“Whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all.”
Just imagine the consternation that those words of Christ would have had on his disciples and on the world. To be first was demanded to be the slave of all.
In those days slavery was considered part of the natural order. A slave had no rights. A slave had no entitlements other than what his master gave. Thus what Christ was saying in effect to his disciples was that you must voluntarily, and from your own free will, submit to the needs and whims of all and sundry without question or qualification.
In those few words Christ was reversing what was considered to be the natural order of things. To be first means to be last and to be the greatest means to be the least. As soon as this message is understood then what the world treasures – namely fame, adoration, power and prestige – all evaporate. So what is left? What is left is what the world shuns – humility, poverty, obedience, selflessness, powerlessness and meekness is the lot of what the world classifies as the also-rans and the unimportant of society. Yet when one looks at the Beatitudes it is precisely those things that are blessed by Christ “Blessed are the poor in spirit, those that mourn, the meek, the merciful, the peacemakers, the persecuted, and above all those that cleave to the Lord when they are reviled or persecuted on his account for their reward is not of this earth” – and that is the promise of Christ.
This assumption of being last and slave to all must be freely assumed. Remember you can give of yourself or of your money without loving but you cannot love without giving. That is a powerful message to remember. Most of you will have heard the expression “as cold as charity”. It means that what is given to the needy is given in indifference and does not have the warm, personal touch or concern of the giver. The giver and recipient must through the giving and receiving be in a personal relationship with each other. As the giver creates light through the giving of himself in others he naturally lights up his own path towards Christ. It then dawns upon the giver that it is by giving that he receives. This is the message that Christ was instilling into his disciples on the road to Golgotha.
It is by giving of our material goods, our talents, and of ourselves that we grow in Christ. No one can doubt that. Christ tells his disciples that “the son of man will be delivered to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death, and they will deliver him to the Gentiles; and they will mock him, and spit upon him, and scourge him, and kill him; and after three days he will rise”. Christ was the exemplar of a person who self emptied himself to give all. He gave the supreme gift out of his love for us, namely his life, and by so doing gave to us the greatest gift of all – the kingdom of heaven. So what did Christ receive in return? He received for the kingdom of heaven the world we live in. As Christ says to his disciples in John’s gospel “As the father has loved me, so have I loved you… Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends… You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my father I have made known to you”.
As we approach Easter let us all endeavor to observe and absorb today’s gospel reading. Let us all endeavour to serve one another out of love. Let us turn our eyes away from today’s world and focus upon the world to come. Easter is the fulfillment of the promise of Christ. With that assurance in mind let us all redouble our efforts so that Christ can say of each one of us that no longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my father I have made known to you. Amen.