“Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, “Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all.” Mark 9:35
Jesus said if you want to be first, the gold medal winner, you first need to be last; ouch. I read a quote last week that parallels this thought; “Sometimes the majority only means that all the fools are on the same side.” As a North American, the words of Christ to the twelve found in this verse from Mark may be difficult to accept as our culture impresses upon us the ‘need to be first’ and have everybody else in last place. You need to sit in the last place on the bench and be a servant to all. The dictionary defines the word ‘servant’ as follows; “one that serves others; a public servant; especially one that performs duties about the person or home of a master or personal employer.” The word is ‘Middle English’ and its first known use was in the 13th century.
This word ‘servant’ has been in my thoughts a lot since the horrible earthquake that rocked Haiti on January 12, 2010, while I was watching and reading about service organizations and mission societies ‘rush’ to Haiti to provide assistance. Too often it seems that their initial focus was to provide well-meaning aid with a true ‘servant’ attitude and after seeing what other groups were doing next to their ‘space’ they wanted the world to know that they were ‘first’ and the rest of this world needed to look at them and see what they had done. The servant attitude had been replaced with a self-serving attitude.
The children in the attached photo attend the Lutheran school at Bas De Sceaut, which is in the Artibonite District. This small class is a few of the 40 children who are fed daily in this school. These young servants are happy servants, going to school in this wooden structure with a dirt floor, no glass in the windows and a piece of canvas for a door. They now have a wood door and wood shutters on their window.
They are learning the true meaning of Mark 9:35 and are receiving their only real meal of the day at this location. Too often, we get our priorities twisted around and fail to see what is really important in this lifetime of ours and theirs. Put down the wall that this world has placed around you, lower your guard and seek to follow the model of service that Christ has given you. Martin Luther wrote the hymn ‘Come, Holy Ghost, God and Lord’ a long time ago but his words are a wonderful way to close today’s message.
“Come, Holy Ghost, God and Lord! Be all Thy graces now out poured on each believer's mind and heart; Thy fervent love to them impart. Lord, by the brightness of Thy light, Thou in the faith dost men unite of every land and every tongue; this to Thy praise, O Lord, our God, be sung. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Thou holy Light, Guide Divine, oh, cause the Word of Life to shine! Teach us to know our God aright and call Him Father with delight. from every error keep us free; let none but Christ our Master be that we in living faith abide, in Him, our Lord, with all our might confide. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Thou holy Fire, Comfort true, grant us the will Thy work to do and in Thy service to abide; let trials turn us not aside. Lord, by Thy power prepare each heart and to our weakness strength impart that bravely here we may contend, through life and death to Thee, our Lord, ascend. Hallelujah! Hallelujah!”
Heavenly Father, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown. Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. Amen.
May God be with you,
Jay