“For even the son of man came not to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
– Mark 10:45
This verse is revolutionary in so many ways. This is Jesus telling us why he came.
Mark 10:45 Shows Us why Jesus Came
He said, “I did not come to be served, but to serve and to give my life as a ransom for many.” Now, we know this, followers of Jesus, we know that he came to give his life as a ransom for us, to pay the price for our sins on the cross, and that in and of itself is revolutionary and life changing for all of us. This is the gospel that we love, that we never get tired of the reality that Jesus died as a ransom for us, to pay the price for our sin, to save us from sin and death and hell.
And as if that is not enough, just let the first part of this verse soak in in a deeper way. “Even the son of man came not to be served, but to serve.” Jesus came not just to save you, but to serve you. Now, we’re used to thinking of ourselves as followers of Jesus, as servants of Jesus, and rightly we should. That’s the way the Bible describes us, as servants of Christ. There’s a sense in which, yes, we do whatever he leads us to do, but don’t miss the revolutionary reality of Mark 10:45.
Jesus is saying he came to serve you. Jesus came to be your servant. The word that he uses here is a word that would mean to wait on tables, to serve you. Think of when you go to a restaurant and somebody comes to your table and says, “What can I do for you? How can I serve you? How can I help you?” This is Jesus posture toward you, and I just want to encourage you to let it soak in today, right now amidst whatever you’re walking through in your life.
Yes, Jesus came to save you from sin, and Jesus came to serve you today. Jesus posture toward you right now is like a waiter. “What can I do for you? How can I help you? How can I serve you?” It almost feels blasphemous to say, to talk about Jesus as our servant, but that’s what he says he is to us. It’s why he came. And when you think about it, this is what we need more than anything else. There is nothing that you or I can do today without his help. I think about my life.
I’m not able to be the husband God’s called me to be. I can’t be the dad God’s called me to be. I’m not able to be the man God has called me to be. I can’t live in purity. I’m not able to live in holiness. I can’t boldly share the gospel with people around me. Desperately, I need Jesus to help me in all those ways, in everything. I’m not able to breathe today without his help. I can’t do anything.
Mark 10:45 Encourages Us to ask for Jesus’ Help
And that’s what drives us to prayer every morning and all day long and every night, right? the reality that we need Jesus to serve us. We need God to help us. And the revolutionary, awesome truth of the Bible is that God wants to serve you, that Jesus God in the flesh, this is the reason why he came to serve you. So God, I just pray this over every single person listening right now. Obviously, I don’t know what they’re all walking through, but you do, and you came, Jesus, to serve them. So I pray that even in this moment, they would see you as their servant, not in the sense that you do whatever we tell you to do. We are your servants in that sense. We are your servants in that sense.
But Jesus, we can’t do anything without you. We can’t be the people you’ve called us, created us to be. We can’t experience life to the full, and we can’t carry out the responsibilities we have today in our lives and our families and our work and in the world, apart from your help at every moment. So God, I pray that you would serve every single person listening to this right now in every way they need, especially if they’re walking through hard times or difficult days. I pray that you would serve them with everything they need and they would trust you as their servant. Oh God, what a thought and what good news we have to share with the world.
Praying for the Chitrakar People
God, we pray today for the Chitrakar people of India, tens of thousands of them following all kinds of gods, millions of different gods, thinking, “How can I serve this god or that god?” God, we pray for the spread of the gospel, the good news that you have come to serve us, to save us. We pray for the spread of that good news to the Chitrakar people of India, and you would bless our brothers and sisters in Christ in India for the spread of the gospel to them, you would raise up more missionaries from the nations to take the gospel to unreached people in India.
Specifically, we pray today for the Chitrakar people. Oh God, we praise you. We love you. Lord, we glorify you. We thank you for this revolutionary reality that you sent Jesus to save us and to serve us. In his name we pray. Amen.
David Platt serves as a Lead Pastor for McLean Bible Church. He is also the Founder and Chairman of Radical, an organization that helps people follow Jesus and make him known in their neighborhood and all nations.
David received his B.A. from the University of Georgia and M.Div., Th.M., and Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Some of his published works include Radical, Radical Together, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, and Don’t Hold Back.
He lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area with his wife and children.
