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Servant Leadership 2 Cor. 4:7-15, Mt. 20:20-28 Today is the feast of St. James the apostle. The Scriptures make us reflect on the consequences of discipleship and on what leadership among us as Christians is to be about. In this assembly, it is pretty safe to assume that most of us are involved in church ministry in one form or another. Have you ever experienced conflict in the ministry you're involved in? Think back to one of those times, especially one where the effects were anything but good. People upset with each other, can't seem to hear each other's point of view. You are perturbed by this. Your own hurts and personality traits inform your perspective on the matter. You try to pray, but find yourself too preoccupied. You decide to go to confession, in an attempt to at least clear your relationship with God (if not with your sisters and brothers). The priest listens with compassion. When you're done sharing your woes he looks at you and says, with a soft smile on his face: "Welcome to ministry..." After absolution, he tells you to go pray with the story in Matthew's gospel, about Jesus' response to the sons of Zebedee and about what real leadership should be about in the Christian community. Something like this actually happened to me once. Welcome to ministry, said the priest. And he went on to explain gently that ministry is not only about doing wonderful things for God. Ministry is also about walking with each other in the messy business of disagreeing, pushing each other's buttons, confronting each other's sinful behaviour patterns. And the question was, and is to us today: Are we willing to walk with our brothers and sisters, wounded as we all are, and offer them in our response the very compassion and forgiveness of Jesus, while at the same time inviting them to a deeper and more life-giving relationship with one another and with Jesus? Are we able to drink the cup that Jesus drank for us?
Because our first reaction is simple, much like the Gentiles who lord it over others: we want to enforce our authority in the ways of the world. We want to rant and rave, and show our indignation without having to consider long-term effects. Or we want to throw in the towel and walk away, licking our wounds, while fuming and disgusted that this was a waste of our time. You see, it's easy to react and it's easy to exercise unilateral power and control. Some of us come by it rather naturally. We lash out in anger. We use our position of power to tighten and choke. Or we conveniently "forget" to consider those who suffer the most. But is that the kind of leadership Jesus calls us to today? Is our position of leadership in any given ministry, ordained or non-ordained, about gaining the place of honour in the kingdom of God? No, says Jesus, you don't get it. Do you have any idea what you are asking? Do you have any idea what the demands of the reign of God are? Look at me on the cross. What do you see? I was afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted but not forsaken, even though I felt like it in my last breath; struck down, but not destroyed. Why did the death blow not destroy me? Because ultimate faithfulness in love blows apart any form of worldly power and control, blows apart any sin and evil. Ultimate faithfulness in love blows apart death itself. Now, are you still willing to follow me and drink the cup I had to drink? That's a tall order. More often than not, we fail. If we rely only on our human instincts we won't make it far in this call to serve God's kingdom. Everything in us revolts against that faithfulness in love, especially at those times when the leadership model of the world seems to operate within the church and obstructs our call to be servant to one another. To a lot of us, not fighting back tooth and nail feels like being a coward and a doormat. But when we feel that way, we forget something. We forget the invitation of Jesus to give our lives to him completely. We forget that we can only abide in this love if we allow Jesus to conform our very being to him in a daily act of surrender. Surrendering our lives to the One who abided in love until the end builds us up from the inside out, affirms our deepest reason for existing, and makes us strong from within. That is the kind of strength that will recognize Paul's words to the Corinthians as true: We have this treasure of abiding love in clay vessels, so that it be made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us. Then, in the face of adversity, in or outside the church, we will experience what it feels like to be afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken, struck down, but not destroyed. Then we learn what it means to carry in our body the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our bodies. Think back of the conflict that came to mind earlier: lift up to Jesus the times of failure because of self-centeredness, anger or hurt. Recast the situation in your mind: how can you respond in a way that offers Jesus, both by a presence of love in the midst of the storm, and by calling all parties to account on the basis of this love and on the basis of Jesus' call to be one another's servant. On this feast of St. James the apostle, we recommit ourselves to being one another's servant. We pray that each time we rub shoulders in pain and conflict whether in leadership roles in the church, in our families, in our place of work we will not fail to make visible the life of Jesus in our bodies, our minds, our actions. Only in faith and surrender to Jesus, are we able to drink this cup. AMEN
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