Isaiah 53:4-12; Mark 10:35-45
21st Sunday after Trinity
St Barbara’s 20.10.2024
Rev Tulo Raistrick
Sometimes it is good to step back, take stock and think “how do the things I take for granted actually happen?” Let’s take the life of our church, as just one small example.
Have you ever wondered, how does the lawn around the church get mowed? or the dust that gathers round the bottom of the church chairs get removed? or the tea, coffee and biscuits just appear in the church kitchen? or the words on the screens during our services appear? Have you ever wondered how the heating bills are paid, or how items around the church building are repaired? Or how flowers appear or how altar cloths and banners are changed?
Beyond our church, the same may be asked of our workplaces and community spaces. Who cleans the toilets? who ensures there is enough stationary in the cupboards? who cleans away and washes up all the mugs left to go mouldy in the office kitchen? who is it who finds the time to talk to a distressed colleague, despite their own pressing deadlines, or to a lonely neighbour, when you would rather be at home with a cup of tea? who is it who goes the extra mile to help someone when there job description says they will only get remunerated for going the first mile?
All around us there are acts of remarkable service, acts of kindness and generosity, being done without looking for reward or praise. But because they are done quietly, without fuss and fanfare, they are so easy to be taken for granted, so easy to be overlooked. And our lives are the poorer for doing so. We begin to lose perspective on what really matters, on what really counts.
I wonder if that is what happened to James and John. James and John, as we heard in our Gospel reading, have just made an extraordinary request. First, they say to Jesus “we want you to do for us whatever we ask”. That immediately sounds a bit suspicious. Usually asking for a blank cheque in that manner usually suggests that what is being asked for is not really appropriate, and they know it. They want to tie Jesus down to agreeing before he can backtrack when the nature of their request becomes apparent.
Then they ask: “Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory.” Hang on. What about the other ten disciples? And, at the least, what about Peter, who was also part of the three that Jesus would occasionally single out? Here are James and John trying to steal a quick march on the others, trying to guarantee the best seats, the most prestigious positions, the most authority, status and power, when Jesus became king.
Its the kind of move that would be pulled in a political party when the cabinet or shadow cabinet is up for a re-shuffle. The pulling aside of the leader and a quiet persuasive word in the ear: “Hey, us two really should be made chancellor and home secretary you know.” I don’t know if that happened with our current government, but the recent ousting of one chief of staff (Sue Grey) with another (Morgan McSweeney) suggests that even in a government new to power, jockeying for positions of influence, being at the Prime Minister’s right hand, is a prize much sought after. Countless others have followed in James and John’s footsteps – “can we sit at the right hand of power?”
And the reaction of the other ten disciples when they find out? They are indignant, outraged, furious. One gets the sense not because they think James and John have acted inappropriately, but because they have got in first, that they got to Jesus to ask him before they did.
But they’ve all got it wrong. They think the kingdom of God is about power, status, prestige. Jesus points out to them that is the very way the governments and military powers of his day would view such things. But, “not so with you”, he says. At the heart of the kingdom of God, at the heart of what it means to follow Christ, is service. Serving others, serving God. That is the example of Christ himself – “even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve”.
But service is hard, isn’t it. Jesus did not pretend that following him was easy. It calls for sacrifice, the taking up of our own cross. The harrowing words from our reading from Isaiah speak into this. Here is the great prophet of Israel foretelling a time when the Messiah, God’s Son no less, will give up his life for us, will bear our suffering, our sin, will be oppressed and afflicted. This willingness to love, to serve, despite the cost, is what true greatness looks like, what it means to truly serve.
Christ shows us the way. If we are to be his followers, then we are called to follow. That may mean putting other people’s needs before our own. It may mean sometimes doing the low profile and hidden tasks whilst others gain the credit. It may mean sometimes doing those tasks no one else is willing to do because they are seen as a bit of a “dogs-body job”, or because it involves working with someone everyone else wants to avoid. It may mean championing a cause that will make us unpopular with our superiors. At home, it may mean the phone call to someone to see how they are, when we ourselves may be feeling tired and worn out. It may mean the giving up of our own limited free time to care for a relative or neighbour.
But, for all this, service goes to the heart of our lives as Christians. It is an expression of our worship, our thanksgiving to a God who has given everything for us. Service may be hard, it may sometimes be unrecognised or go unrewarded by others, but it is what we are called to do, and in that there is joy and purpose.
It is the place where, when we serve together, we discover deeper friendships and a greater sense of a shared journey too.
So in case you are looking for opportunities to serve, let me offer one or two suggestions where here in church we would value help:
- could you help draw up the teas and coffees rota, or help being part of the team?
- could you offer some practical DIY skills for the odd little jobs around the church, or be someone that could meet a contractor at the church to show them the work that needs doing?
- could you help with cleaning the church, dusting the window-sills, yes – removing the dust from the chair legs?
- could you help with mowing the lawn or gardening?
- could you help with flower arranging and making the church look beautiful?
- could you help with setting up the on-line streaming and projecting the words on our TV screens during church services?
- could you help write articles for the Echo and our parish newsletter?
- could you help with banking the cash from church collections?
- could you help with serving teas and coffees at our Buzz services?
- could you help to make our church noticeboards and foyer more appealing and informative about what we do as a church?
- could you help with the planning and organising of social events?
- could you help visit some of the housebound or less mobile members of our congregation?
- could you join in with the prayer group for our community, which meets today after our morning service?
But church is just one place where we can serve. The home, the community, our schools and workplaces are all places where we can serve.
Maybe today, take time to do three things:
- Firstly, take time to thank God for the ways in which you are already serving others, for the privilege that is.
- Secondly, take time to think about those people who you may be taking for granted, who are quietly getting on with things, without much attention, and serving others, and make a point of thanking them this week.
- And thirdly, take time to ask whether God may be calling you into new ways of serving him and others, and if so, decide on what your next step will be.
“For even the Son of Man,” Jesus said, speaking of himself, “did not come to be served, but to serve.”
