“You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am.” (John 13:13)
Jesus is both our teacher and our Lord. And those are two distinct things. A teacher is someone that imparts knowledge or helps you to understand things. A lord is someone that you submit to or who has authority over you. It may be a small matter pointing out the difference but it’s paying attention to that detail paints a more vivid picture of what happened during the Last Supper.
In Matthew 26, when Jesus was eating the Last Supper and told his apostles that one of them would betray him, notice their responses:
(verse 22) And they were very sorrowful and began to say to him one after another, “Is it I, Lord?”
(verse 25) Judas, who would betray him, answered, “Is it I, Rabbi [which means teacher]?”
Did you catch that? The apostles that would go on to live and to die for Christ recognized Jesus as their Lord; the one whom they submitted to, who had authority over them. But Judas only recognized Jesus as a teacher; someone who was smart and probably had some good advice, but Jesus wasn’t really his Lord.
What is your view of Jesus? Is he the Lord of your life; someone that you submit to and are willing to live and die for? Or is he just someone that has pretty good teachings and you hang out with him every now and then, but he’s not really anymore valuable than 30 pieces of silver?
Whichever he is to you will be reflected in the way that you live.
Today, may you truly call Jesus your Lord.