Servanthood: A Call for the Renewal of Church

Introduction

The darkness creeps in and the clouds were moving leisurely in the sky. A lightning suddenly flashed, and a huge thunder terrified everyone. In a little time, heavy rain started and the village road became wet and muddy. A bullock cart with a huge load on it was coming on the way. But, it stumbled and got stuck as the road was muddy and wet. In such a critical situation, the rider had two possibilities to overcome it. Either he could hit the oxen heavily and twists its tail to pull the cart, as an act of authority or he could get down from the cart to assist the oxen by rolling the wheels, as an act of service. Jesus’ model of ministry is also similar to the second option, as the act of selfless service, characterized by love and compassion. The second option that we see in the story is much needed for the mission and the ministry of the church.

Before going directly into the pericope, viewing the immediate context of the text would enhance our understanding. In the Markan account, Jesus’ passion prediction is the immediate context of the text, where Jesus explains his suffering, death and resurrection to his disciples. In all Jesus’ passion prediction passages, it is reported that the disciples could not comprehend what Jesus really intent on each occasion. The ignorance on the part of the disciples is prominent in the Markan portrayal of the disciples.

Jesus in his final prediction of passion informs his disciples that they are going to Jerusalem. Thus, it is clear that this passage might have occurred on the way to Jerusalem. In this text, the request of James and John is considered as the act of failure in the discipleship. On the failure of disciples and the indignation among other disciples on James and John, Jesus teaches his disciples about the servanthood, by critiquing the traditional understanding of power and authority and also by showing himself as the model to follow in their life. In this passage, we could see Jesus’ emphatic message on servanthood to his disciples. Let us reflect on servanthood in two axioms.
1. Servanthood: Not for Position, But for Action

James and John were the sons of Zebedee, whom Jesus called to be his disciples while going along the Sea of Galilee. On hearing Jesus’ call, immediately they followed Jesus leaving their boat and father. James and John also had the privilege of having an intimate relationship with Jesus. In this passage, James and John expressed their desire for the allotment of the place of honor on either side of Jesus. The announcement of Jerusalem as the goal of the journey by Jesus might have made James and John to think that Jesus would definitely establish his kingdom as he proclaimed the Kingdom of God all through his ministry, or he would restore the fallen Davidic throne. With this understanding only James and John might have requested Jesus. However, Jesus’ immediate response, “You do not know what you are asking” (38a), and a subsequent question have an implied condemnation on James and John for their desire on position and authority.

Though James and John had the close affinity with Jesus, Jesus denied their wish for position and privilege, but asks all the disciples to uphold servanthood in their life. The act of Servanthood is not seeking the position, but it is an action of utmost commitment to our Lord Jesus Christ. Thus, we, the followers of Christ, as the servant of God, Pastors, and the future leaders of the church, we should not seek for the positions and privileges for our own benefit, but we should commit ourselves to serve the humanity.

Servanthood is the active expression of Christian witness in response to the needs and the challenges of the community in which we, the Christians and the Church live. Many a time, we express our concern towards the society and church in our articulations. But, in reality do we really take any action to practice what we preach. The social reality around us needs our serving hands in various streams to meet out the various needs. In short, this axiom, Servanthood is Not for Position, But for Action calls us to do the action oriented Ministry in transforming the lives of the people who are living around us and it should not be just for seeking power.
2. Servanthood: Not to be Served, But to Serve

Jesus spells out his philosophy of servanthood in the context of James and John’s pursuit of elitist positions for themselves, and the indignation of the other disciples. At this situation, Jesus by calling all his disciples made a radical statement in his teaching that, “the one thinking to rule the nations have power over them and the great of them exercise authority upon them. But, it is not so among you”. Ched Myers comments concerning this statement that it is an attack against the political powers of then time. Through this statement, Jesus clearly expounded the different standards of greatness in the Kingdom of God and in the Kingdom of World. In this manner, Jesus proposes a counter model of servanthood over against the rulers’ philosophy of leadership as domination. Jesus’ model of servanthood can be understood from vv 43, 44, that ”whoever wishes to be great among you, let him/her be your servant; and whoever wishes among you to be first, let him/her be the slave of all”. In the above mentioned verses, both the words dia,konoj (servant) and dou/loj\ (slave) points a character, who attends others call to fulfill the need of the needy. In general, the term ‘servant’ means the one who serves at the table according to others wish. From this usage of the word ‘servant’, we can understand that the activities of one who serves are not directed towards their own interests but to those of others. This model of servanthood transforms the question of rank and greatness into the task of service. In contrast to the normal understanding of leadership in the world as being authority over others, Jesus has speculated among his disciples that the true greatness is in service.

The service of the Son of Man and His suffering until the death is the basis for the servanthood. Mark sets up a model for the disciples to follow by shading Jesus as the one who “came not to be served, but to serve” and through this he explicates the purpose of his coming as “to give his life a ransom for many”. The word ‘ransom’ is used to denote the price of release, which is paid for the liberation of a life that has fallen into debt. Thus, the prevailing notion behind the metaphor, ransom, is to describe an act of redemption. As the faithful followers of Jesus, we are called to uphold servanthood in our ministry as Jesus practiced it in his ministry. The phrase “not to be served, but to serve” describes the whole meaning of servanthood. It calls the church to renew itself and rededicate itself for the service of all. As the Christians, Pastors and the budding leaders of the church, Jesus’ servanthood calls us to follow the servanthood of Jesus Christ in all our endeavors.

Conclusion
Is servanthood possible in today’s context? This may be the question lingering in our minds at this point of time. To conclude, I would like to share an illustration, which happens to be a real story. I hope this will help us to understand our position in this sermon. There was a Personality Development workshop arranged in a resort at Goa for corporate executives. A personality development expert had come from USA to train all the leaders. As the workshop proceeded, the trainer called the participants one by one and interviewed them, in order to understand their strengths and weaknesses. He called one such officer to the stage,who was the CEO of a leading MNC in Bangalore, and he rushed to the stage. The trainer asked: “What is your main problem, you are facing now as an Executive?” Immediately the executive replied, “My body. My body is the main problem, as I am overweight; I would like to be slim so that I can be more active”. Then the trainer asked “Do you know what has to be done in order to become slim?” The CEO replied, “Yes of course, why not? We have to exercise regularly, control our diet and lead a stress- free life …” The executive continued saying all that he knew about slimming one’s body. Somewhere in between, the trainer interrupted him and made a strong statement, saying: “you know everything but you don’t do anything; this is your problem; go and do what you already know.”

Dear friends I believe that this illustration should be an eye-opener for all of us; we know everything; what is service? How do we minister to God and people? What is God’s plan about our service? What kind of service our God expects, and so on…… However, we don’t do anything significantly. This morning, I urge all of you to do what we know through our God and scripture; as we have just heard we need to keep in mind that Servanthood is not for position and, that servanthood is to serve. May the triune God empower us and help us to do what we heard in this time of worship. Amen.