. Hallelujah!

The Gospel              

Glory be to Thee, O Lord!
Praise be to Thee, O Christ!
The Nicene Creed             p. 22

The Sermon Hymn #260         O Lord Look Down

 Love Controls All Law

The Communion Hymn #315:8-11      I Come O Savior       

8. By faith I call Thy holy Table

The testament of Thy deep love;

For, lo, thereby I now am able

To see how love Thy heart doth move.

9. What higher gift can we inherit?

It is faith's bond and solid base;

It is the strength of heart and spirit,

The covenant of hope and grace.

10. This feast is manna, wealth abounding

Unto the poor, to weak ones power,

To angels joy, to hell confounding,

And life for us in death's dark hour.

11. Thy body, given for me, O Savior,

Thy blood which Thou for me didst shed,

These are my life and strength forever,

By them my hungry soul is fed. 

The Preface p. 24
The Sanctus p. 26
The Lord's Prayer p. 27
The Words of Institution
The Agnus Dei p. 28
The Nunc Dimittis p. 29
The Benediction p. 31
The Hymn # 361                  O Jesus, King

                      In Our Prayers 

• Pastor K and others dealing with diabetes, Kermit and Maria Way, Randy Anderson. Pastor Jim Shrader and Chris, Callie's family and C.
• Brett and Amy Meyer celebrated their 33rd wedding anniversary on October 7th.
• Pastor Jackson's birthday is this Saturday.
• The new I AM Sermons book is just starting to get around. It needs some adjustments in format.

              

 Norma A. Boeckler's Christian art books

KJV Ephesians 4:1 I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, 2 With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; 3 Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4 There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; 5 One Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.

KJV Luke 14:1 And it came to pass, as he went into the house of one of the chief Pharisees to eat bread on the sabbath day, that they watched him. 2 And, behold, there was a certain man before him which had the dropsy. 3 And Jesus answering spake unto the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath day? 4 And they held their peace. And he took him, and healed him, and let him go; 5 And answered them, saying, Which of you shall have an ass or an ox fallen into a pit, and will not straightway pull him out on the sabbath day? 6 And they could not answer him again to these things. 7 And he put forth a parable to those which were bidden, when he marked how they chose out the chief rooms; saying unto them, 8 When thou art bidden of any man to a wedding, sit not down in the highest room; lest a more honourable man than thou be bidden of him; 9 And he that bade thee and him come and say to thee, Give this man place; and thou begin with shame to take the lowest room. 10 But when thou art bidden, go and sit down in the lowest room; that when he that bade thee cometh, he may say unto thee, Friend, go up higher: then shalt thou have worship in the presence of them that sit at meat with thee. 11 For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

Seventeenth Sunday After Trinity

Lord God, heavenly Father: We beseech Thee so to guide and direct us by Thy Holy Spirit, that we may not exalt ourselves, but humbly fear Thee, with our whole hearts hear and keep Thy word, and hallow the Lord's day, that we also may be hallowed by Thy word; help us, first, to place our hope and confidence in Thy Son, Jesus Christ, who alone is our righteousness and Redeemer, and, then, so to amend and better our lives in accordance with Thy word, that we may avoid all offenses and finally obtain eternal salvation, through Thy grace in Christ, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, one true God. world without end. Amen.

Love Controls All Law

Background

There are favorite passages used in the historic pericopes (Epistle and Gospel selections) and others where most people will wonder, Why this particular passage?

Luther complained a bit about certain selections and questioned how they were chosen and why. There are many different sets, but this one, I believe, is the oldest. In comparison, many Christian groups do not specify the readings at all. The relatively new three-year lectionary came from the Church of Rome, and the ELCA-LCMS-Others took to it like ants around the kitchen sink.

The key issue is teaching what the Word of God is teaching, not using the selections as a springboard for religious novelties. An ELCA professor was touted in the news for earning her PhD at a Jesuit university for her research on the Holy Spirit. I was interested, so I read her comments. She mentioned Luther! and went on to say that the Paraclete (Comforter, Advocate) in the Gospel of John is a Person who advocates for justice - the old Social Gospel theme of making the road to Jericho safe - and dancing around who the Good Samaritan is (Hint - He is not a radical Leftist.)

 KJV Luke 14:1 And it came to pass, as he went into the house of one of the chief Pharisees to eat bread on the sabbath day, that they watched him.

Jesus was always a target of the opposition, because He taught the righteousness of faith in Him, not the righteousness of works. As Luther wrote in the sermon posted today from the Lenker set, there are two points to this healing miracle. One is well known and used throughout the Bible. The other is unique to this passage.

The universal teaching of the Bible is that Jesus is our Savior, who is presented to us in such a way to teach us to believe in Him, His gracious forgiveness, and His desire to help us in every way possible. That is the lesson of the Good Samaritan (Jesus), a lesson so powerful that apostates, who have fallen from the Faith, take great pains to deny this truth. As one person wrote in - "I have never heard the Good Samaritan parable taught this way." Indeed - that is the darkened state in which we live.

Whatever is offered today as Biblical teaching is mostly the opposite of the Scriptures, backed up by 100 years of official opposition to the Bible's message. Great teachers of the Bible - Loy, Lenski, Leupold, Luther, Chemnitz, Melanchthon - are buried under an avalanche of ponderous, enormous, piles of speculation, available for $40, $50, and up. I spent $130 on the two-volume "commentary" on Mark from the LCMS. The current Biblical "scholars" are today's Pharisees, enemies of Jesus Christ, lying in wait for a chance to attack the Gospel and replace it with their illusions. 

2 And, behold, there was a certain man before him which had the dropsy.

My personal belief is that this man was known in the early church - a certain man. From the context we know that he heard of Jesus and his miraculous healings. If you have had contact or your own experience with long-standing disease. you know what a trial it is to suffer from pain, misery, and weakness of that disorder. I have a mentioned a little boy born so fragile that no one was allowed to kiss him because of his rare, but well known genetic disorder. 

This man with dropsy had faith in Jesus because of the stories told about Him. That is stated in the Fourth Gospel as the reason for the miracles. "If you do not believe in Me, at least believe in the miracles." That is also declared in Romans 10, reflecting on Isaiah 53 - faith comes from "hearing the Report" - the Report being the Gospel message of Jesus Christ. (Apostate "scholars" and clergy assure people that Isaiah 53 has nothing to do with Jesus.

All-Important

The man with dropsy did not present his credentials for being healed. He was not asking for a reward for his virtue but only relief from his painful disease. 

Internal pain is just as bad as external symptoms. Luther pointed out that emotional distress is far more painful and does not earn sympathy, more often it invites scorn and hardness. A person wrote me to say she has so much anxiety that she can barely get her academic work done, and that builds up to the point of quitting. We can easily become obsessed with problems, so great that we can hardly bear them - and that is purely internal, but not so easily dismissed with slogans.

That is most important with marriage, because two become one and opposites attract. There must be contrition (sorrow for sins) on both sides, and gracious forgiveness on both sides. That is how the fruits of the Spirit (the results of faith in Jesus) grow and flourish. When people want fresh roses, as if they are taking from my bank account, I say, "The more we cut, the more we have. Take as many as you want. Even more will blossom." Note that harvesting roses increases the strength of the plant, the vigor of the roots, and the number of flowers. In the same way, regular confession and forgiveness lead to the fruits of the Spirit in our lives.

3 And Jesus answering spake unto the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath day? 4 And they held their peace. And he took him, and healed him, and let him go; 

This is the part Luther identified as unique - the emphasis of love over the Law. That does not mean it is taught here and nowhere else, but that it is clearly expressed and revealed there so we have no excuse to bypass what the Good Shepherd teaches, or what the Good Samaritan exemplifies.

The Mosaic Law is very clear - there is to be no work on the Sabbath. 

5 And answered them, saying, Which of you shall have an ass or an ox fallen into a pit, and will not straightway pull him out on the sabbath day? 6 And they could not answer him again to these things.

Jesus challenged them about their own practices. They would not let their own animals suffer and die on the Sabbath, so they said nothing.

Some would say, The Law is the Law, and that is the message of the Old Testament. However, when Moses led the people for 40 years out in the desert, there were no circumcisions. Nothing is said against Moses, even though circumcision began with Abraham, many centuries before. 

Likewise, when David entered the Temple with his men, they ate the bread which was consecrated for the priests alone. They were starving, so David broke the ceremonial law, so that love was served rather than the Law.

This is known in rabbinic lore as well. In a time of persecution for being Jews, they are allowed to skip all kosher laws and signs of Judaism but not the 10 Commandments. Many things are so distinctive that they serve well to unify Jews, such as kosher foods. However, love is greater. Jewish and Muslim food practices are so close than they eat together at various universities, including Yale. 

Jesus also offered the parable about sitting in seats of honor, which relates to love over the Law. Then, as now, there were customs about honoring various people and their dignity. It is quite common for clergy and academics to hold themselves seriously and even imperiously (like Emperors) in their work, with power over everything. They will scowl and use their nastiness to oppress others.

I knew someone like that who was prone to use his power to intimidate people. When I saw him giving me the stink-eye in the hallway, I smiled at him, greeted him by name, and continued walking. That was not what he wanted. 

I have known professors and clergy with titles who imagined they could violate the Scriptures - any rules, right and wrong - because of their titles. There are endless examples. Paul said we should live with others in peace, as far as we can. I like the subordination (as far as we can) because that is quite difficult with some people. However, God uses those people for the good, even when we do not see the blessings at the moment.

Luther:

23. Therefore the Lord said to his disciples when they disputed as to who should be the greatest among them: “The kings of the Gentiles have lordship over them, and they that have authority over them are called Benefactors. But ye shall not be so; but he that is the greater among you, let him become as the younger; and he that is chief, as he that doth serve,” Luke 22:25-27. He then speaks of himself as an illustration, asking: “For which is the greater, he that sitteth at meat, or he that serveth? is not he that sitteth at meat! But I am in the midst of you as he that serveth.”

And in another place, Matthew 20:26-28, he said: “Whosoever would become great among you shall be your minister; and whosoever would be first among you shall be your servant: even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.”

The best way of life, as Jesus Himself showed us, is to serve rather than to rule. He was nothing but perfection and love, yet He took upon Himself our sins.