Servant, Slave, Service! Epiphany 2.
Isaiah 49: 1 – 7; John 1: 29 – 42
Are God’s children also servants?
We commonly understand a servant to be someone employed to to carry out domestic chores. The term, servant, has become a demeaning term in our society. Our labour saving devices, fast food places and meals delivered to the home have all made the domestic servant obsolete.
In a time long past servants were essential to the working of the home. In fact we could not have achieved much without servants. And some servants became valued members of the family. I recall from my childhood in South Africa that servants were very much part of the family, especially on farms. The problem today is that the concept of servant is taken to mean someone who is inferior to others and of little worth.
In the ancient world of the Roman Empire servants and slaves were important. Some slaves and servants became so valued and respected that their masters adopted them as their heirs. The slave owner would set a slave free and then adopt him to be his heir under the rule of paterfamilias. As I have mentioned before some of the Roman Emperors were adopted. E.g. Augustus Caesar, the first emperor of the Roman Empire [63BC- 14 AD] who established the Pax Romana, was adopted by his uncle Julius Caesar. Incidentally Julius Caesar already had a natural born son by Cleopatra.
Neither is it strange to read about the servants of God in the Bible. Moses, Joshua, Paul, James and Peter are specifically described as servants of God. The people of God were also referred to as servants. Mary, the mother of Jesus, declared herself a bond slave of the Lord [Lk 1: 38]. Nehemiah spoke of the people of God as servants of the Lord [Neh 1:10] and Isaiah speaks of the people as the Servants of God [Is 48:1 – 49:3].
What is a servant? The dictionary defines a servant as ‘one who performs duties for others, especially a person employed for duties in a household’. Most definitions add that a personal servant will be devoted and helpful. The root meaning of ‘servant’ has the notion of waiting on and serving another with devotion.
I have selected six characteristics of a servant that I believe may help our understanding of the worthiness of servanthood.
Integrity: Servants doesn’t only have to be honest, but should have a sense of wholeness about themselves. They need to see servanthood as an important part of what they do and who they are. Servanthood has an honourable role.
Humility: Out of their sense of well-being the servant need to be willing to humble themselves in the service of others. Their work is not about themselves but about the one they serve.
Loyalty: The concept of loyalty captures the sense of dependability, commitment, and trustworthiness.
Listener: A servant needs to listen and empathise with the one they serve and sense their needs and understand the tasks they are to carry out. The good listener is attentive to others.
Adaptability: A servant needs to be adaptable to the situations and demands of the one they serve. Flexibility is important in adjusting to different situations.
Resilience: Resilience flows out of being flexible and leads to that quality of endurance and toughness required to serve dutifully during difficult times.
So we begin to see the important role a servant plays. We note that there are periods in our history and possibly in our lives where the notion of being served or serving is critical to our well-being. We note too that to see the role of servant as merely a demeaning role is not helpful. We note that the characteristics of a servant are essential to any household or organisation’s health. That is, we cannot really progress, develop and reach our potential without the qualities that go with servanthood.
Today we don’t speak of servanthood except in leadership roles where we speak of servant-leadership. The Servant-Leader takes on the characteristics of a servant. So why am I talking about Servanthood? I imagine if I had asked you whether you saw yourself as a servant of God, or of the Church, or other Christians, you would say you don’t. I guess that would be the last concept you would use to describe your relationship with God. Most likely you would think of yourself as a child of God or a member of the Church. Yet this is what our texts are talking about – the people of God are God’s servants.
In the Corinthian reading Paul describes himself as an Apostle [1Cor 1:1], which is just another name for a leading servant. In the John reading we have the call of the disciples. We are told that two of John the Baptist’s disciples decided to follow Jesus. Jesus turns to meet them and merely invites them to ‘come and see’ [Jn 1:39]. Andrew is one of them and he goes off to get his brother, Simon Peter. Jesus’ response is gentle and pregnant with conviction – ‘come and see’. Andrew and Peter follow and stay and become witnesses and martyrs for the Gospel of Christ Jesus. They gave their lives. They took on the qualities of servanthood: integrity, humility, loyalty, empathy, adaptability and resilience. Legend tells us Peter chose to be crucified upside down by Nero because he felt unworthy to be crucified in a similar fashion to Jesus.
The Isaiah reading, which is another ‘Servant Song / Poem’ in the book of Isaiah, speaks of the ‘Servant of God’ as an individual and also as a member of the people of God. In Isaiah 52 the servant suffers for us, bears our sins and secures our healing with humility [Is 53: 4-9]. Christians unreservedly see the Isaiah prophetic poems as foreshadowing the ministry of Jesus. The early church in one of their hymns speaks of Jesus as not regarding equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death— death on a cross. [Phil 2:6-8] Mark records Jesus telling his disciples that he has come not to be served but to serve, and give his life as a ransom. [Mk 10:45] All this tells us that Jesus is seen as the perfect example of servanthood.
Why would we be reluctant to see ourselves as servants if Jesus comes to loyally serve us with integrity and endurance? Servants are both valuable and valued and the worthy servant is always honoured. There lies the irony of life. Those that serve inherit life. Those that serve receive honour and respect. I recall observing my Personal Assistant when I was the CEO of the Church’s organisation providing CRE and chaplaincy in State schools. She was committed to the ministry, served me faithfully with an integrity but never turned her humility into demeaning servility. She was a learner and listener and was steadfast in her work. Though I had a 2 IC and there were other senior staff, whenever my PA spoke, people took notice. I noted she had a power and authority that far out weighed her office. She was a true servant – so respected; so valued.
Do you see yourself as a servant of God in this Church? Would you see yourself as a servant of God in the world? Would you see yourself serving one another? How might that look? What might that look like to the world outside if they were to experience communities of compassionate servanthood?
Jesus often uses the concept of a servant to illustrate our relationship to God. In one of his short parables Jesus says; be like those who are waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet, so that they may open the door for him as soon as he comes and knocks. Blessed are those slaves whom the master finds alert when he comes; truly I tell you, he will fasten his belt and have them sit down to eat, and he will come and serve them. If he comes during the middle of the night, or near dawn, and finds them so, blessed are those slaves [Lk 12: 36-38].
What a privilege to be a personal servant to a great person. What a privilege to be the personal servant of God! How wonderful it is to be among the servants of God who when God comes and finds us alert and loyal, God will sit us down and wait on us. That’s the amazing picture Jesus puts before us in his teaching and throughout his life.
*******
Peter C Whitaker, Leighmoor UC: 19/01/2020
/ www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org