Servant of All

They were on the road, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking ahead of them; they were amazed, and those who followed were afraid. He took the twelve aside again and began to tell them what was to happen to him, saying, ‘See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death; then they will hand him over to the Gentiles; they will mock him, and spit upon him, and flog him, and kill him; and after three days he will rise again.’ James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came forward to him and said to him, ‘Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.’ And he said to them, ‘What is it you want me to do for you?’ And they said to him, ‘Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.’ But Jesus said to them, ‘You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?’ They replied, ‘We are able.’ Then Jesus said to them, ‘The cup that I drink you will drink; and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized; but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.’ When the ten heard this, they began to be angry with James and John. So Jesus called them and said to them, ‘You know that among the Gentiles those whom they recognize as their rulers lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. But it is not so among you; but whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.’ Mark 10:32-45

If we were truly honest, few of us would take the job as servant. Historically, the poor and the uneducated as well as immigrants have been most often those who became servants. We have a terrible history of slavery in this country, a legacy of unpaid lifetime servitude. So, when talking about serving, it is important to realize we are talking about a choice. God made a choice to send Jesus and Jesus made a choice to be servant of all. We who choose to follow Jesus, model ourselves after the teacher. Noone is forced to serve. We are invited by our Creator to offer ourselves to the service of others and to model a humility that lifts up everyone. The church, in our selfishness, for too long captured folks and forced them into servitude. We are all called to the service of justice and to helping others to thrive. 

Creator God, who made your son servant

so that we might know your true freedom

our choice to follow in your loving ways

so that all might be raised up and healed.

We have for too long crushed those who serve

and have made inequality society's norm

we have walked on the downtrodden and the poor

and have shut our eyes to the needs around us.

Help us to move from charity to compassion

let us live as servants of the living, loving Creator

who took on our mortal flesh and our brokenness

so all the world could be free to live in peace. Amen.