The Greatest Among You
A homily preached by Rev. Ginger Gaines-Cirelli at St. Matthew’s UMC October 30, 2011, the twentieth Sunday after Pentecost.
Text: Matthew 23:1-12
It could be suggested that we get “set up” today by Jesus’ teaching—I mean, Jesus is talking about the Pharisees and the scribes; he’s talking about the well-heeled pastors with fancy suits and degrees, the evangelists with shiny cars and even sparklier teeth, he’s surely talking about pompous teachers of theology who talk, talk, talk but don’t do anything about it. He’s not talking about us. He is pointing out their hypocrisy, their mistakes, their shortcomings, their pride. And so the potential trap for us is to begin thinking that we’re better than they are and that these words of Jesus have nothing to do with us. We could even go further and cheer Jesus on in his invective: “You got that right! Let ‘em have it!” But you see in verse 8 of today’s passage, Jesus shifts the conversation to the disciples. At some point, if we’re paying attention, we begin to see that Jesus is, in fact talking to us. It’s not so easy to cheer him on when we realize this. Because what we see is that Jesus is calling us from the self-seeking, hypocritical life that he decries among the Pharisees and scribes; we see that Jesus is challenging US to live lives of radical, sacrificial, disciplined discipleship that requires more than we may want to give. And so this Gospel lesson, which perhaps started out in a very safe place for us, turns out to demand quite a lot from us. It demands that we match our actions with our words, that we make our lives outside the sanctuary more closely match our life when we’re here. The Gospel lesson demands that we become servants.
“Servant” can be understood in many ways. But broadly speaking, our understanding of servanthood in the Christian tradition refers to a particular quality of relationship with other people and with the world in which we live. We see this quality most fully expressed in Jesus—and perhaps most clearly when Jesus wrapped a towel around himself and washed his friends’ feet. Jesus shows us that Christian servanthood involves humility, reverence, discipline, and sacrifice…and all for the sake of love. Christian servanthood has as its foundation, the belief that the earth and everything in it belong to God; that each human being is created by God in God’s own image. Therefore all that we have and all that we are have been given to us by our God who loves us and wants us to have everything we need. Placed in this context, to be good servants we must be good stewards, caretakers of God’s children and of all creation.
Shakespeare once asked, “What’s in a name?” Sometimes it is more than meets the eye. Take this word “steward” for example. Originally it came from the two old-English words “sty” and “wart” or “ward.” A sty-ward was a person who looked after the animals on a rich man’s estate. In time it came to mean the person who managed the entire estate. Still later it became a family name. Sometimes it was spelled Stewart or Steward. In fact one family bearing the name became the ruling family of England… That’s quite a climb for a word—all the way from an animal pen to a monarch’s throne. It reminds us that stewardship is not reserved only for those in a particular role or place in life, that each and every person is called to faithful servanthood as good stewards. The greatest among you will be your servant…your steward…your caretaker…your sty ward.
If we seek to follow Jesus’ teaching to be servants, we will humbly and prayerfully examine our stewardship of our relationships, of our time, our gifts and skills, of the earth, and of our money and possessions. All of these are part of “God’s estate”—gifts and resources that have been entrusted to us for a time. Imagine yourself as a “sty ward” on God’s estate. How are you caring for all that has been entrusted to you?
Years ago, I heard about a somewhat skeptical seeker who came to a Christian community and challenged the pastor with this question: “Does your community believe in miracles and do they happen here?” The pastor answered, “It depends upon what you mean by ‘miracle.’ What some folks think is a miracle is what happens when God does the will of people. We think a miracle is what happens when people do the will of God.’”
I think it is a miracle that we are ever able to truly serve and be faithful stewards of God’s world. I think it is a miracle that so many people give so much of their time and hard-earned money to the work of caring for, healing, and building up God’s reign of loving servanthood on earth. I think it is a miracle because the principalities and powers in the world try to convince us that we should look out for our own interests, not the interests of others; that we should treat other people as commodities, not as sisters and brothers; that we should use our skills only for our own personal gain; that the earth is our possession and that it can be used up if in so doing someone makes a profit; that our money and resources must be hoarded and protected or else we won’t have enough. I think it is God’s grace working in and through us that helps us to stand firm in living our lives a different way. I think part of the miracle is that in our humility, in our sacrificial living and giving, in our risk-taking for the sake of love, we learn a new kind of pride and honor and joy. Not that which comes from receiving titles of honor or from having fancy possessions or from holding particular positions; but instead we learn the pride and honor and joy that comes from serving the One who held nothing back from us. Who, “though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant.” (Philippians 2:6-7) This Jesus Christ is the one we serve. May our lives show it.
