Recently I read this caption in a newspaper, “You truly can’t love others till you learn to love yourself”. In Christianity this is not true, even though in the worldly understanding it makes sense. There is a gravitational pull of our flesh and the world that says that to be really happy, we have to satisfy our self. In other words to be self centered. Most Christians follow this par- adigm. However the Lord says that we have to deny ourselves. To do the opposite is His clarion call. We need to understand the scriptures the way the Jewish people understood it. The Apostles did not expect or believe that the Messiah would die. After all, He was to rule with power according to the scriptures. They were even fighting for positions of power for earthly glory. God’s way was going to be completely different. ‘All this suffering and killing talk, are you serious?’ they would have thought. For the Jews the cross meant death. No one took it willingly. The Lord invites us to deny that attitude and thus experience the glory in living not for our self but for others.

Prayer: Abba Father, may I regard others more important than myself. That is akin to death for me. Amen