Servanthood

Text: Mark 10:35-37,41-45

Focus: Servanthood

Function: to help people lead by serving

³⁵James 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.” ³⁶And he said to them, “What is it you want me to do for you?” ³⁷And they said to him, “Appoint us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.”

⁴¹When the ten heard this, they began to be angry with James and John. ⁴²So 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. ⁴³But it is not so among you; instead, whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, ⁴⁴and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. ⁴⁵For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many.”

Good morning beloved church family!

First, and as an introduction to my sermon, I want to commend you all for leaving politics out of our worship services.

We are diverse here and I recognize that we are of different minds when it comes to the way we vote.

But we are of one mind when it comes to the desire that we have to live lives that reflect the love of Jesus to the world around us.

I encourage you to vote your faith, I try to vote according to the teachings of Jesus.

However, I want us to understand that the problems we face are Spiritual and they are not going to be solved merely by voting. I believe they are going to be solved when the Church takes on its responsibility to teach the unconditional love that Jesus demonstrated.

I remember all the way back in 2008 when President Obama was running for office, and I was at the prison getting ready to go in for my first Kairos weekend. And I parked next to a man who had hinted that his vote was not the same as mine. And his bumper sticker read “I vote the Bible” and didn’t name a party. And my bumper sticker listed a party and I told him I wanted one just like his to put above mine because we both were passionate about our faith. And instead of it being a disagreement, we both just laughed because we knew that in the prison, we were there to give hope to people who are oftentimes without hope and that was much more important than our political differences. I thank God that it is true here as well. We have a deeper purpose than human politics.

Jesus loves both Democrats and Republicans and all of us, both Republicans and Democrats bear the image of Christ and we should respect that in the other person. Respect is important. When we feel the patriotic passions that might keep us divided even though we have a bond that is much more important because it is eternal, formed in the heavens by God’s own hand through the sacrifice of Christ.

We are first members of the family, or the kingdom, of God through Jesus Christ.

And this bond of Christian love is indeed possible through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Today’s passage is about leadership, specifically Servant leadership. And I find the subject relevant since we are a few weeks away from an election.

In today’s passage we read of a power squabble between the apostles. And Jesus gives us some spiritual teaching about leadership in the passage.

These disciples were a diverse group of men. Notably so, is the contrast between Simon the Jewish Zealot and Matthew the Tax Collector for the Romans. They were mortal enemies in the political realm. Matthew was seen by Simon to be a collaborator with the Roman Occupation and Simon would have been seen by Matthew as a terrorist. Both sides considered the other as worthy of death.

And yet in Christ’s love and presence there is never a mention of any rivalry or disunity between the two men in the scriptures. They found something more important.

Jesus told Pilate that his kingdom was not of this world. Our kingdom is divine, spiritual and eternal.

So, here is this group of guys following the master and they get led into a petty squabble about their own power and prestige.

So Jesus tells them what a true leader looks like.

A true leader, a godly leader, is a servant leader.

And Jesus does say something about politicians in the passage. He explains that the politicians of the world find it to their advantage to lord their power over others.

Without criticizing the notion, he states the reality that we still see in politicians today.

It is almost as if Jesus is stating the necessary evil that it is.

But in God’s kingdom, in the place where eternity matters, we have a different standard to follow. Praise God!

We don’t have to lord our power and authority over others. We recognize that it is worldly to do so. That is one of the reasons for a hundred years or so that us plain folk didn’t participate in the elections because they saw both sides as worldly.

Jesus is refocusing the disciples in this lesson into what it takes follow him.

And Jesus tells them that to follow him is to serve others.

And the last symbolic act that Jesus did was Last Supper, the upper room, where they celebrated the Passover and the emphasis was on Jesus washing the disciples feet.

Let me read from John 13 in the Message:

13^1-2Just before the Passover Feast, Jesus knew that the time had come to leave this world to go to the Father. Having loved his dear companions, he continued to love them right to the end. It was suppertime. The Devil by now had Judas, son of Simon the Iscariot, firmly in his grip, all set for the betrayal.

^3-6Jesus knew that the Father had put him in complete charge of everything, that he came from God and was on his way back to God. So he got up from the supper table, set aside his robe, and put on an apron. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the feet of the disciples, drying them with his apron. When he got to Simon Peter, Peter said, “Master, you wash my feet?”

⁷Jesus answered, “You don’t understand now what I’m doing, but it will be clear enough to you later.”

⁸Peter persisted, “You’re not going to wash my feet—ever!”

Jesus said, “If I don’t wash you, you can’t be part of what I’m doing.”

⁹ “Master!” said Peter. “Not only my feet, then. Wash my hands! Wash my head!”

¹¹After he had finished washing their feet, he took his robe, put it back on, and went back to his place at the table.

In obedience to Christ, we wash feet once a year. So I am just going to end with the rest of that scripture:

^12-17Then he said, “Do you understand what I have done to you? You address me as ‘Teacher’ and ‘Master,’ and rightly so. That is what I am. So if I, the Master and Teacher, washed your feet, you must now wash each other’s feet. I’ve laid down a pattern for you. What I’ve done, you do. I’m only pointing out the obvious. A servant is not ranked above his master; an employee doesn’t give orders to the employer. If you understand what I’m telling you, act like it—and live a blessed life.