Twenty-First Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 24)
Rev. Amy Welin: Whom will you serve?
We live in a world that values independence and accomplishment. Many of us find the concept of being a servant unpalatable. We like to think that we do not serve anyone. And yet, we do.
Many have been observing the actions of Pope Francis this year. He embraces simplicity. He declined to live in the papal palace, choosing to live in a modest apartment. He rides in Fiats and not limousines. I imagine that he is a nightmare for his security team, as he tends to mingle with ordinary people, as well as to advocate for them. He goes to lunch with the homeless and visits tenements.
His image is all about living as a servant of God and humanity.
Do you have an image to maintain? Many of us do. How do you feel about cultivating the image of servant?
Servitude is countercultural. The world encourages us to construct an image of perfection and invincibility. A great haircut, perfect manicures, youthful skin. (This is not just for women any more). We use words like polished, charismatic, and dynamic to describe great leaders.
Jesus does not need people with a perfect image. (Have you noticed how few of his followers are perfect?) Jesus needs disciples who are willing to roll up their sleeves, get a little dirty, and do the unglamorous work of love.
The message of the world is that unless we appear to be young and strong, glamorous and “successful” (whatever that means), then we are failures.
We can see this reflected even in the stories in the Bible. Greatness is in the minds of James and John when they ask to share in Jesus’ glory. They give little thought to what the cost of glory really is. They are thinking about the trappings of greatness – the costumes, the ambiance, the praise, the image. They still do not understand that the glory of Christ is in his sacrificial service to others.
Job’s friends judge him by the standard of greatness when he is afflicted by a series of personal disasters. Job has lost his health, his fortune, and his family. His friends ask him what sins he has committed to anger God and to merit this punishment. While we may pray to be spared friends like that, the truth is that we all fall victim to this sort of thinking. We are oriented to aspire to greatness. When Job demands an explanation from God, the Almighty responds by telling him that things happen that are beyond human comprehension. God favors Job, even in the context of his ruined life.
It is difficult to imagine that even when things do not go well, that we are good enough for God. Yet we are created in the image of God. Nothing can erase that image. Not illness. Not sin. Not failure.
In life with God, worldly greatness is not the measure. Faithfulness and love are the measure.
Jesus admonishes us to live into our true image: not of greatness but of service in faithfulness and love. And so I ask you: Whom will you serve?
The Son of God was born to serve and to give up his life. Will you imitate him?
All of us choose to serve someone or something. God gives us complete freedom in that.
We can serve though our work, our families, our communities.
Some choose to serve only themselves. Some choose to serve the idols of wealth and fame.
If you want a clear barometer of whom you serve, look at your checkbook or your credit card bill. Where does your money go? That will show you what or whom you serve.
Jesus asks his friends to move beyond our self-interest and our comfort zones to serve the world.
By his teaching, by his own word and example, this is what Jesus calls us to do for him: to use our lives to affirm the value and the dignity of every human being and of the creation. There is no need to consider ourselves better or worse than any part of God’s creation. Instead, Jesus invites us to discern our connection to others. Jesus invites us to call others by name, just as our God calls of us by name. Jesus invites us to imitate him by giving ourselves to the service of God’s mission.
When we are blind to this truth, we debase and devalue ourselves.
Live up to God’s image that is within us. Whom will you serve?