On Being a Dignified Servant

Robert Hall
Tarrytown United Methodist Church

October 22, 2006

Mark 10:35-45

“If we can just get our guys into power, we will renew the church.” This was said many times by clergy of my generation. At one time, long ago and far away, we even had a Renewal Caucus. We ran a slate of clergy for election to General Conference, and all of them were elected. The ones we thought were holding up progress were ousted. We celebrated.

I remain convinced that “our guys” were excellent candidates. But we were naïve about the effect they would have in renewing the church. I have thought about this era of church politics many times. We were trying to apply worldly principles in our relations with our sisters and brothers.

 Peter, James and John were the inner circle of the twelve. Brother James and Brother John asked Jesus to do them a favor. “When the kingdom comes, we want to be at your right and left.” (“I am working for your election, and, when you are elected,we want to be your top advisors.”)

We can give James and John the benefit of the doubt. They had heard Jesus say that he was going to Jerusalem to suffer and to die. Even though they, along with the others, were dazed and afraid, they offered their services in the task of governing after the kingdom came. Or maybe this was a power grab, in the belief that neither Peter nor any of the others had the ability to be Jesus’ advisors. (We can wonder how Peter felt?!) Their volunteering to lead, as naïve as it may have been, can be seen as an act of courage. Perhaps they were the “sturdy dreamers” that we sing about in the grand old hymn. (Never mind that all twelve made themselves scarce as the events in Jesus’ last week unfolded.)

But Jesus replies: “You have no idea what you are asking.” Jesus does not chide them for their presumptuousness. The “cup” and the “baptism” of inner and outward suffering would indeed be great. (John Wesley, Notes on the New Testament) Were they able?  “Oh yes, they reply, we are able!”

Jesus then agrees that they will endure suffering. (James is martyred early in the account in the Book of Acts, killed by Herod.) But Jesus turns aside their request for special place at his side. God will decide that, he says.

DISCIPLES: SLOW LEARNERS

The disciples, as we have seen before, were not catching on quickly. This encounter between Jesus and the disciples comes right after Jesus has told them, for the third time, that he will suffer and die. On the first occasion, Peter scolds Jesus for even saying such a thing. On the second occasion, after Jesus says he must suffer and die, the disciples get into an argument about who is the greatest. Here, after telling them for the third time, this time with more graphic detail of the suffering he will endure, this duo decides to ask for power at the top. (In Luke it is at the Last Supper that the disciples respond with the “who is the greatest” discussion.)

The disciples’ view of life in the kingdom is at odds with Jesus.’ They were seeing change as made possible by an overthrow of the Roman occupiers and the establishment of a new political and religious order. If so, it makes sense for the right people to be in power, to carry out Jesus’ orders. If, as Paul says, “every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,” then let’s get on with it and make it happen.

We know what it is to be tempted to believe that Christianity would be best served if we could simply compel or coerce or even trick people into believing. Throughout our history, the church has sometimes forced “conversions” by the sword. If, after all, it is better that all people believe in God and follow God’s rules, then why not make them do it, for their own good. It is a dangerous path, but one, we must confess, that the church has sometimes resorted to. Remember that Jesus turned aside the use of such tactics during his temptations in the wilderness.

MARCH TO A DIFFERENT DRUMMER

Jesus calls the apostles to relate to each other, within the church, as he has related to them.

The number of times Jesus speaks of servant leadership is impressive.

       He tells them not to let anyone call them rabbi, teacher or father, because they are all brothers and sisters.

       He contrasts the one at table with the one serving the meal and asks, who is the greatest? The one at table, of course: and yet he says, “I am among you as one who serves”.

       He illustrates by taking a child and saying to them, the littlest will be the greatest.

       He kneels down and washes the disciples’ feet, embarrassing them all, to drive home his point: the greatest among you will be the servant of all.

 Greatness is to be found in service, not in power. When the “indignant ten” disciples show their feelings to Jesus, he says it again:

 “You have known the way the gentiles (non-Jews) lord it over them, and make their authority felt. But this must not happen among you: If you want to be great, you must be a servant; the first among you shall be a slave to all of you.

We know what Jesus knew: things do get done when  raw power is exerted. This was the model of greatness in the Roman Empire, and among some Jewish leaders. It is a familiar pattern:  The CEO jumps on the vice-president, the vice-president bawls out the managers; the managers upbraid the workers; the workers (or all of them) go home and tell off their husband. It is an old pattern. This method often gets things done.

DIFFERENCE?

What is the difference between leadership within the church, and the common practice of those who have power? Wasn’t Jesus concerned about getting things done?

It is important to understand that Jesus was a servant, but he was not servile. Jesus himself did not go around doing everything that was asked of him; he did not just rush around trying to meet other peoples’ expectations. He was not at the beck and call of every person, to do whatever they asked in the way they wanted it done. To the contrary: he chose what to do. And his example of service was not always gentle. Jesus was as much a servant in driving out the money-changers from the temple as he was in healing Peter’s mother in law.

So what was Jesus asking the disciples, then and now, to do?

Within the church, we are asked to follow the golden rule: “What you would like others to do to you, do that to them.” (Matthew 7:12) If you would not like someone else lording it over you, then you should realize that they will not appreciate you doing it. You will want to be treated with respect as a child of God; therefore you are to treat the other brothers and sisters that way---even, and especially, if you are designated leaders.

Dallas Willard says it this way:

      “When I ask someone to do or to be or to give something, I    stand with that person in the domain of a constraint without force….We are together. A request, by its very nature, unites. A demand, by contrast, immediately separates. It is the peculiar ‘atmosphere’ of togetherness that characterizes the kingdom, and is, indeed, what human beings were created to thrive in.” (Dallas Willard, The Divine Conspiracy, p. 233)

I may ask, “How will anything get done in the church if no one can be forced to do anything? This sounds like the formula for keeping the status quo.”

But I am reminded again at how much Jesus and his disciples accomplished; and what happened afterwards as recorded in the Book of Acts. Yes, there were controversies and there were arguments. But the church thrived not because anyone lorded it over others, but because the Holy Spirit kept the sisters and brothers united, in mutual respect, in spite of their differences.

When we, within the church, adopt the tactics of coercion and force, it is a sign that the body of Christ has been infiltrated by enemy forces. It is a sign that “togetherness” has been set aside in the name of “getting things done”-----as if these were mutually exclusive values.

 We are to have patience with each other,
 forgive each other,
 speak the truth in love,
seek reconciliation,
 pray for one another,
 weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice.

 Leadership within the church must be within this framework of the redemptive fellowship.

Jesus’ words about servant leadership were spoken to the church. We are to live by different rules in our relationships with each other. Jesus’ was not giving advice to the Pharisees or Sadducees or to the Roman Procurator. He was speaking to the small band of people who had been caught up by a new vision of reality called the Kingdom of God.

The Kingdom of God: A Vision of New People in a New World

Jesus’ first and most often repeated message is that the kingdom of God was “at hand,” and “in your midst.” It is here and it is coming. What the church is now called upon to demonstrate will someday be a reality in all the earth. Therefore the gift of the dominion of God to them---this new world in the making within the church----impels us to reach out to others. God’s dream is for the whole world’s redemption. We are called to rtake servant leadership into the world, too.

Jesus and the disciples expected the kingdom of God to come with power. It would be “Eden restored, New Jerusalem descending from heaven, the Kingdom of God on earth.”

It would be the realization of God’s intention for the whole world. “The life of faith [therefore] is lived on the road that leads from the world of man’s construction to the world of God’s intention.”

The time schedule? This was secondary. To be a servant was to serve the needs of the neighbor, near or far, with this vision of God in mind. They will ask: where are the signs of God’s ministries of mercy and justice, and how do I help with the gifts I have?

Servants will be other-directed, out of the love of God and neighbor, doing kingdom work. They will serve the cause of the kingdom-----
of signaling it,
of pointing to it,
 of fostering it,
 of preparing people to live in the world as agents of God’s reconciling and peace-making and door-opening power.

 James Smart has written: “The world has to be transformed from beneath by a race of servant people….” The vision of God’s future world was for a “new kind of human being in a new kind of world.”  We are to be the leaven in the loaf, the salt in the stew, the light that shines in the darkness. (See Matthew 5)

WARY

If we believe that God will bring his kingdom “on earth as it is in heaven,” then we will be wary of attempts to neatly identify the kingdom with any particular political ideology. We do not build the kingdom; we work on behalf of the king. The Shalom of God will include justice and mercy, peace and prosperity, security and freedom and in forms which we cannot imagine.  We have to be content to work on a project which we cannot fully comprehend. We will sense the urgency of the matter; but we will have the patience of those whose hope is in God who is the alpha and the omega.
 
FREED TO BE SERVANTS

Not only do we live as citizens of God’s reign; we do so as people freed from vengeance and self-promotion. Within the fellowship of church, this is especially demanded. In our leadership roles in the larger world, we can be examples to others of this new way of leading, a way blessed by our Master Teacher.
  
If I find that I am loving the thrill of being in power more than I am loving God and God’s vision of the world, then I have gone astray. So, not only are servant leaders imbued with kingdom principles, they are also children of the king. Their worth and dignity come from God. Therefore, they are free to serve.

John Claypool, Episcopal priest, said that he heard the gospel at a Rotary meeting one day. A successful business man was asked what he looked for in an employee. He said that he did not want anyone who wanted to “make something of himself or herself”. That kind of employee will always be asking what will make themselves look good. He wanted employees who already know that they are somebody important, and who could make decisions that would advance the company instead of simply making decisions that will make them look important.

Dallas Willard again describes what he calls our God-blessed “drive to significance.” This is not egotism. “Egotism is pathological self-obsession, a reaction to anxiety about whether one really does count. Our drive to significance “is a simple extension of the creative impulse of God that gave us being.”

To receive the forgiveness and mercy of God is to be grounded in the steadfast love of the Lord. You are God’s child, you do count. You are “God’s work of art,” as the New Jerusalem Bible translates the Ephesians first chapter text. Therefore, you are freed to serve. Your dignity is a given.

SUM

Servant leaders will be motivated by the love of God, grounded  in the grace of God. We will strive to do what is right for them all, treating them with dignity as children of God, persons made in God’s image. This love for neighbor keeps us from lording it over them or seeking our own glory at their expense. We don’t need glory because we already share in God’s glory.

James and John both wanted to be at Jesus’ side. Rather than telling them they were wrong to want this, I think Jesus was saying we all should be wanting to be at Jesus’ side, one the road with him, learning from him, meeting him in the least of people, following him in daily servant leadership.

DAILY DISCIPLESHIP

The cup we drink, the baptism we will endure as those who say “we are able” may not be of the heroic type. Our service may be invisible to most other people.

 For example
Teaching fourth grade Sunday School; delivering meals on wheels;
 raising ethical questions in the business you are in;
 tutoring students who are at risk;
 singing in the choir; taking the paper and mail to an elderly neighbor;
 working on public policies which really make a difference to the common good;
 catching the eye of a child with an encouraging word;
 opening the door of opportunity for a person for whom it has always been shut;
 teaching in the classroom
 upholding the highest principles in the execution of military campaigns;
 writing effective letters to legislators;
 chairing a committee in the church-
--- servant ministries in  ways too numerous to mention, and as diverse as we and our gifts are.
 Servant ministries with the Christ of daily contacts.

RANSOM

Jesus says at the end of this lesson that he came to give himself as a ransom for many. So Jesus example of servant leadership is unique. He does for us that which we cannot do for ourselves: he sets us free, he wins our release from the prison of always living solely for our own sake.  Jesus does not lay out a full blown theory of atonement. But Jesus is saying that in his willingness to die for the sake of our redemption and that of the world---we are set free to take upon ourselves the yoke of service.

Jesus is saying, “It is a long journey ahead before the day when the kingdom comes in its fullness. Between now and then, in a thousand ways, you will be baptized like me and drink the cup that I drink, and in this self-giving, you will manifest the life I give to the world.

And, abiding in me, you will be able”.