Mark 10:43-45
“Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must be the slave of everyone else. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Queen Elizabeth has often been described as the Servant Queen who served the Servant King.  Here in Mark’s gospel we hear Jesus take us to the heart of his teaching about service. He was basically turning the disciples’ thinking upside down – as he so often did. James and John had come to him looking for the best seats in the new Kingdom, and they were in for a shock. Not only did Jesus tell them that he wasn’t in a position to give them such seats, but he explained that they needed to be aiming for the lowest seats. They needed to learn what it was to be a slave to everyone else. And Jesus concluded by explaining that even he, the Son of Man, came not to be served but to serve and give his life to set other people free.
On her 21st birthday on April 21st 1947 Princess Elizabeth said: “I declare before you all that my whole life, whether it be long or short, shall be devoted to your service and the service of our great imperial family to which we all belong.” At the time her father, King George 6th, was 51 years old and she must have assumed that it would be many years before she would become queen. But it was not to be. Less than five years later the King died and Princess Elizabeth became queen. Her promise to serve held good even though I am absolutely sure that it was not the life that she expected or wanted at such an early age. But that’s service, and we need to thank God for the remarkable life of faithful service that she lived.
If we are honest, we all enjoy being served. We live in a society which panders to our desire to be served ever more efficiently. But Jesus calls us to follow in his footsteps and to learn that to be fully alive we need to learn the blessing of pouring out our lives for others as willing servants.
Prayer: Lord Jesus Christ, we thank you that Queen Elizabeth recognised you as the Servant King and as the Lord of her life. Teach us to follow her example and to serve you, willingly and joyfully, with all our hearts. Amen

Released on 14 Sep 2022