How Would Jesus Campaign?
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Dear Fellow Preachers,
The coming election brings issues of leadership to the fore. In fact, with the glut of campaign ads, we can hardly help but think about it, and the same is true for our laypeople. So for this week's installment of The Immediate Word, we have chosen to examine, from a gospel perspective, the matter of what it means to be a leader. We've asked TIW team member Carlos Wilton, pastor of Point Pleasant Presbyterian Church in Point Pleasant Beach, NJ, to write on the topic, using as a basis this Sunday's lectionary gospel text from Matthew 23.
As we've been doing each week, we have also included team responses, related illustrations, worship resources by Chuck Cammarata, and a children's sermon by Wesley Runk.
How Would Jesus Campaign?
By Carlos Wilton
Matthew 23:1-12
With anxious newscasters warning of war abroad and speculating about motives for the sniper attacks we've just experienced at home, the upcoming election has taken second- or third-place priority among news stories. Still, it needs to be addressed from the pulpit -- maybe now more than ever.
In between news bulletins, we hear commercials for political candidates. Among these ads, character assassination has become the rule rather than the exception. Negative advertising is something we've all come to loathe in political campaigns: and it seems to get worse, each passing year.
"What price victory?" is the question many exasperated voters are led to ask. Are we not losing something very important, as a nation, when the chief qualification for elective office seems to be the ability to smear one's opponent? (The spectacular fall of certain government and business leaders in recent months is related to this win-at-any-cost mentality.)
Even some of the politicians are admitting things have gone too far. House Democratic leader Richard Gephardt was quoted by John Harwood of The Wall Street Journal: "We are in a race to the bottom in politics -- a downward spiral of negative ads. It is last person standing, and I don't have an answer for it."1
Jesus has a better way. Speaking to his disciples about the hypocrisy of certain religious leaders, he teaches, "The greatest among you will be your servant" (Matthew 23:11).
In this passage, Jesus has several specific complaints about the scribes and Pharisees, and just past the boundaries of today's gospel passage, he adds a fourth criticism:
1) They don't practice what they preach (v. 3).
2) They seek the acclaim of others rather than the glory of God (v. 5).
3) They're altogether too fond of the "perks" of their office (v. 6).
4) They lead others astray (vv. 13-14).
Note that Jesus doesn't question what the Pharisees teach concerning the importance of the law; it's how they apply that teaching that concerns him. The Pharisees focus on the minutiae of the law, so much so that they miss the great principles at its heart. (Jesus isn't being antinomian here, nor is he being anti-Pharisee. Very likely, he's sympathetic to the Pharisee's zeal for obedience to the law, even as he differs from them on how they live this obedience out on a practical, day-to-day basis.)
What if we truly believed that Jesus' words apply to our public life? What would Jesus do, in this instance? How would Jesus campaign?
What if we truly believed his words of challenge apply to other leadership roles as well -- in business, in education, in family ... even in the church?
Think about those who exercise a prominent role in public life today, particularly politics. Without a great deal of difficulty, we can apply the four criticisms Jesus made of the Pharisees:
1) Far too many fail to practice what they preach.
2) They seem to have an insatiable appetite for the acclaim of others (remember Representative James Traficant, who would say almost anything as long as it was likely to make headlines?).
3) They're altogether too fond of the "perks" of their office (as in the lavish gifts Senator Robert Torricelli has admitted receiving from lobbyists).
4) They lead others astray, teaching by their actions that the ends justify the means (as in those negative campaign ads).
Contrast these examples to the ongoing Christian witness of former President Jimmy Carter. Many political pundits dismiss Carter's presidency as ineffectual, but there's one thing even they can say in his favor: He's not out of a job today, even many years after he lost his re-election bid. A man who swings a hammer for Habitat For Humanity and who monitors elections around the world still has a job. He's got better things to do than get rich from the lecture circuit, or hit up old campaign donors for a presidential library. The Nobel Prize committee seems to agree.
So what's a Christian to do about all this? We can begin by challenging the assumption that politics is by nature a dirty business, and therefore ought to be exempt from moral scruples ("Hey, nothing personal -- it's only politics!"). We can speak out against negative "attack" ads. As we engage in conversations about political campaigns with friends and neighbors, we can resist entering attack mode ourselves (even if both political parties are slowly circling the bathtub drain, caught up in that "downward spiral" Dick Gephardt warns against, we can avoid going down with them).
But perhaps I digress in saying so much about politics and politicians. We church leaders are just as subject to the stringent advice of our Master. Let's apply Jesus' four criticisms to ourselves as well:
1) Yes, even we preachers fail to practice what we preach.
2) Many of us, if we honestly examine our motivations for entering this occupation, are dismayed to discover how much "the acclaim of others" motivates us.
3) As for the perks of office, what about the "clergy" sticker on the bumper, the discounts at certain business establishments (though these are admittedly becoming fewer), the instant acceptance into certain social organizations?
4) Do we lead others astray, sometimes becoming preoccupied with institutional-survival issues at the expense of the Gospel?
D. R. A. Hare, in the "Matthew" volume of the Interpretation commentary series writes:
This ideal of the church as an unstratified society is firmly espoused by Paul. Social historians have contrasted Paul's churches with other clubs in Greco-Roman society in which members bolstered self-esteem by the use of a wide variety of grandiose titles. The apostle refers repeatedly to leadership functions without stressing the persons who fulfilled these functions. Instead, he implores his converts to abandon selfish ambition and humbly treat others as superior (Philippians 2:3; Romans 12:3, 16).2
Every New Testament student learns, early on that the Greek word for "minister" is diakonos, the ordinary term for household slave or servant. Yet how easy it is to treat that insight as a mere linguistic curiosity, rather than as one of Jesus' most revolutionary ideas!
There's no good linguistic reason for translating diakonos as "servant" in some contexts and "minister" in others. The biblical translators have undoubtedly been influenced by familiar offices of the modern church, and have perhaps read something of those offices back into their account of the early church. Neither Jesus nor Paul have much interest in establishing authority structures of any kind for the community they have gathered around them. Jesus himself is the authority; there is no fundamental need for any other. And that leader is himself a servant!
A couple of years ago, I happened to hear a program on my car radio about disabilities. The host of the radio show was a man who's paraplegic. Reflecting on his own story, he said the most extraordinary thing: "For a long time after my accident, I felt very low. Then a woman came along who literally saved my life: she asked me to help her."
Helping another person saved his life. It's a parable of diakonia.
Servant leadership. It's not an oxymoron anymore.
A caveat:
This is one of the New Testament passages that has been used in past years to justify anti-Semitism. Those who scour the scriptures to shore up this sort of prejudicial thinking will find what they're looking for here ... although it's antithetical to the overall message of the text to use it that way.
It's also absurd. Jesus himself was a Jew, and exhorted his followers at every turn to be more faithful Jews. Jesus did not come to overturn Judaism, but to reform it.
I once heard a Jewish New Testament scholar (yes, there is such a thing, and not just in the Messianic Jewish branch of Christianity, either) speaking on the New Testament texts most often used to justify anti-Semitism. She suggested we Christians interpret these passages for our own day by substituting the words "church people" for "scribes," "Pharisees," "Temple authorities" and the like. The NRSV titles today's passage, "Jesus Denounces Scribes and Pharisees." What if, as a sort of thought-experiment, we re-wrote it to read, "Jesus Denounces Church People"? Ah, now the shoe's on the other foot, isn't it?
In rooting out hypocrisy in Judaism, Jesus wasn't trying to destroy the faith in which he had been nurtured. He was trying to reform it. I think there are some hypocritical things about today's church he'd try to reform as well.
Of this passage, Harper's Bible Commentary points out that it reflects a (perhaps) understandable emphasis on the legitimacy of Jesus' followers, as over against more conservative elements within Judaism:
This denunciation of the Pharisees makes painful reading in the post-Holocaust era. How much of it is authentic to Jesus and how much reflects the sentiments of the post-Jamnia Matthean community? ... What Matthew ... has done is to expand the amount of this material to enormous proportions and to cast much of it into the woe form, thus creating a much stronger impression of Jesus' anti-Pharisaism than is historically justified. We must also remember that the language of religious invective was much more virulent in those days. The synagogue liturgy in Matthew's time contained a petition that the Nazarenes (i.e., Christian Jews) might be blotted out of the book of life. It should be emphasized that Matthew himself was of course a Jew too, so he cannot be accused of anti-Semitism.3
Notes
1 The Wall Street Journal, October 9, 2002, A4.
2 D. R. A. Hare, Matthew, Interpretation commentary (Louisville: John Knox Press, 1993), 266-267.
3 J. L. Mays, Harper's Bible Commentary (San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1988).
Team Comments
George Murphy responds: 1) Perhaps too close a connection is made between leaders in the civil realm and in the church. Of course it would be good for the former to behave as servants, and the picture of the ideal king in the Old Testament (as distinguished from, e.g., Solomon) encourages this. But Jesus' words in, for example, Mark 10:42-45, emphasize that there's a difference between the way civil rulers actually are and leadership in the church. That is, unfortunate as it is, the former do "lord it over them. But it shall not be so among you."
2) The whole issue of Christian-Jewish relations and attitudes needs more attention than can be given it here. At some point we should perhaps direct a whole installment to that. For now, the reminder that all of Matthew 23 needs to be put in its first-century contexts (note the plural) is appropriate. Two further points: A) the Pharisees were by and large prominent lay people in the church, not the priests. B) Jesus and Paul were Pharisees -- i.e., they didn't limit scriptural authority to torah, believed in the resurrection and angels.
3) It might be worth noting that the problem of people "lording it over" others in the church is not restricted to any particular type of polity -- episcopal, congregational, presbyteral, etc. It is a much more pervasive problem found even in churches which make a big point of being non-hierarchical etc., and it doesn't just affect clergy.
Stan Purdum responds: This is a good job of describing servant leadership in the church, and I have no doubt that that is where the piece should end up, as it does. Since it arises out of the political scene, however, I wonder if it would be good to say more about electioneering reform? The sad thing about the smear campaigning is that it seems to work, and some politicians apparently do it because if they don't, they lose the election. I certainly don't know what we can do about it, and having a session of "ain't it awful" is not helpful. I'm glad you included the comment about speaking out about negative attack ads. We need to let politicians know how we feel about their smear campaigns, perhaps even telling them about the idea of servant leadership. We should attempt to answer for them the question Carlos poses in the title: "How Would Jesus Campaign?"
Also, you gave the four points as they apply to Pharisees, politicians, and preachers. But what are the four points for pew-sitters? If I were to develop a sermon from this, that is the group I would be addressing.
Larry Hard responds: I really like the title. It deserves to be used more in the installment. You could use the question at points of transition or come back to it at the end to sum up.
You succinctly state the four complaints Jesus had against the scribes ("teachers of the Law" in NIV) and Pharisees. For the subscribers who like to preach three or four point outlines, this allows for that kind of development. The preacher may wish earlier in the piece to use your words about this passage being interpreted to justify anti-Semitism. Titles used in the Christian tradition could be named.
There is an AP article in Tuesday's newspapers (10/29/02) about the Roman Catholic commitment to improved relations with Jews.
The installment is very well put together, is timely, and is authentically based on the gospel lesson for the day.
Charles Aaron responds: One biblical resource for discussing the role of political leaders is the Old Testament understanding of kingship. Psalm 72 is an extended prayer for the king in which we see the expectations Israel placed on its leaders. They were to exhibit justice and righteousness (v. 2), care for the needy, poor and oppressed (vv. 4, 12), and ensure peace and protection (v. 7). One might even make a case for preserving the environment out of verse 16.
Daniel 4 demonstrates that gentile kings were expected to display the same integrity and concern for the welfare of the people. That the animals of the field and the birds of the air found safety in the giant tree in Nebuchadnezzar's dream is a poetic way of saying that kings were to ensure the welfare of their subjects (Daniel 4:12). Nebuchadnezzar also found out that his authority was a trust from God.
Although our political system is much different from ancient Israel's, these ideals are still instructive. One way to evaluate our government is to ask about how our leaders model integrity, and how they work to ensure the prosperity, harmony, and security of the people. One role of the church is to serve as the conscience of the state. We can do that by proclaiming this understanding of authority and political power.
Carter Shelley responds: I applaud your decision to give precedence to the biblical text over the political campaign; however, I think you could have developed the four complaints Jesus voices about the Pharisees and scribes in terms of our own mindset and expectations as Americans. You might also address the fact that one of the reasons we seem to vote for candidates is that they tell us what we want to hear or promise to work for our special interests. How many of us really vote with the good of the larger nation and populace in mind? Many of us did not need the $600 tax refund we received anywhere near as much as our nation needed to maintain a more balanced budget. Are we servants when we vote? Or are we interested in being served by our country more than the other way around? One of the most inspirational speeches of the 20th century was Kennedy's "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country." I know the line wasn't original with him, but he vocalized it at an important point in history. Few politicians seem to appeal to our better nature, our higher nature, our desire to serve our country and fellow citizens.
I love the Jimmy Carter references. He really took a hammering from George Will in Newsweek last week. Will seems to hold Carter responsible for North Korea's possession of nuclear weapons and also accuses him of too much Christian naivete.
The contrast between Paul's understanding of a strata-free society and that of Greco-Roman society was well expressed and nicely sets up the move into the concept of servanthood rather than minister as a status kind of a thing. I love the oxymoron statement.
I felt the anti-Semitism material is too important to throw into this particular installment. It remains a difficult area and Christians do not all hold the same interpretations of the place of Jews in God's plan. I'd love to see us deal with this topic in a future installment. For example, Terri Gross on NPR's Fresh Air radio interviewed a scholar yesterday about the anti-Semitism that surfaces in the Left Behind series.
I'm fantasizing. Wouldn't it be great if we the voters of the United States made a commitment NOT to vote for any candidate who smears another one? It's too late for this election go 'round. But even an email campaign for future ones, for folks in churches, etc., to make a commitment to this stance would force the candidates and their spin doctors to rethink election strategies.
Chuck Cammarata responds: To begin with, I love the title. It associates Jesus with something most of us wouldn't associate him with -- and for good reason. He simply wouldn't be involved with the kinds of tactics that we have come to expect of the political campaigns we have in modern democracies. The only problem I have with the title is that it is the last time we really hear much about how Jesus would campaign. This is a gold mine and should be mined more deeply.
Secondly, I agree with Carter that your statements about anti-Semitism gloss over an important issue and -- maybe more importantly in regards to your sermon -- they get us away from the focus of servant leadership. I just think it is an unnecessary and distracting side trip. And I especially think that the quote from J. L. Mays by way of the Harper Bible Commentary is extraordinarily un-useful. It is a politically correct sop that misses entirely the point Jesus was making. It is an attempt on our part -- in the post-Holocaust world -- to read back into Matthew's writing a motive that would get Jesus off the hook for being hard on the Pharisees. Jesus was plainly anti-Pharisee. Not in the sense of judging them as a people but in regard to their legalism. That's the whole deal when it comes to Jesus and the Pharisees. They had turned a faith that was about having a special relationship with Yahweh -- in order to serve as a blessing to all creation -- into a formalized, follow-the-rules and get-into-heaven game.
Which is why I would disagree with Carlos' statement that Jesus didn't come to overturn Judaism but to reform it. In my view he came to do nothing less than overturn it, or at least what it had become. Judaism is about law; Jesus is about grace. Grace is not so much the negation of the law but its fulfillment, and in fulfilling it, it ends it. Paul makes this utterly clear in a number of his letters. This is why the Gospel is scandalous to the Jew and folly to the Greek. In Galatians Paul writes, "All who rely on observing the law are under a curse" (3:10). And again, later in Galatians 3: "Now that faith has come we are no longer under the supervision of the law." Paul's illustration in Romans 7 of the woman married to a man and bound to him until he dies but freed from him after his death is meant to communicate that we too are now free from the law because we too have died with Christ; it is now no longer we who live but Christ who lives in us.
You may be wondering why I am belaboring this point. Well, it is because I believe that it is here, at the place of grace, that true servant leadership becomes clear. It is grace that frees us to really serve. Those who know God's grace are no longer concerned about the things the Pharisees strove for. Those who know grace, who know they are loved by GOD -- the Almighty maker of the universe -- are freed to stop their striving -- no need to find self worth in position or influence. No need to build up a façade, an image, that hides the truth that we are all sinners. No need to grasp at power in order to secure ourselves against the vicissitudes of life. No need to stick one's finger aloft to find out which way the political winds are blowing. No need because we know our value is in Christ and our future is secure -- so we are freed to serve not our own purposes, not even the purposes of the people, but the higher purposes of God.
That's what makes Lincoln such a glorious example of leadership. He was a gracious leader. Sure he was a politician, but more than any other politician I know of, he lived for a higher purpose -- the preservation of the state -- which he believed was a godly purpose. And in spite of his passion for this purpose, in spite of all it cost him and his nation, he was able to say those most amazing words in his second inaugural address (as quoted below), "With malice toward none (really, how could he say that? Grace!) with charity (i.e., love) for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds...."
In terms of political leadership this is what the true servant leader does. He or she seeks to be faithful to what she or he believes to be the purposes of God. That's what Jesus did when the popular thing to do would have been to start a revolt against the Romans. Instead, he went to the cross. Against the desires of his followers. When the political currents would have allowed for the coronation of king Jesus, he went to the cross. Martin Luther King, Jr., Nelson Mandela -- these names come to mind.
In terms of leadership in the church, which in some ways is a very different beast, the same fundamental principle applies. We have been freed to serve the purposes of God. Often that means exactly what Carlos talks about -- connecting with the people around us, in our churches, in our communities. But there are also times when it calls us to be Jeremiah and point out the injustice and sin in our own people. The Christian servant leader sometimes washes feet and sometimes cries, "Get behind me, Satan!" Sometimes weeps at the pain of the people and other times deepens the pain that they might see their need for God or how far out of harmony with God's purposes they are. Sometimes it builds up and sometimes it tears down.
The servant leader, serving God -- not the self, not even the people, but God -- and enabled to do it because and only because of God's gracious love.
Related Illustrations
One of the most remarkable (but under-appreciated) documents in American political history is Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address. Not much longer than the Gettysburg Address, it has been overshadowed by that earlier document -- although in many ways it is a finer work, not only of rhetoric but also theology.
Read these words of Lincoln's, and contrast them with much of what passes for political rhetoric these days (particularly the sort of speeches that blithely invoke the name of God without much real meaning). Of the contrasting theologies of North and South, Lincoln writes:
"Each looked for an easier triumph, and a result less fundamental and astounding. Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God, and each invokes His aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God's assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men's faces, but let us judge not, that we be not judged. The prayers of both could not be answered. That of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has His own purposes....
"Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said 'the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.'
"With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations."
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God says to me with kind of a smile,
"Hey, how would you like to be God awhile
And steer the world?"
"Okay," says I, "I'll give it a try.
Where do I set? How much do I get? What time is lunch? When do I quit?"
"Give me back that wheel," says God, "I don't think you're quite ready yet."
(Shel Silverstein, A Light in the Attic [New York: Harper and Row, 1981], 198.)
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In Stephen Covey's The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, he quotes someone else who says that "service is the rent we pay for the privilege of living on this earth."
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As Jesus ministers, so he wants us to minister. He wants Peter to feed his sheep and care for them, not as "professionals" who know their clients' problems and take care of them, but as vulnerable brothers and sisters who know and are known, who care and are cared for, who forgive and are being forgiven, who love and are being loved. Somehow we have come to believe that good leadership requires a safe distance from those we are called to lead. Medicine, psychiatry, and social work all offer us models in which "service" takes place in a one-way direction. Someone serves, someone else is being served, and be sure not to mix up the roles!
(Henri Nouwen, In the Name of Jesus: Reflections on Christian Leadership [Crossroad Publishing Co, 1996].)
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It is not law or power, knowledge or dignity but service which is the basis of discipleship. The model for the disciples in their following of Christ is therefore not the secular ruler and not the learned scribe, nor even the priest who stands above his people (Jesus, remarkably enough, never once takes him as an example; cf. Hebrews); the only valid model is that of the man who serves at table: "But I am among you as one who serves (at table)" (Luke 22:27). This attitude ... is not just a question of voluntary external self-abasement, as practiced on certain days of the year by the leaders of some religious communities, but a total existence in a life and death of service for others, as prefigured by Jesus himself....
(Hans Kung, The Church, trans. Ray and Rosaleen Ockenden [London: Search Press, 1968], 392.)
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A young missionary who came to work in the church in Ceylon left us and returned to his home because he felt compelled to do things that he did not want to do. His only task, he said, was to preach the Gospel. He was certainly an effective preacher, but his congregation did not need a benefactor of God's word but a servant. Even with respect to the sacraments, how often they are made the mark of the priest, distinguishing him from his people, instead of being the sign of the priesthood of the whole people of God! Servanthood: that, then, is the crux of the matter; and the preacher who is not a servant becomes a benefactor.
(D.T. Niles, The Preacher's Calling to be Servant [London: Lutterworth, 1959], 55.)
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God the creator is the dancer, and we are the dance.
(Eastern saying, quoted by Anthony de Mello.)
Related Worship Resources
By Chuck Cammarata
CALL TO WORSHIP
If you want to do a slightly risky call to worship try the following responsive reading followed by a short enacted symbolic action. Have the reading done by a layperson. Prior to worship have a chair set up at the center of the chancel area, somewhere where all will see it. (A fancy throne-like chair would be best.) In the chair have someone -- a child would work well -- seated. Have this person be still and quiet during the call to worship. There should be a large pitcher of water, a basin, and a white towel on a stand next to the seated person. Then use this call to worship:
LEADER: Great and mighty is our King;
PEOPLE: A GOD OF GLORY AND MAJESTY;
LEADER: Whose ways are higher than ours;
PEOPLE: WHOSE THOUGHTS ARE BEYOND US.
LEADER: Creator of all that is;
PEOPLE: EVERYWHERE PRESENT;
LEADER: Knowing all;
PEOPLE: SEEING EVERYTHING;
LEADER: Possessing unlimited power.
PEOPLE: GREAT AND MIGHTY IS OUR KING;
LEADER: A God of glory and majesty; BUT ...
As some music begins to play softly -- maybe the opening hymn -- have the pastor or some other robed or well-dressed person enter and move to the person seated in the chair. The one who has entered should remove the robe or suit jacket, lay it aside, take the towel and toss it over his or her shoulder, kneel and begin removing the shoes and socks of the seated person. Then the feet of the seated person should be washed and tenderly dried. The seated person should look on humbly. As the washer of the feet finishes drying the feet, the liturgist should say:
LEADER: Great and mighty is our King -- a God of glory and majesty -- who bows so low as to wash feet. Jesus said after he washed the feet of his disciples, "I have set an example for you. Do as I have done for no servant is greater than his master, and no messenger is greater than the one who sent him.
At this point the music for the hymn should become louder and the congregation should sing a song that acknowledges that greatness and service go together.
HYMNS
O Master, Let Me Walk with Thee
O to Be Like Thee
All Creatures of Our God and King
AN ALTERNATIVE CALL TO WORSHIP
LEADER: We should be like Christ, who
PEOPLE: BEING HAD EQUAL STATUS WITH GOD
LEADER: But willing gave up his place
PEOPLE: MAKING HIMSELF NOTHING,
LEADER: Taking the form of a servant,
PEOPLE: HUMBLING HIMSELF
LEADER: Becoming human,
PEOPLE: LIVING AN OBEDIENT AND SELFLESS LIFE
LEADER: Even to the point of suffering
PEOPLE: AND DYING ON A CROSS.
LEADER: So let us exalt him!
PEOPLE: LET US WORSHIP HIM!
LEADER: Let us proclaim him!
PEOPLE: THAT AT THE NAME OF JESUS
LEADER: Every knee should bow
PEOPLE: AND EVERY TONGUE CONFESS
LEADER: That Jesus Christ is Lord
PEOPLE: TO THE GLORY OF GOD.
LEADER: AMEN.
(Based on Philippians 2:6-15)
PRAYER OF CONFESSION
LEADER: Who is the greatest? This is a question often asked in our world, for we want to be like the greatest.
PEOPLE: IS IT PRESIDENT BUSH?
LEADER: Perhaps a great entertainer
PEOPLE: OR ATHLETE?
LEADER: Maybe the pope?
PEOPLE: THE STRONG AND POWERFUL?
LEADER: We want to know
PEOPLE: SO WE CAN EMULATE THEM.
LEADER: And in answer to this question Jesus takes a child, places the little one in the midst of his questioners and says,
PEOPLE: UNLESS YOU BECOME LIKE A CHILD
LEADER: You will never enter the kingdom of Heaven. For those who humble themselves are the greatest in the kingdom.
PEOPLE: LORD, FORGIVE OUR YEARNING FOR GREATNESS,
LEADER: Our longing for the accolades of this world.
PEOPLE: HELP US INSTEAD TO LIVE FOR THE APPLAUSE OF HEAVEN.
LEADER: In the name of Jesus we pray.
PEOPLE: AMEN.
ASSURANCE OF PARDON
LEADER: The world leads us astray.
PEOPLE: THE FLESH DISTRACTS US.
LEADER: The enemy traps and enslaves us.
PEOPLE: BUT YAHWEH NEVER GIVES UP ON US.
LEADER: Hear this good news! No matter how far astray you have gone,
PEOPLE: HOW LOST YOU HAVE GOTTEN,
LEADER: How enslaved you have been,
PEOPLE: THE FATHER AWAITS US.
LEADER: With open arms, and love immeasurable. Let us return home.
PEOPLE: AMEN!
PASTORAL PRAYER
In a world where leaders grasp at power and strive to get their names and faces in the media, in a time when greatness is defined by wealth and influence, when pride is proclaimed as a virtue and humility frowned upon, Lord, we pray for our leaders. We ask that they turn from the search for power to seeking out wisdom; that they become less concerned with image and more interested in truth; that awards not be their goal, but service. We even dare ask that their hearts be smitten by you and your love, so that the difficult problems they encounter and decisions they must make will be informed by grace, compassion, and service to the One who made them all. We ask it all in the name of the one who embodies these qualities, Jesus the Christ. Amen.
OTHER HYMNS
Be Thou My Vision
Take My Life and Let It Be
Ye Servants of God
A CHORUS SUGGESTION
Humble Thyself in the Sight of the Lord
A Related Children's Sermon
By Wesley Runk
Text: "The greatest among you will be your servant." (Matthew 23:11)
Object: A picture frame (frames)
Good morning, boys and girls. How many of you know what Americans will do on Tuesday? (let them answer) Tuesday is the day when your mom and dad and all grown ups will vote for our leaders. Do you know what we call that day? (let them answer) That's right; it is Election Day. It is a very important day. We will elect members of Congress, governors, mayors, council people, and many others to very important jobs. Do you know what makes these jobs important? (let them answer)
Perhaps I can better show you what I mean by showing you some things that I brought with me today. (bring out some empty picture frames) Do you know what we call these things? (let them answer) That's right; they are picture frames. Some of them are made out of wood; some are made out of metal. Some are big, some are small, and they are all different colors. Do you have any picture frames in your home? (let them answer) Very good! Do the picture frames look like these picture frames? (let them answer) Where do you keep your picture frames? (let them answer) Very good. Some of them hang on your walls; some of you put yours on your dresser or desk. Picture frames can be found in a lot of different places. But do you hang up just picture frames or do you hang up something else? (let them answer) Is there something missing? (let them answer) That's right; picture frames need pictures. We don't hang up picture frames; we hang up pictures that are put in frames.
The frame is like a servant. How many of you know what a servant is? (let them answer) That's right; a servant is someone who works or helps someone else. Picture frames are like servants. They make a picture look better. They also help the picture to hang on a wall or stand on a desk or dresser. The frame becomes important when it is serving the picture.
Jesus teaches us that all of us are important when we are serving. When we stand by ourselves we are not very important, but when we help someone else we become very important.
That is what is so important about people who are elected to office. The mayor is important because he serves all of the people in a town. Members of Congress are important because they serve the people in our state and nation. Governors are important because they serve all of the people in a state. The President of the United States is important because he serves all of the people in the United States. Leaders are servants, and the better they care for all of us and think about all of us, the more important they become.
That's why it is so important that we vote on Tuesday. We are going to choose the people who want to serve us, work for us. It is not easy being a servant, but it is a very high calling from God.
The next time you see an empty picture frame you can think about how pretty it is, but when it is filled with a picture, it is serving the picture and then it becomes very important. By helping others, you can be important just like a picture frame or like someone who is elected. The most important servants are people who love God and serve people.
So, help your mom and dad remember how important it is to vote on Tuesday and elect the people who choose to be our servants.
The Immediate Word, November 3, 2002, issue.
Copyright 2002 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to permissions@csspub.com or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., P.O. Box 4503, Lima, Ohio 45802-4503.
The coming election brings issues of leadership to the fore. In fact, with the glut of campaign ads, we can hardly help but think about it, and the same is true for our laypeople. So for this week's installment of The Immediate Word, we have chosen to examine, from a gospel perspective, the matter of what it means to be a leader. We've asked TIW team member Carlos Wilton, pastor of Point Pleasant Presbyterian Church in Point Pleasant Beach, NJ, to write on the topic, using as a basis this Sunday's lectionary gospel text from Matthew 23.
As we've been doing each week, we have also included team responses, related illustrations, worship resources by Chuck Cammarata, and a children's sermon by Wesley Runk.
How Would Jesus Campaign?
By Carlos Wilton
Matthew 23:1-12
With anxious newscasters warning of war abroad and speculating about motives for the sniper attacks we've just experienced at home, the upcoming election has taken second- or third-place priority among news stories. Still, it needs to be addressed from the pulpit -- maybe now more than ever.
In between news bulletins, we hear commercials for political candidates. Among these ads, character assassination has become the rule rather than the exception. Negative advertising is something we've all come to loathe in political campaigns: and it seems to get worse, each passing year.
"What price victory?" is the question many exasperated voters are led to ask. Are we not losing something very important, as a nation, when the chief qualification for elective office seems to be the ability to smear one's opponent? (The spectacular fall of certain government and business leaders in recent months is related to this win-at-any-cost mentality.)
Even some of the politicians are admitting things have gone too far. House Democratic leader Richard Gephardt was quoted by John Harwood of The Wall Street Journal: "We are in a race to the bottom in politics -- a downward spiral of negative ads. It is last person standing, and I don't have an answer for it."1
Jesus has a better way. Speaking to his disciples about the hypocrisy of certain religious leaders, he teaches, "The greatest among you will be your servant" (Matthew 23:11).
In this passage, Jesus has several specific complaints about the scribes and Pharisees, and just past the boundaries of today's gospel passage, he adds a fourth criticism:
1) They don't practice what they preach (v. 3).
2) They seek the acclaim of others rather than the glory of God (v. 5).
3) They're altogether too fond of the "perks" of their office (v. 6).
4) They lead others astray (vv. 13-14).
Note that Jesus doesn't question what the Pharisees teach concerning the importance of the law; it's how they apply that teaching that concerns him. The Pharisees focus on the minutiae of the law, so much so that they miss the great principles at its heart. (Jesus isn't being antinomian here, nor is he being anti-Pharisee. Very likely, he's sympathetic to the Pharisee's zeal for obedience to the law, even as he differs from them on how they live this obedience out on a practical, day-to-day basis.)
What if we truly believed that Jesus' words apply to our public life? What would Jesus do, in this instance? How would Jesus campaign?
What if we truly believed his words of challenge apply to other leadership roles as well -- in business, in education, in family ... even in the church?
Think about those who exercise a prominent role in public life today, particularly politics. Without a great deal of difficulty, we can apply the four criticisms Jesus made of the Pharisees:
1) Far too many fail to practice what they preach.
2) They seem to have an insatiable appetite for the acclaim of others (remember Representative James Traficant, who would say almost anything as long as it was likely to make headlines?).
3) They're altogether too fond of the "perks" of their office (as in the lavish gifts Senator Robert Torricelli has admitted receiving from lobbyists).
4) They lead others astray, teaching by their actions that the ends justify the means (as in those negative campaign ads).
Contrast these examples to the ongoing Christian witness of former President Jimmy Carter. Many political pundits dismiss Carter's presidency as ineffectual, but there's one thing even they can say in his favor: He's not out of a job today, even many years after he lost his re-election bid. A man who swings a hammer for Habitat For Humanity and who monitors elections around the world still has a job. He's got better things to do than get rich from the lecture circuit, or hit up old campaign donors for a presidential library. The Nobel Prize committee seems to agree.
So what's a Christian to do about all this? We can begin by challenging the assumption that politics is by nature a dirty business, and therefore ought to be exempt from moral scruples ("Hey, nothing personal -- it's only politics!"). We can speak out against negative "attack" ads. As we engage in conversations about political campaigns with friends and neighbors, we can resist entering attack mode ourselves (even if both political parties are slowly circling the bathtub drain, caught up in that "downward spiral" Dick Gephardt warns against, we can avoid going down with them).
But perhaps I digress in saying so much about politics and politicians. We church leaders are just as subject to the stringent advice of our Master. Let's apply Jesus' four criticisms to ourselves as well:
1) Yes, even we preachers fail to practice what we preach.
2) Many of us, if we honestly examine our motivations for entering this occupation, are dismayed to discover how much "the acclaim of others" motivates us.
3) As for the perks of office, what about the "clergy" sticker on the bumper, the discounts at certain business establishments (though these are admittedly becoming fewer), the instant acceptance into certain social organizations?
4) Do we lead others astray, sometimes becoming preoccupied with institutional-survival issues at the expense of the Gospel?
D. R. A. Hare, in the "Matthew" volume of the Interpretation commentary series writes:
This ideal of the church as an unstratified society is firmly espoused by Paul. Social historians have contrasted Paul's churches with other clubs in Greco-Roman society in which members bolstered self-esteem by the use of a wide variety of grandiose titles. The apostle refers repeatedly to leadership functions without stressing the persons who fulfilled these functions. Instead, he implores his converts to abandon selfish ambition and humbly treat others as superior (Philippians 2:3; Romans 12:3, 16).2
Every New Testament student learns, early on that the Greek word for "minister" is diakonos, the ordinary term for household slave or servant. Yet how easy it is to treat that insight as a mere linguistic curiosity, rather than as one of Jesus' most revolutionary ideas!
There's no good linguistic reason for translating diakonos as "servant" in some contexts and "minister" in others. The biblical translators have undoubtedly been influenced by familiar offices of the modern church, and have perhaps read something of those offices back into their account of the early church. Neither Jesus nor Paul have much interest in establishing authority structures of any kind for the community they have gathered around them. Jesus himself is the authority; there is no fundamental need for any other. And that leader is himself a servant!
A couple of years ago, I happened to hear a program on my car radio about disabilities. The host of the radio show was a man who's paraplegic. Reflecting on his own story, he said the most extraordinary thing: "For a long time after my accident, I felt very low. Then a woman came along who literally saved my life: she asked me to help her."
Helping another person saved his life. It's a parable of diakonia.
Servant leadership. It's not an oxymoron anymore.
A caveat:
This is one of the New Testament passages that has been used in past years to justify anti-Semitism. Those who scour the scriptures to shore up this sort of prejudicial thinking will find what they're looking for here ... although it's antithetical to the overall message of the text to use it that way.
It's also absurd. Jesus himself was a Jew, and exhorted his followers at every turn to be more faithful Jews. Jesus did not come to overturn Judaism, but to reform it.
I once heard a Jewish New Testament scholar (yes, there is such a thing, and not just in the Messianic Jewish branch of Christianity, either) speaking on the New Testament texts most often used to justify anti-Semitism. She suggested we Christians interpret these passages for our own day by substituting the words "church people" for "scribes," "Pharisees," "Temple authorities" and the like. The NRSV titles today's passage, "Jesus Denounces Scribes and Pharisees." What if, as a sort of thought-experiment, we re-wrote it to read, "Jesus Denounces Church People"? Ah, now the shoe's on the other foot, isn't it?
In rooting out hypocrisy in Judaism, Jesus wasn't trying to destroy the faith in which he had been nurtured. He was trying to reform it. I think there are some hypocritical things about today's church he'd try to reform as well.
Of this passage, Harper's Bible Commentary points out that it reflects a (perhaps) understandable emphasis on the legitimacy of Jesus' followers, as over against more conservative elements within Judaism:
This denunciation of the Pharisees makes painful reading in the post-Holocaust era. How much of it is authentic to Jesus and how much reflects the sentiments of the post-Jamnia Matthean community? ... What Matthew ... has done is to expand the amount of this material to enormous proportions and to cast much of it into the woe form, thus creating a much stronger impression of Jesus' anti-Pharisaism than is historically justified. We must also remember that the language of religious invective was much more virulent in those days. The synagogue liturgy in Matthew's time contained a petition that the Nazarenes (i.e., Christian Jews) might be blotted out of the book of life. It should be emphasized that Matthew himself was of course a Jew too, so he cannot be accused of anti-Semitism.3
Notes
1 The Wall Street Journal, October 9, 2002, A4.
2 D. R. A. Hare, Matthew, Interpretation commentary (Louisville: John Knox Press, 1993), 266-267.
3 J. L. Mays, Harper's Bible Commentary (San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1988).
Team Comments
George Murphy responds: 1) Perhaps too close a connection is made between leaders in the civil realm and in the church. Of course it would be good for the former to behave as servants, and the picture of the ideal king in the Old Testament (as distinguished from, e.g., Solomon) encourages this. But Jesus' words in, for example, Mark 10:42-45, emphasize that there's a difference between the way civil rulers actually are and leadership in the church. That is, unfortunate as it is, the former do "lord it over them. But it shall not be so among you."
2) The whole issue of Christian-Jewish relations and attitudes needs more attention than can be given it here. At some point we should perhaps direct a whole installment to that. For now, the reminder that all of Matthew 23 needs to be put in its first-century contexts (note the plural) is appropriate. Two further points: A) the Pharisees were by and large prominent lay people in the church, not the priests. B) Jesus and Paul were Pharisees -- i.e., they didn't limit scriptural authority to torah, believed in the resurrection and angels.
3) It might be worth noting that the problem of people "lording it over" others in the church is not restricted to any particular type of polity -- episcopal, congregational, presbyteral, etc. It is a much more pervasive problem found even in churches which make a big point of being non-hierarchical etc., and it doesn't just affect clergy.
Stan Purdum responds: This is a good job of describing servant leadership in the church, and I have no doubt that that is where the piece should end up, as it does. Since it arises out of the political scene, however, I wonder if it would be good to say more about electioneering reform? The sad thing about the smear campaigning is that it seems to work, and some politicians apparently do it because if they don't, they lose the election. I certainly don't know what we can do about it, and having a session of "ain't it awful" is not helpful. I'm glad you included the comment about speaking out about negative attack ads. We need to let politicians know how we feel about their smear campaigns, perhaps even telling them about the idea of servant leadership. We should attempt to answer for them the question Carlos poses in the title: "How Would Jesus Campaign?"
Also, you gave the four points as they apply to Pharisees, politicians, and preachers. But what are the four points for pew-sitters? If I were to develop a sermon from this, that is the group I would be addressing.
Larry Hard responds: I really like the title. It deserves to be used more in the installment. You could use the question at points of transition or come back to it at the end to sum up.
You succinctly state the four complaints Jesus had against the scribes ("teachers of the Law" in NIV) and Pharisees. For the subscribers who like to preach three or four point outlines, this allows for that kind of development. The preacher may wish earlier in the piece to use your words about this passage being interpreted to justify anti-Semitism. Titles used in the Christian tradition could be named.
There is an AP article in Tuesday's newspapers (10/29/02) about the Roman Catholic commitment to improved relations with Jews.
The installment is very well put together, is timely, and is authentically based on the gospel lesson for the day.
Charles Aaron responds: One biblical resource for discussing the role of political leaders is the Old Testament understanding of kingship. Psalm 72 is an extended prayer for the king in which we see the expectations Israel placed on its leaders. They were to exhibit justice and righteousness (v. 2), care for the needy, poor and oppressed (vv. 4, 12), and ensure peace and protection (v. 7). One might even make a case for preserving the environment out of verse 16.
Daniel 4 demonstrates that gentile kings were expected to display the same integrity and concern for the welfare of the people. That the animals of the field and the birds of the air found safety in the giant tree in Nebuchadnezzar's dream is a poetic way of saying that kings were to ensure the welfare of their subjects (Daniel 4:12). Nebuchadnezzar also found out that his authority was a trust from God.
Although our political system is much different from ancient Israel's, these ideals are still instructive. One way to evaluate our government is to ask about how our leaders model integrity, and how they work to ensure the prosperity, harmony, and security of the people. One role of the church is to serve as the conscience of the state. We can do that by proclaiming this understanding of authority and political power.
Carter Shelley responds: I applaud your decision to give precedence to the biblical text over the political campaign; however, I think you could have developed the four complaints Jesus voices about the Pharisees and scribes in terms of our own mindset and expectations as Americans. You might also address the fact that one of the reasons we seem to vote for candidates is that they tell us what we want to hear or promise to work for our special interests. How many of us really vote with the good of the larger nation and populace in mind? Many of us did not need the $600 tax refund we received anywhere near as much as our nation needed to maintain a more balanced budget. Are we servants when we vote? Or are we interested in being served by our country more than the other way around? One of the most inspirational speeches of the 20th century was Kennedy's "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country." I know the line wasn't original with him, but he vocalized it at an important point in history. Few politicians seem to appeal to our better nature, our higher nature, our desire to serve our country and fellow citizens.
I love the Jimmy Carter references. He really took a hammering from George Will in Newsweek last week. Will seems to hold Carter responsible for North Korea's possession of nuclear weapons and also accuses him of too much Christian naivete.
The contrast between Paul's understanding of a strata-free society and that of Greco-Roman society was well expressed and nicely sets up the move into the concept of servanthood rather than minister as a status kind of a thing. I love the oxymoron statement.
I felt the anti-Semitism material is too important to throw into this particular installment. It remains a difficult area and Christians do not all hold the same interpretations of the place of Jews in God's plan. I'd love to see us deal with this topic in a future installment. For example, Terri Gross on NPR's Fresh Air radio interviewed a scholar yesterday about the anti-Semitism that surfaces in the Left Behind series.
I'm fantasizing. Wouldn't it be great if we the voters of the United States made a commitment NOT to vote for any candidate who smears another one? It's too late for this election go 'round. But even an email campaign for future ones, for folks in churches, etc., to make a commitment to this stance would force the candidates and their spin doctors to rethink election strategies.
Chuck Cammarata responds: To begin with, I love the title. It associates Jesus with something most of us wouldn't associate him with -- and for good reason. He simply wouldn't be involved with the kinds of tactics that we have come to expect of the political campaigns we have in modern democracies. The only problem I have with the title is that it is the last time we really hear much about how Jesus would campaign. This is a gold mine and should be mined more deeply.
Secondly, I agree with Carter that your statements about anti-Semitism gloss over an important issue and -- maybe more importantly in regards to your sermon -- they get us away from the focus of servant leadership. I just think it is an unnecessary and distracting side trip. And I especially think that the quote from J. L. Mays by way of the Harper Bible Commentary is extraordinarily un-useful. It is a politically correct sop that misses entirely the point Jesus was making. It is an attempt on our part -- in the post-Holocaust world -- to read back into Matthew's writing a motive that would get Jesus off the hook for being hard on the Pharisees. Jesus was plainly anti-Pharisee. Not in the sense of judging them as a people but in regard to their legalism. That's the whole deal when it comes to Jesus and the Pharisees. They had turned a faith that was about having a special relationship with Yahweh -- in order to serve as a blessing to all creation -- into a formalized, follow-the-rules and get-into-heaven game.
Which is why I would disagree with Carlos' statement that Jesus didn't come to overturn Judaism but to reform it. In my view he came to do nothing less than overturn it, or at least what it had become. Judaism is about law; Jesus is about grace. Grace is not so much the negation of the law but its fulfillment, and in fulfilling it, it ends it. Paul makes this utterly clear in a number of his letters. This is why the Gospel is scandalous to the Jew and folly to the Greek. In Galatians Paul writes, "All who rely on observing the law are under a curse" (3:10). And again, later in Galatians 3: "Now that faith has come we are no longer under the supervision of the law." Paul's illustration in Romans 7 of the woman married to a man and bound to him until he dies but freed from him after his death is meant to communicate that we too are now free from the law because we too have died with Christ; it is now no longer we who live but Christ who lives in us.
You may be wondering why I am belaboring this point. Well, it is because I believe that it is here, at the place of grace, that true servant leadership becomes clear. It is grace that frees us to really serve. Those who know God's grace are no longer concerned about the things the Pharisees strove for. Those who know grace, who know they are loved by GOD -- the Almighty maker of the universe -- are freed to stop their striving -- no need to find self worth in position or influence. No need to build up a façade, an image, that hides the truth that we are all sinners. No need to grasp at power in order to secure ourselves against the vicissitudes of life. No need to stick one's finger aloft to find out which way the political winds are blowing. No need because we know our value is in Christ and our future is secure -- so we are freed to serve not our own purposes, not even the purposes of the people, but the higher purposes of God.
That's what makes Lincoln such a glorious example of leadership. He was a gracious leader. Sure he was a politician, but more than any other politician I know of, he lived for a higher purpose -- the preservation of the state -- which he believed was a godly purpose. And in spite of his passion for this purpose, in spite of all it cost him and his nation, he was able to say those most amazing words in his second inaugural address (as quoted below), "With malice toward none (really, how could he say that? Grace!) with charity (i.e., love) for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds...."
In terms of political leadership this is what the true servant leader does. He or she seeks to be faithful to what she or he believes to be the purposes of God. That's what Jesus did when the popular thing to do would have been to start a revolt against the Romans. Instead, he went to the cross. Against the desires of his followers. When the political currents would have allowed for the coronation of king Jesus, he went to the cross. Martin Luther King, Jr., Nelson Mandela -- these names come to mind.
In terms of leadership in the church, which in some ways is a very different beast, the same fundamental principle applies. We have been freed to serve the purposes of God. Often that means exactly what Carlos talks about -- connecting with the people around us, in our churches, in our communities. But there are also times when it calls us to be Jeremiah and point out the injustice and sin in our own people. The Christian servant leader sometimes washes feet and sometimes cries, "Get behind me, Satan!" Sometimes weeps at the pain of the people and other times deepens the pain that they might see their need for God or how far out of harmony with God's purposes they are. Sometimes it builds up and sometimes it tears down.
The servant leader, serving God -- not the self, not even the people, but God -- and enabled to do it because and only because of God's gracious love.
Related Illustrations
One of the most remarkable (but under-appreciated) documents in American political history is Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address. Not much longer than the Gettysburg Address, it has been overshadowed by that earlier document -- although in many ways it is a finer work, not only of rhetoric but also theology.
Read these words of Lincoln's, and contrast them with much of what passes for political rhetoric these days (particularly the sort of speeches that blithely invoke the name of God without much real meaning). Of the contrasting theologies of North and South, Lincoln writes:
"Each looked for an easier triumph, and a result less fundamental and astounding. Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God, and each invokes His aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God's assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men's faces, but let us judge not, that we be not judged. The prayers of both could not be answered. That of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has His own purposes....
"Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said 'the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.'
"With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations."
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God says to me with kind of a smile,
"Hey, how would you like to be God awhile
And steer the world?"
"Okay," says I, "I'll give it a try.
Where do I set? How much do I get? What time is lunch? When do I quit?"
"Give me back that wheel," says God, "I don't think you're quite ready yet."
(Shel Silverstein, A Light in the Attic [New York: Harper and Row, 1981], 198.)
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In Stephen Covey's The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, he quotes someone else who says that "service is the rent we pay for the privilege of living on this earth."
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As Jesus ministers, so he wants us to minister. He wants Peter to feed his sheep and care for them, not as "professionals" who know their clients' problems and take care of them, but as vulnerable brothers and sisters who know and are known, who care and are cared for, who forgive and are being forgiven, who love and are being loved. Somehow we have come to believe that good leadership requires a safe distance from those we are called to lead. Medicine, psychiatry, and social work all offer us models in which "service" takes place in a one-way direction. Someone serves, someone else is being served, and be sure not to mix up the roles!
(Henri Nouwen, In the Name of Jesus: Reflections on Christian Leadership [Crossroad Publishing Co, 1996].)
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It is not law or power, knowledge or dignity but service which is the basis of discipleship. The model for the disciples in their following of Christ is therefore not the secular ruler and not the learned scribe, nor even the priest who stands above his people (Jesus, remarkably enough, never once takes him as an example; cf. Hebrews); the only valid model is that of the man who serves at table: "But I am among you as one who serves (at table)" (Luke 22:27). This attitude ... is not just a question of voluntary external self-abasement, as practiced on certain days of the year by the leaders of some religious communities, but a total existence in a life and death of service for others, as prefigured by Jesus himself....
(Hans Kung, The Church, trans. Ray and Rosaleen Ockenden [London: Search Press, 1968], 392.)
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A young missionary who came to work in the church in Ceylon left us and returned to his home because he felt compelled to do things that he did not want to do. His only task, he said, was to preach the Gospel. He was certainly an effective preacher, but his congregation did not need a benefactor of God's word but a servant. Even with respect to the sacraments, how often they are made the mark of the priest, distinguishing him from his people, instead of being the sign of the priesthood of the whole people of God! Servanthood: that, then, is the crux of the matter; and the preacher who is not a servant becomes a benefactor.
(D.T. Niles, The Preacher's Calling to be Servant [London: Lutterworth, 1959], 55.)
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God the creator is the dancer, and we are the dance.
(Eastern saying, quoted by Anthony de Mello.)
Related Worship Resources
By Chuck Cammarata
CALL TO WORSHIP
If you want to do a slightly risky call to worship try the following responsive reading followed by a short enacted symbolic action. Have the reading done by a layperson. Prior to worship have a chair set up at the center of the chancel area, somewhere where all will see it. (A fancy throne-like chair would be best.) In the chair have someone -- a child would work well -- seated. Have this person be still and quiet during the call to worship. There should be a large pitcher of water, a basin, and a white towel on a stand next to the seated person. Then use this call to worship:
LEADER: Great and mighty is our King;
PEOPLE: A GOD OF GLORY AND MAJESTY;
LEADER: Whose ways are higher than ours;
PEOPLE: WHOSE THOUGHTS ARE BEYOND US.
LEADER: Creator of all that is;
PEOPLE: EVERYWHERE PRESENT;
LEADER: Knowing all;
PEOPLE: SEEING EVERYTHING;
LEADER: Possessing unlimited power.
PEOPLE: GREAT AND MIGHTY IS OUR KING;
LEADER: A God of glory and majesty; BUT ...
As some music begins to play softly -- maybe the opening hymn -- have the pastor or some other robed or well-dressed person enter and move to the person seated in the chair. The one who has entered should remove the robe or suit jacket, lay it aside, take the towel and toss it over his or her shoulder, kneel and begin removing the shoes and socks of the seated person. Then the feet of the seated person should be washed and tenderly dried. The seated person should look on humbly. As the washer of the feet finishes drying the feet, the liturgist should say:
LEADER: Great and mighty is our King -- a God of glory and majesty -- who bows so low as to wash feet. Jesus said after he washed the feet of his disciples, "I have set an example for you. Do as I have done for no servant is greater than his master, and no messenger is greater than the one who sent him.
At this point the music for the hymn should become louder and the congregation should sing a song that acknowledges that greatness and service go together.
HYMNS
O Master, Let Me Walk with Thee
O to Be Like Thee
All Creatures of Our God and King
AN ALTERNATIVE CALL TO WORSHIP
LEADER: We should be like Christ, who
PEOPLE: BEING HAD EQUAL STATUS WITH GOD
LEADER: But willing gave up his place
PEOPLE: MAKING HIMSELF NOTHING,
LEADER: Taking the form of a servant,
PEOPLE: HUMBLING HIMSELF
LEADER: Becoming human,
PEOPLE: LIVING AN OBEDIENT AND SELFLESS LIFE
LEADER: Even to the point of suffering
PEOPLE: AND DYING ON A CROSS.
LEADER: So let us exalt him!
PEOPLE: LET US WORSHIP HIM!
LEADER: Let us proclaim him!
PEOPLE: THAT AT THE NAME OF JESUS
LEADER: Every knee should bow
PEOPLE: AND EVERY TONGUE CONFESS
LEADER: That Jesus Christ is Lord
PEOPLE: TO THE GLORY OF GOD.
LEADER: AMEN.
(Based on Philippians 2:6-15)
PRAYER OF CONFESSION
LEADER: Who is the greatest? This is a question often asked in our world, for we want to be like the greatest.
PEOPLE: IS IT PRESIDENT BUSH?
LEADER: Perhaps a great entertainer
PEOPLE: OR ATHLETE?
LEADER: Maybe the pope?
PEOPLE: THE STRONG AND POWERFUL?
LEADER: We want to know
PEOPLE: SO WE CAN EMULATE THEM.
LEADER: And in answer to this question Jesus takes a child, places the little one in the midst of his questioners and says,
PEOPLE: UNLESS YOU BECOME LIKE A CHILD
LEADER: You will never enter the kingdom of Heaven. For those who humble themselves are the greatest in the kingdom.
PEOPLE: LORD, FORGIVE OUR YEARNING FOR GREATNESS,
LEADER: Our longing for the accolades of this world.
PEOPLE: HELP US INSTEAD TO LIVE FOR THE APPLAUSE OF HEAVEN.
LEADER: In the name of Jesus we pray.
PEOPLE: AMEN.
ASSURANCE OF PARDON
LEADER: The world leads us astray.
PEOPLE: THE FLESH DISTRACTS US.
LEADER: The enemy traps and enslaves us.
PEOPLE: BUT YAHWEH NEVER GIVES UP ON US.
LEADER: Hear this good news! No matter how far astray you have gone,
PEOPLE: HOW LOST YOU HAVE GOTTEN,
LEADER: How enslaved you have been,
PEOPLE: THE FATHER AWAITS US.
LEADER: With open arms, and love immeasurable. Let us return home.
PEOPLE: AMEN!
PASTORAL PRAYER
In a world where leaders grasp at power and strive to get their names and faces in the media, in a time when greatness is defined by wealth and influence, when pride is proclaimed as a virtue and humility frowned upon, Lord, we pray for our leaders. We ask that they turn from the search for power to seeking out wisdom; that they become less concerned with image and more interested in truth; that awards not be their goal, but service. We even dare ask that their hearts be smitten by you and your love, so that the difficult problems they encounter and decisions they must make will be informed by grace, compassion, and service to the One who made them all. We ask it all in the name of the one who embodies these qualities, Jesus the Christ. Amen.
OTHER HYMNS
Be Thou My Vision
Take My Life and Let It Be
Ye Servants of God
A CHORUS SUGGESTION
Humble Thyself in the Sight of the Lord
A Related Children's Sermon
By Wesley Runk
Text: "The greatest among you will be your servant." (Matthew 23:11)
Object: A picture frame (frames)
Good morning, boys and girls. How many of you know what Americans will do on Tuesday? (let them answer) Tuesday is the day when your mom and dad and all grown ups will vote for our leaders. Do you know what we call that day? (let them answer) That's right; it is Election Day. It is a very important day. We will elect members of Congress, governors, mayors, council people, and many others to very important jobs. Do you know what makes these jobs important? (let them answer)
Perhaps I can better show you what I mean by showing you some things that I brought with me today. (bring out some empty picture frames) Do you know what we call these things? (let them answer) That's right; they are picture frames. Some of them are made out of wood; some are made out of metal. Some are big, some are small, and they are all different colors. Do you have any picture frames in your home? (let them answer) Very good! Do the picture frames look like these picture frames? (let them answer) Where do you keep your picture frames? (let them answer) Very good. Some of them hang on your walls; some of you put yours on your dresser or desk. Picture frames can be found in a lot of different places. But do you hang up just picture frames or do you hang up something else? (let them answer) Is there something missing? (let them answer) That's right; picture frames need pictures. We don't hang up picture frames; we hang up pictures that are put in frames.
The frame is like a servant. How many of you know what a servant is? (let them answer) That's right; a servant is someone who works or helps someone else. Picture frames are like servants. They make a picture look better. They also help the picture to hang on a wall or stand on a desk or dresser. The frame becomes important when it is serving the picture.
Jesus teaches us that all of us are important when we are serving. When we stand by ourselves we are not very important, but when we help someone else we become very important.
That is what is so important about people who are elected to office. The mayor is important because he serves all of the people in a town. Members of Congress are important because they serve the people in our state and nation. Governors are important because they serve all of the people in a state. The President of the United States is important because he serves all of the people in the United States. Leaders are servants, and the better they care for all of us and think about all of us, the more important they become.
That's why it is so important that we vote on Tuesday. We are going to choose the people who want to serve us, work for us. It is not easy being a servant, but it is a very high calling from God.
The next time you see an empty picture frame you can think about how pretty it is, but when it is filled with a picture, it is serving the picture and then it becomes very important. By helping others, you can be important just like a picture frame or like someone who is elected. The most important servants are people who love God and serve people.
So, help your mom and dad remember how important it is to vote on Tuesday and elect the people who choose to be our servants.
The Immediate Word, November 3, 2002, issue.
Copyright 2002 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to permissions@csspub.com or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., P.O. Box 4503, Lima, Ohio 45802-4503.
