Mark 10:35-45

I would like to begin my meditation congratulating you on this Laity Sunday, and also thanking all the leaders of this local church for all your hard work, for all your help and support given to Yani and me throughout these two years of pastoral service. Today is Laity Sunday and many United Methodist Churches celebrate all the hard work of women and men in the local churches. Usually this Sunday, Yani and I for several years have prepared a meal for the churches we serve at. We did it here two years ago, but unfortunately last year the pandemic did not allow us to do it and this year Yani is in Wisconsin. However, when she comes back, we will cook a meal for all of you. You deserved to be recognized for your hard work.

In the scripture for this Laity Sunday Jesus is walking with his disciples and on their way to Jerusalem. Jesus is ready to die. He has already spoken to them openly and clearly that he will suffer and die; he will place his life in ransom for others. Jesus was walking ahead of them, maybe meditating in what was ahead; maybe asking his Father for the strength he will need to take the cross or maybe thinking in the future of this group he called “my disciples” and while Jesus was doing so, his disciples were trying to go ahead of one another and “apply” for the best position in God’s kingdom, John and James came and asked Jesus for a favor, one wanted to be seated at Jesus’ right hand and the other at his left hand. They were asking for the best positions in the new kingdom.

As the great teacher he was, Jesus took advantage of this moment and used it to give them a great lesson: Jesus called them over and said to them, “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles dominate them, and their men of high positions exercise power over them. But it must not be like that among you. On the contrary, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must be a slave to all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life —a ransom for many.” 

While I was reading this, I remembered something my Bible teacher shared with us. He told us the story about a teacher who once asked his students: which, were the most difficult parts of the bible for them? One student raised his hand and said: the most difficult are the stories we find in the Old Testament, especially in the Book of Genesis. The same way, one by one the students shared those difficult parts (or stories) in the Bible, and they all had in common to be hard-to-understand and explain. One student raised his hand and said: the most difficult parts of the bible for me are those I can clearly understand because I do not have any excuse not to live according to them.

One of those parts of the bible that we do not have any excuses of not practicing is this one we read this morning:whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must be a slave to all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life —a ransom for many.” 

This time Jesus did not speak in parables that later he would have to explain; this time there were no questions coming from his disciples asking for clarifications. Jesus made his point plain and clear and they got it. Jesus knew that without serving one another, his community would not survive.

Jesus knew that when members of the same group compete one against the other, the future is uncertain; when a person is trying to get what other have or want, there is no trust among them, like it is reflected in the Gospel and if there is no trust within the group, individualism takes control. John and James asked Jesus for the position that the others were also planning to ask for, that is why the others got angry, “When the ten heard about this, they became indignant with James and John.” They were indignant because if Jesus gave John and James what they were asking for, the rest of them were going to be under John and James.

Jesus’ response to James and John is one of the rare occasions when Jesus did not do what was asked. He asked them, “What do you want me to do for you,” as he did when Bartimaeus the blind came to him asking for healing, and Jesus’ answer to Bartimaeus was “I want.” But in this instance, he told the disciples “That is not for me to grant.” Not only did  Jesus deny their claim for places of privilege, but his answer presented a model for them and us to live and to emulate. 

Jesus told his disciples, and I will paraphrase, “You are great not when you can get the entire world for yourself and you can get the entire world to serve you, but when you give the best of you to others.” When we serve others, we not only share what we have but also who we are. Our best comes out when we serve. Beautiful things happen when people serve. Sadly, most of the times is only during personal or national disasters when we do everything to help and serve others.  

When Jesus said, “whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must be a slave to all,”he was giving the church the secret to evangelize and survive; the secret to be relevant wherever they were. This world teaches us that we are important when we are served by others; according to the rules of this world we are asimport as what we have or as what we own. Jesus said you are great only when you serve; when the church serves imitate Jesus; when we serve others, they see Jesus in us and the risen Christ is manifested through us, through our service.

The word servant in our society has a negative meaning, but you know, if Jesus, God made flesh came to serve, it must be something good in serving others. Changes happen in and around us when we serve. Mother Theresa made a significant difference in thousands of people in India through her service to those who were in need. Mahatma Gandhi made an enormous difference serving. And we can name many others in our world.   

“For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life —a ransom for many.” To serve is to realize that our life is worth it when others are benefited and transformed by what we do.

For us today, what does it mean to serve? I think it means to see our world as Jesus would see it and do everything in our power to transform it through our service to those in need. In Jesus’ society women, children, slaves, and widows did not have rights and those were the ones the church served and they were the one who came to the church and made it grow, strong and relevant.

For us to serve means to see the church we have inherited from our fathers, the church God has make us responsible of, and do our best to make it better; its means to see what I have received from God and bring it to be use to help others; it means to realize we are one and whatever happens in this group it will affect all because we are a family, a body, walls and bricks of the same building; it’s to realize that whatever happens here will also affect the future of my kids.

If Christians serve one another the church will be relevant in the lives of those in need. Remember the church in book of Acts? they always had enough, why? Because they served one another; when Christians do not practice service, they stop imitating Jesus and Jesus does not manifest in their midst; When we serve, we are like Jesus. In service we become more like Jesus

The church is a result of our service; the condition of the church is reflected in our service.

Is our personal service important in the church? Yes, it is, because we are one in Jesus Christ and whatever happens here will affect all.  

May God help us to be great and number one among us, through the service of one another.