Mark
9:30-37
30 They went on from there and passed through
Galilee. He did not want anyone to know it; 31 for he was teaching his
disciples, saying to them, "The Son of Man is to be betrayed into human
hands, and they will kill him, and three days after being killed, he will rise
again." 32 But they did not understand what he was saying and were afraid
to ask him. 33 Then they came to Capernaum; and when he was in the house he
asked them, "What were you arguing about on the way?" 34 But they
were silent, for on the way they had argued with one another who was the
greatest. 35 He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, "Whoever
wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all." 36 Then he took
a little child and put it among them; and taking it in his arms, he said to
them, 37 "Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and
whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me."
"Whoever wants to be first must be last of
all and servant of all."
·
We have heard this saying for our
entire lives. We know it applies to Jesus Christ and we’ve been told it applies
to the leadership of the Church right across the board. “Whoever want to be first must
be last of all and servant of all.” No doubt that was part of the
criteria for choosing pastors. In some circles, people speak of pastors and
others having a “servant heart.” (I really wish I knew what that meant.)
·
Are servants those who pick up after
everybody else? Maybe, but I’ve been told that that would be someone called “Mother.”
Is a servant someone who does things without expectation of notice or reward?
Most people in service positions have every right to expect payment for their
service and in many cases, even a tip for superior service.
·
In this case, servanthood has to do
with accepting the same role as Jesus Christ, who said he came to serve and not
to be served. To serve as Christ did means to become Christ-like, to become a
“little Christ” as it were. Not a replacement or a substitute, but one who
works and does things in the name of another or with another’s authority.
·
What would it mean to serve in this
way? It can be sacrificial in many ways, for Jesus sacrificed much to serve his
Father’s will and to serve those who followed him. Many of us here know what
sacrifice is and what it entails.
·
It would often mean leaving ourselves
and our personal desires behind. The Gospels call this “denying the self.” It
means more than giving up candy or an occasional TV show, a lot more.
·
But what if someone doesn’t want to
be first? What if they want to be part of the faceless pack and go unnoticed?
There may be people like that.
·
I don’t think that Jesus was speaking
about those people. I don’t think that there are such people. To live a life
without interference from others or without reference to others might be the
highest form of self-aggrandizement possible. The poet, John Donne said that no
man is an island. To think otherwise is a fantasy or a sickness. In truth, we
all want to be first and that might be the original sin… making ourselves a
god.
·
Jesus was speaking in response to the
discussion of the disciples who were arguing over who was the greatest, another
sickness stemming from the original sin. The remedy for this is becoming last rather
than first and becoming the servant of all.
·
Any desire to become like Christ asks
us to serve and that servanthood can take on many forms.
·
It can be leadership, a form of
servanthood that has its own set of problems. A leader can be a servant,
depending on the attitude the person brings to the role. It is important for
such a leader to put on the mind of Christ and leave themselves behind, a task
that is never easy at the best of times.
·
It can be stewardship, which means to
take care of something left in a person’s care rather than something owned.
Each of us is a steward – of the Good News of grace, of our bodies, of our
families, of each other.
·
It can be evangelization, which is
serving the Good News by teaching others. This is the role of the Church, the
entire Church. It cannot be delegated to the pastors and church teachers. Every
parent is a servant of the Word in teaching their own children about the faith.
·
It can be a desire for justice, where
any of us can serve both God and our neighbors in working for what is best for
all.
·
It can be servanthood in caring for the
least of all – the sick, the troubled, the lost, the homeless, or those in
mourning. This list can go on and on. Whether we do this as a profession or as
the act of a friend, it is servanthood.
·
Servanthood takes the last place without
a desire to become first. That would be a prideful act, like cartoon character
who declares that he will be the “best” at being the least.
·
All this talk of humility and making
oneself the last can sound depressing. Many take it as a devaluation of the
person. However, running yourself down is not true humility. True humility is
to be exactly who and what you are, to be what God made you, no more and no
less. This includes the acceptance of one’s own sinfulness as well as the
acceptance that each of us is dear to God and has been redeemed at great cost
by Jesus.
·
Do we want to be first or last? Do we
want to be leader or servant? Does it matter? Servant leadership is a particular
call from God while servanthood is part and parcel of all discipleship. The
first place is held by Jesus, of course, who served all and fulfilled the
Father’s will for the good of all.
·
Leadership and servanthood… it’s all
grace. As Jesus told his disciples about welcoming a little child, it is not so
much what a little one can do for you, but that in welcoming the small and the
least, the hurting and the lost, you welcome him. It’s how we live out the
grace that we have been given.
·
First or last, we are the
Lord’s. Note how Jesus does not use the
terms “greatest” or “master” when talking to his disciples, using the terms
“first” and “last” instead.
·
Think about it; who is the greatest?
Who is the master? None of us… but Christ and Christ alone. There is the
beginning of humility and servanthood, for the greatest humility is seen in
this: The Son of Man is to be
betrayed into human hands, and they will kill him, and three days after being
killed, he will rise again.
In this is our hope and our salvation.