Readings:
Jeremiah 18:18-20; Psalm 31; Matthew 20:17-28

Jesus said, ‘Now we are going up to Jerusalem and the Son of Man is about to be handed over to the chief priests and scribes. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the pagans to be mocked and scourged and crucified; and on the third day he will rise again’
She [the mother of Zebedee’s sons] said to him, ‘Promise that these two sons of mine may sit one at your right hand and the other at your left in your kingdom’… When the other ten heard this they were indignant with the two brothers. But Jesus called to them and said, ‘You know that among the pagans the rulers lord it over them, and their great men make their authority felt. This is not to happen among you. No; anyone who wants to be great among you must be your servant, and anyone who wants to be first among you must be your slave, just as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.
Matthew 20:18, 19, 21-23

We are so familiar with the word ‘Christian’ that we lose its meaning. The German word for a Christian is ‘Ein Christ’, a Christ. To be a Christian is not just to be an admirer, imitator, or follower of Christ, but so to live that, as Paul says, ‘I live now not with my own life but with the life of Christ who lives in me’ (Galatians 2:20). In Lent we are looking at our lives in the light of this truth, so that we can see more clearly what is in fact life-giving, and what is life-destroying. Today’s Gospel passage raises questions for all of us about the direction our lives are taking.

Mother Zebedee wants the best for her sons, but so do they and the other ten. Jesus then speaks to them all about their desire for power, status and influence.

It is natural, good and healthy to desire greatness, to want to excel. Jesus does not deny this, but then turns our values upside down by saying that true greatness, and true excellence, consist not in exercising power and control over others, but in serving their needs and being content with the status of a slave. ‘His state was divine, yet he did not cling to his equality with God but emptied himself to assume the condition of a slave’ (Philippians 2:6).

In the Gospels, Jesus gives no detailed instruction about the organization of his Church, but he is very clear on how authority is to be exercised within it. In the Church we have followed Jesus’ instructions more in the letter than in the spirit. We have retained the letter in some ecclesiastical titles, for example, the Pope’s title ‘servant of servants’, or the names ministry and ‘minister’ from the Latin word ministrare, meaning to serve, or the title ‘deacon’, which means ‘a menial’. But if we were to put this teaching into practice, what a revolution it would effect within the community of the Church and in society! Promotion to positions of authority would bring diminished status, drop in salary, less power to control, greater accessibility to any caller! The first task of those in authority would be to listen to the needs of those they serve.

We can escape the demands of this teaching by seeing it as applying only to Church officials. However, we are all ‘Christs’, all called to serve rather than be served. In our daily review of consciousness, it is good to scan our moods during the day with the question, ‘Are these moods arising from my desire to serve, or from my desire to be served?’ These are painful questions to ask, for they reveal the split within our own spirituality: how easily we can assent with our minds to Jesus’ ideal of service, while our hearts are, in fact, choosing the opposite. Do not be disheartened if you are aware of this split in yourself, but acknowledge it before God and pray out of the sheepdog part of yourself that Christ’s Spirit should lead us to take more delight in serving than in being served, more delight in listening to others and in letting them be free than in giving them orders and controlling them.

Prayer
Lord, you did not cling to your equality with God, but emptied yourself to assume the condition of a slave. Root out from our hearts all desire for power and influence over others, and plant in its place a love and delight in serving you by listening and responding to the needs of others. We ask you this through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Amen.