Pulling a power play rarely endears one to one’s colleagues, whether in an office, kitchen, classroom or family. James and John’s attempt to secure places of honor in the glorious future soon got back to their fellow disciples, who were not pleased.
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."
This brouhaha handed Jesus a teachable moment, a chance to convey to his thick-headed disciples yet again the nature of the leadership to which they were called. Theirs was not to be the leadership of corner offices and grand titles, of setting broad visions or managing underlings. Theirs was to be the leadership of humble service. They were to excel in serving each other and the people around them. They were to be first in serving as slaves.
The language of slavery pervades the New Testament, reflecting a time when people, even godly folk, accepted slavery as a way of the world. Slavery is probably no less pervasive in our day; we just use words like trafficking and condemn it even as we tolerate it. Jesus uses the image of slavery to commend the status of those who have no status.
This message is counter-cultural in any age. We don’t all want to be leaders, but few people actually want to be servants, doing the scut work. Those who excel at giving humbly and sacrificially, working in the least desirable places, like Mother Teresa of Calcutta, may draw attention and respect but few imitators. Yet she did it, she said, because she found Christ in the lost and the least. And he said that’s where he was to be found, in the hungry, naked and sick, the prisoner and the refugee.
What forms of “lowly” service are part of your life and ministry? It might be caring for an aging relative; it might be volunteering among people who live on the streets, or in a nursing home. Where do you find God in that offering? Where does God find you?
If we truly want to be close to Christ, we might spend less time on our knees in prayer, and more on our knees cleaning floors and tending the ragged. Of course, that’s a false dichotomy – we are called to do both, and are blessed in both. The common denominator is the kneeling.
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