"Jesus asked them, 'What were you arguing about on the way?' But they were silent, for on the way they had argued with one another who was the greatest. He sat down, called the 12, and said to them, 'Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.'"
-Mark 9: 33b-35
They were arguing
over which one of them was the greatest.
One said he could be trusted over all the others. Another said that his
track record spoke for itself. Another
said he knew what the great plan was and would help see it through as he had
done over the past few years. And
another told all of the rest of them that they were morons, losers, that he
alone had it all figured out. This was
the scene.
That may have been the scene on that road to Capernaum, but I've noticed it's a repeated scene every time I turn on the TV and see a presidential candidate speaking! There is truly
nothing new under the sun, is there?
Perhaps it is simple human nature to try and one-up each other. Maybe we can’t help but seek our own fortune, our
own fame and prestige, and to hell with anyone else. It doesn’t matter if we are actually in the right or know what we 're talking about, all that matters is
that we continue to build ourselves up,
that we keep climbing that ladder higher and higher and higher.
The apostles, er, Republican presidential candidates, argue about who among them is the greatest.
It's not hard to imagine the apostles throwing each other under the bus in the same manner. Simon Peter was probably called
out for always stepping up first to say or do something: who does he think he is trying to impress
Jesus like that? Matthew’s
past as a tax collector surely couldn’t be trusted. James and John, Jesus called them the Sons of
Thunder, he must’ve thought pretty highly of them;
surely they’re the best. I don’t even wanna know what Judas said to
make his case. All the while Jesus is
walking ahead of them, listening.
Probably shaking his head. And
when he finally calls them on it they’re silent, like children caught misbehaving. All this time they have been walking around
with him, performing miracles and preaching about the kingdom, and they still
don’t get it. I mentioned last week that one theme of Mark’s
gospel is that the apostles just don’t get it.
To hammer his point
home Jesus sits down.
Whenever he sits he means business.
That’s because whenever a rabbi or a
philosopher was teaching in the ancient world and really wanted to make a
pronouncement he sat down. Jesus
deliberately takes up this position so that his point would be made more clearly. And here he spells it out: whoever wants to be first among you must be
last of all and servant of all. In other
words, if you seek the greatness of the
kingdom you will only find it by being last, not first, by being servants, not
masters. It was not that Jesus told them
to abolish their ambitions. Rather he
transforms ambition. He turns the
ambition to rule into the ambition to serve.
He turns the ambition to have things done for us into the ambition to do
things for others.
I’m
a pretty a-political person, so maybe I’ve missed a few things, but I’ve
never noticed anyone vying for a position of public trust whose ambitions look like
this. What if they did? There is a story about a man in
ancient Sparta named Paedaretos, and if you don’t know who he is, don’t
feel bad, there’s really no reason that you should. The story goes that Paedaretos was running
for the Spartan council, which consisted of 300 men who assisted Sparta’s
two kings in their rule. He was not
elected, and several of his fellow candidates and his friends said what a shame
it was that he didn’t make it, that he would have been
great for the council and that those who made it couldn't hold a candle to
him. But Paedaretos’ response
was, “I am glad that in Sparta there are 300
men better than I am.” Here is a figure whom history remembers not because he won or threw a fit after losing. He is instead remembered because of his selflessness, his willingness to put the needs of the whole ahead of his own. Could
you imagine any person running for public office saying something like that?
It sounds like an
impossibly idealistic view, but it is Jesus’ view. The truly
great among us must be the one who works for the benefit of not his or her own
life but for the the lives of others. It
flies right in the face of what our modern sensibilities tell us. Get more money, get better job, gain more
prestige, look out for yourself. But
what would it look like if we changed that narrative? Give more money. Get the job that benefits others. Retreat from prestige. Look out for our neighbors. What if, instead of trying to get higher and
higher, we got lower and lower and lower?
We have a model for
what this kind of life looks like, and we’ve had it for almost 2000 years. It’s called the diaconate. It began when a small number of people were
commissioned by the apostles to go and take care of a group of neglected Greek
widows in the midst of a famine. Those
individuals sought no power, no prestige, and gave of themselves for the sake
of others. One of them, named Stephen,
was even killed. Deacons embody the call
to serve that is given to each and every one of us. Ask any deacon why they do what they do and
they will tell you the same thing, that they are called to serve. Deacon means “servant," and in our tradition--and the tradition of the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church--all ordained people begin their lives as deacons because no matter where they may go their ministry is grounded in that of the servant. In my time at Christ Church Cathedral I was blessed to serve with The Rev. Paula Ott, our cathedral deacon, and she taught me what being a servant looked like. In a time when all I could think of was becoming a priest, Deacon Paula called me back to where I was and showed me that my place was that of a servant. It's a lesson I've tried taking with me into the priesthood. I've seen that servant spirit embodied by my Dad, Preston Mitchell, who was made a deacon six months after I was. And in the parish I currently serve, my people will tell you all about Deacon Jack Ogburn, their faithful deacon who served for more than 30 years, retiring earlier this summer. He continues to inspire them--and me--with his selflessness. These folks have heard Jesus’ voice
and they have responded to it. They sit
at bedsides with those who are dying, they work food pantries and organize
mission work. They sit on church
councils, proclaim the gospel, send us out into the world, and they do it all
for absolutely no money. Talk about flying in the face of modern sensibilities! Who among us would dare do anything without getting something in return?! But they DO get something. They get that grace that Jesus is talking about that comes when we put the needs of others ahead of our own. They get glimpses of the kingdom. And so do we because they are our model. Not priests. Not bishops. But the ones who St. Ignatius of Antioch said were the highest of ministers because they embody the very ministry of Jesus Christ. Ask any deacon why they do what they do, and you'll get the same answer: because I'm called to serve and because this is what God would have me do. If you haven't before, spend a few minutes with a deacon and see what servant ministry really looks like.
A few of the deacons who have shown me how to be a servant.
(Clockwise) The Rev. Lois Howard, The Rev. L. Sue Von Rautenkranz, The Rev. Paula Ott, & The Rev. Preston Mitchell
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