A bullock cart with heavy load gets stuck in slush. Instead of hitting the oxen the rider gets off the cart and pushes it out of the slush. This should be the mission and the ministry of the church. Jesus taught … ‘Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many’ (Mk.10:43-45). Let us reflect on servanthood in two axioms.
Servanthood: Not for Position, But for Action: James and John were the sons of Zebedee, whom Jesus called to be his disciples. ‘Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him. “Teacher,” they said, “we want you to do for us whatever we ask.” “What do you want me to do for you?” he asked. They replied, “Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory.” “You don’t know what you are asking.” Jesus said’ (Mk.10:35-38).
They expressed their desire for the allotment of the place of honor on either side of Jesus. 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 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. Servanthood: Not to be Served, But to Serve: Jesus spells out his philosophy of servanthood, “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”.
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, Jesus’ servanthood calls us to follow the servanthood of Jesus Christ in all our endeavors.
Conclusion Is servanthood possible in today’s context? To conclude, I would like to share an illustration – In a Personality Development workshop the trainer asked a participant “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 executive replied, “Yes of course, we have to exercise regularly, control our diet and lead a stress- free life …”, 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.” May the triune God empower us and help us to do what we know through the scripture.
Author: Mr. J. Jebakumar Jolly is from CSI Tuticorn Diocese and is currently pursing his theological studies at UTC, Bangalore.
