“The status seekers”
By Rev. Michael Stonhouse
Meditation – Wednesday, August 24, 2022
Luke 22:24-30 (Forward, p. 26) CEV p. 1093
Status, prestige, position: these are often the hallmarks, the indicators, of success in our everyday, secular society. You know, the large office in the corner, the only one with the decent view. Sad to say, these promptings are not all together absent from the church, the one place where you’d think such motivations would be absent. After all, aren’t we ‘supposed’ to be servants of all, just as Jesus said?
And yet, this is not at all absent in the church. In fact, if truth were told, the church is rife with it. Seminarians at a particular seminary—which I will decline to mention—were known to sign on with a certain diocese because that bishop would ordain them while still students, allowing them to thus parade around school wearing their clericals. And early on in my career I warned never to wear purple or pink clergy shirts, as it was considered presumptuous. Supposedly, to do so was an indication that you aspired to be a bishop, something that while you secretly yearned for, you should never admit to openly. And even my own father was known to remark that I would never ‘come to anything’ if marooned in a small rural parish--as if, ‘coming to something’ was what really mattered!
The disciples, I’m afraid, were ‘cut from the same cloth’. Even after that incredible memorial meal, the Last Supper, and even after hearing that one of them would betray Jesus, they were still bickering among themselves as to who was the greatest.
Here Jesus really bursts the balloons of their presumptions, their mistaken ambitions. It is not, however, that He dismisses all notions of ambition, but only that He redirects them. He lifts their sights, you might say, to a higher and more exalted ambition. Instead of seeking power and titles (benefactor was the word used) they should seek to be a servant and serve others, just as Jesus has done. Interestingly, paradoxically, Jesus tell them that if they do this, they will eventually receive even more power and status than they would otherwise reap. But, of course, to truly be a servant of others means that this ambition can’t be what really motivates us. Instead, seeking to truly serve others and truly meet their heartfelt and deepest needs should be first and foremost, even as we seek to be like Jesus. Amen.
Forward notes: “For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one at the table? But I am among you as one who serves” (verse 27).
“Some time ago, a letter to our local editor complained that university teachers did not deserve a pay raise since they taught only a few classes each day. I was horrified. What about preparation and grading and advising? What about committee work and conferences? Teachers are workers, there 24/7 for their students.
“Jesus, who worked every day, every minute of his life, healing and feeding and helping, redefines our understanding of leadership. The disciples, standing in front of God’s own son, argue about which of them should be regarded as the greatest. Jesus upends their assumption about social standing by pointing out that the true leader is a worker, like ‘one who serves.’
“As servants and workers, the disciples are given a special promise—a place at his table in his kingdom. Jesus is our leader, our teacher too. Through his death and resurrection, he gives us the greatest gift of all. May we, as his servants, follow him, knowing that he stands by us as we continue our work.”
Moving Forward: “Send a note of encouragement to a teacher.”