Readings:
Job 28:20-28; Psalm 27:1-9; James 3:13-18; Mark 9:30-37 Jesus
is at home in Galilee.
His disciples are sitting around him.
On their way home they had been arguing about who was the most
important.
This while Jesus had been explaining that his mission would bring
about his death.
"What were you discussing?" He asks them.
And suddenly no one has anything to say.
Quite rightly, they are embarrassed.
For they have missed the essence of what Jesus has been trying to
tell them.
He has been telling them about a kingdom in which the present
powers are toppled and replaced with a new order, new in the sense of
different.
But they still see his mission in political terms, within a
hierarchical structure.
Opting into such structures, they conjecture amongst themselves
about their own place within the status quo.
"Who will be the greatest and most honoured in the
kingdom?" We
can all identify with the disciples.
Are we not very like them?
We learned it when we were children out in the playground.
At least I did.
In the inner city schoolyard where we often played there was a
hill up against the fence.
We played our own version of capture the flag.
We would storm the hill and defend it against other teams of
children.
The shout, of course, when the hill was captured was always,
“I’m the king of the castle, and you’re the dirty rascal!”
We
learn competition from a very early age.
It is reinforced throughout our lives.
Who of us does not try to get ahead in life?
Think of the slogans in our world.
We must "keep up with the Joneses".
"We're number one."
Even "we're number two, so we try harder" is a message
based on power. Do
we not spend time and energy disputing whom among us should be
considered the greatest?
Is it the clergy or the laity, the celibate or the married, the
husband or the wife?
Our
educational system encourages a competition based on marks rather than
on learning.
Children are taught from an early age to take part in sports
activities.
It becomes somewhat less than fun when children feel defeated
because they do not make a certain team or score enough goals.
Strikes pit management against labour and leave us with the
message that making money is everything.
Politicians seem far more interested in serving their own
interests than in serving their country.
Just consider some of the goings on as we approach Election Day
in Ontario! Competition and winning, it would seem have become the
primary religion of our increasingly secular lives.
But
Jesus provides a different message.
"The first must be last," he tells his disciples.
"The servant of all." In saying this he is not judging their
behaviour.
He is telling them how to achieve true greatness.
He is explaining the essence of greatness.
His illustration is a practical one.
They hear some children playing outside.
Jesus opens the door.
"Come over here," he calls to one of them.
Can't you see him approaching Jesus, a little frightened, dirty
from playing, his nose running!
Jesus puts his arms around him.
We’ve seen the picture dozens of times.
"The one who welcomes such a one welcomes me and the one who
sent me," he explains.
True greatness comes about not by holding great office, but by
doing service to "so called" insignificant people such as the
child.
Who
has not experienced the joy of doing service to a small child?
The sense of trust as a child puts a small hand into yours.
A toddler’s first few tentative steps toward you, arms reaching
out for support.
A lost child's frightened cry replaced with a smile as you help
find her family.
As
with so much of our faith, it’s a paradox.
Greatness lies in servanthood.
Christians are called to live out their lives in a spirit of
humility and service.
However, if you are anything like I am, that presents real
problems with which we must constantly grapple.
In my own case, I so often see my failure to live out the gospel
message that I preach.
It is easy to say that the Christian is called to serve the poor,
the disenfranchised, the oppressed.
But it is more difficult to overcome our perceptions of people
and our need for gratification so that we are free to truly serve.
Back
to my childhood! It usually fell to us as children growing up in an
inner city rectory, to feed the street people who came for assistance.
Many of them were regulars whom we came to recognize.
We saw their ragged clothing.
We smelled the liquor on their breath.
We labelled them.
We even gave some of our "favourites" names –
Rudolph, Pinhead.
It never occurred to us, or at least to me, that they were people
with names and feelings and stories.
We thought that we were doing the "right", the
"Christian" thing.
And we were to the best of our capabilities.
This is long before shelters and food banks.
When
I worked in street ministry, I was able to draw on my earlier experience
and find ways to reach out to the street people in a manner which did
not devalue them or judge them.
I learned to listen to their stories.
I learned their names.
At first I questioned that there was any value to what I was
doing.
I was not "giving" them anything.
Or so I thought.
But many of the things that I experienced during that year,
brought me to the conclusion that it is in seeing people as people, in
seeking Christ in others, that we become effective proclaimers of the
Gospel, that we really give service to others, and in turn, receive.
Christ's
lesson that one should exercise leadership by serving, is paradoxical.
But if we look at genuine authority there really is no
contradiction between the notion of service and that of leadership.
There can be no real exercise of authority without service.
Service lies, not in self-serving domination, but in taking sides
with those whom we would serve.
We must continue as Christians to ask ourselves difficult and
searching questions.
Are we living out the gospel message in the pattern of our
ministry in the church?
In the life of our particular congregation?
In our own lives?
Who are we called to serve?
Jesus' answer to the disciples speaks to us. Who is the greatest in the kingdom of Christ? Those who, like the one we proclaim, give humble service to others. What kind of a world would we live in if we, the people of God, become as our Saviour taught us, a servant people, seriously concerned for the rest of humanity? It is something to consider as we approach the Thanksgiving weekend. It is certainly something to consider as we look at the ministry of our church in this community. |
