John 12:20-26
20Now among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks. 21They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, "Sir, we wish to see Jesus." 22Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. 23Jesus answered them, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. 25Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor.
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6 comments:
"service" is not a word we use quite as often anymore. In fact to a certain extent I think I am a little uncomfortable with it. Calling someone a servant seems to take away their independence so instead we use words like volunteer or worker. But, in this case, servant of Christ is probably the best word one can use. Even if it gives us the hebie jeebies ultimately we are asked to give up independence to form dependence on God. We become a servant of something bigger than just self. It's difficult and I am still very challenge by that language prefering of course "beloved child of God." But, just because it is uncomfortable does not mean it is wrong. What parts of my own need for self sufficiency may get in the way of my relationship with God?
Surprisingly I don't have too much trouble with servant, but maybe because I haven't been asked to do something real hard, yet.:-) I look at service & servant as doing God's work and I'm at a point where I don't mind doing that. But as I said I haven't been pushed too far out of my comfort zone. (And somewhere in the back of my mind is the yet.) And if God keeps taking me in baby steps to moving me along, it will be a much easier process. :-) I'll be in big trouble if I need to take a huge leap all at once.
What I think of when I think of serving is when we become a parent. We serve our childrens' lives. I don't mean waiting on them hand and foot. I mean we serve them by guiding what kind of adult they will become, through love, patience, teaching and discipline, etc. Almost like "serving the greater good". Similarly to our relationship with God as we go with a willingness not so much sacrificial but what feels natural and pure. It may seem hard but you know it is the right thing to do and the right time.
I think one of the reasons we may resist the the terminology of servant is that we continue to view it through man made concepts and understanding. Perhaps it is not so much the term" servant" that gives us the heebie jeebies but the subconscious association with the term "master" as being the one we serve. There are way too many worldly stories of "masters" who not only did NOT honor their servants, but, in fact, treated them with no love or regard at all. The vision of the Africans captured and sold into slavery ( unwilling servanthood) and required to call those who tormented them "master" is just one of the plethora of examples of distortion of the term "servant". And even today how many of us refer to our bosses or superiors as "slave drivers"? For many there is a big feeling of "have to" involved with service. So, yes we like the word volunteer better. We must always remember that the gift of free choice is sacred and God Himself does not interfere with our choices, in the ways that worldly 'masters' do. We must learn to love and serve God and Christ, not because we HAVE to but because we freely choose to do so. In so doing service becomes a sacred gift that we give to the real Master and in that giving...we receive eternal life - here-now.
The thing that strikes me most in today's passage are the paradoxes: keeping what you hate; losing what you love; being honored for serving; living through dying, etc. I love the way Jesus turns our perception of reality on its head, forcing us to reexamine our comfortable but limited ways of thinking. Our narcissism tells us that being who we (believe) we are is the zenith...and so we perpetually strive to see ourselves as separate, unique, individual and singular. To blend, join, merge, or submit is viewed as a potentially threatening, even dangerous, endeavor. And yet, it is in this letting go of our attachment to ego, to our worldly ordering of priorities, values and needs, that we experience a whole new world-view, including a self-concept that rises above the prosaic definitions of "self" to become an extension and reflection of the divine. In this context, being a servant of God highlights the notion that we are in fact serving God/ourselves even as God/ourselves is serving us. I understand this process as a cybernetic, symbiotic loop of never-ending love and abundance.
I know I'm a few days behind here, but I have really enjoyed reading this thread and everyone's thoughts.
I really resonate with what has been said and some of it reminds me of when I was growing up. Occasionally I would decide in my own mind to do something that my parents hadn't asked me to do to surprise them and I suppose to serve them willingly. For example, I might decide to vacuum the house without being asked.
Then my mother would come in a few minutes later and would say, "Kathy, please vacuum the house."
I would feel so annoyed and then not want to vacuum because I felt like now I HAD to! Funny how it would shift my whole attitude about doing something that I was planning to do anyway.
I think what Phyllis said is key - our free choice IS a gift so any service we do really and truly is our choice, not because we HAVE to, and that truly is a gift.
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