The Gospel of Servanthood

The Gospel of Servanthood (21^st October 2012)

Isaiah 53:4-12

Hebrews 5:1-10

Mark 10:35-45

+ In the name of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.

I wonder how many of you have been making a regular date these last few Sunday evenings with Downton Abbey. I suspect quite a few. We are still making our way through the DVD of series two, but have faithfully set the record button to make sure we don’t miss any of the current episodes. There is an appetite for period dramas that tell us something about what life may have been like for the rich and powerful, as well as for those who served them and catered for their every need. Of course it is all made in a very entertaining, stylised way for the TV, so there is bound to be some artistic licence taken with the exact details of life both “Upstairs and Downstairs”.

In a society that still operated very much under a relatively well defined social and class structure there was a fairly recognisable distinction between the so-called “ruling class” and those who served them. A well-ordered society depended upon the observance of an often complex series of social rules and etiquette, where everyone knew their place and stayed there. Mustn’t upset the order of things!

Well, as I’m sure we all know by now, Jesus wasn’t one for sticking strictly to the way things were “meant” to be. A read through the gospels show him taking the expectations that were placed upon him by society and turning them completely upside down. Conforming to the “norm” wasn’t exactly his strong suit!

 I preached a few weeks ago on ambition and greatness, and how true greatness lay not in a self-regarding race to the top, trying constantly to be better or more successful. But rather it is in following the example of Jesus, and in some sense allowing Jesus to be shown though us…….what we say and what we do. And, what we see in our gospel reading this morning is an excellent example of this.

We have James and John, two of his closest confidantes, approaching Jesus and almost treating him as a kind of genie of the lamp, ready to grant their wishes with his great benevolence.  “Just say the word Jesus and one of us will sit at your right hand and the other at your left……..we want to share your glory with you”.

 Their eagerness to receive such prominence shows how very little they knew or understood what discipleship was really all about. The contrast between being served and being a servant is quite remarkable, and at this moment in time they seem all too keen to lap up the honour and prestige that they thought was their due reward.

The path of discipleship which lay ahead of them was not one of ambition or personal gain. As Jesus replies to them, they really didn’t have a clue what it is they were asking! “The cup that I drink you will drink and the baptism with which I am baptised, you will also be baptised; but to sit at my right hand or my left is not mine to grant, but is for those for whom it has been prepared” (Mk 10:39-40). He uses the two images of a cup and baptism as metaphors for the suffering and death he will one day face, and we hear James and John eagerly replying to him “oh yes, we can do that”. Yet we know that when the time came they, along with the rest of the disciples would flee and abandon him……so much then for their promise to stand alongside him in his moment of need!

And in fact we see later in Mark’s gospel, during the moment of his crucifixion, a point seems to be made about the two criminals executed with him……..one on his right and one on his left, to whom Jesus promised would join him in paradise. Even in death Jesus came alongside those who society despised, not perhaps the ones who thought they deserved a place with him, but those who knew they didn’t!

 We get a powerful reminder of what being a servant actually meant for Jesus in our reading from Isaiah in what is often called “The Song of the Suffering Servant”, and which is traditionally believed to portray Jesus not as some great all-conquering warrior king, but instead as one who became despised and broken just as many of those he came to serve were each in their own way despised and broken.

 This was the path he was offering James and John when they had their eyes fixed so firmly upon their own glory. They had this idea that greatness was somehow all about having power and authority over others, while the greatness which Jesus spoke of came from being a servant to others. The path that he trod was one which they too had to journey down if they were to truly know what it was to be his disciples. There was to be no easy route or VIP pass that would somehow get them ahead of all the others.

 And we see such sacrificial self-giving service in the name of Jesus in many contemporary saints and heroes of the faith. In Mother Theresa carrying out her work among the destitute, even when she herself doubted her own faith. In Maximillian Kolbe as he offered to take the place of a fellow prisoner about to be executed in a Nazi concentration camp. In Corrie ten Boom who sheltered and protected Jews during the war with no regard for her own safety. Their service came not from a sense of duty, but out of a deep sense of love for God and love for their fellow human beings.

And ok most of us may not be placed in such extreme situations during our lifetime, but we are each of us called to serve with the same kind of attitude. We are called to serve not just as individuals to other individuals (though that is of course important in itself), but we are called as the church to serve the community in which we find ourselves.

The call in this instance is not a call to go out and convert it is simply a call to go out and serve. And it’s not always easy, and it does sometimes feel awkward and difficult……..yet we are called to do it anyway. Jesus came not to be served, but to serve ALL who came to him, without exception or discrimination. And we as the church, as his body here on earth are called to do likewise.

 As we sang a few moments ago during the gospel hymn:

“So let us learn how to serve, and in our lives enthrone him. Each other’s needs to prefer, for it is Christ we’re serving”.

+ In the name of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

AMEN