Wanted: Servant Leaders – September 8, 2024

Psalm 42:1-9, Matthew 20:17-28
September 8, 2024

Jesus said, “Whoever would be great among you must be your servant.”  We know those words.  We’re familiar with them.  And they’re great words to think about on this day that we recognize those who are called to be our leaders.

But Jesus didn’t just say that “out of the blue.”  There was a story that led up to it.  And it’s a story that seems almost bizarre in comparison with what Jesus was saying at the time.  So much so, that it seems like these could be two separate stories.  But they’re not.  Matthew tells them as one story, with the word “then” between them.  “Then this happened.”  And I believe that we were meant to take them together.

So first, we have Jesus telling his disciples what was going to happen to him in Jerusalem.  And my Bible says it was the third time he tells them this.  But this time he gives them much more detail!  He tells them he was going to be arrested in Jerusalem, then tried, condemned to death, handed over to the Gentiles (the Romans), mocked, scourged (which was a horrific beating!), and then crucified.  And then on the third day, he would be raised from the dead.

We can only imagine – or maybe we can’t imagine! – what they were thinking when they heard that.  One of the other times he said those things, Peter spoke up!  Do you remember?  He said, “Surely this will never happen to you, Jesus!”  It didn’t make sense to him!  Remember, their hope was that Jesus would be the savior who would lead the rebellion against Rome!

But this time there’s no such chiding of Jesus for saying this.  This time there is silence.  And again, we can only imagine their thoughts.  But, did they just choose not to listen, like they didn’t want to take him seriously, like they were just waiting for him to finish saying these outlandish things?  Sometimes people do that, you know!  They do that when they don’t like what they’re hearing.  Or were they worried that he was sounding more and more self-destructive?  We can only imagine!

Well, before anything else happens, we read the next part.  And here’s where we find the word “then.”  “Then, the mother of the sons of Zebedee came up to him, with her sons, and she asked him for something.”  And as you know, that “something” was that she wanted her sons to sit beside him ‘in his kingdom.’”  Hey, she was a good Jewish mother who only wanted the best for her boys!

Of course, we know what she meant by “his kingdom.”  Like many of the people those days, she had heard Jesus speak, she had seen saw his tremendous following, and she too was thinking about the kingdom of Israel, an Israel free from Rome, and restored to its glory days.  In the hundreds of years since the days of King David, they had all longed for those days again.  And they thought that now, just maybe, it would finally be happening.

Well, Jesus knew all of that.  And you can hear it in his response to her.  “You do not know what you are asking!”  “Didn’t you just hear me?”  “Didn’t you just hear me say what’s going to happen when we go to Jerusalem?”  “I’m going to suffer and die!”  Then he turns to James and John, and he asks, “Are you able to drink that cup of suffering that I’m about to drink?”  And of course they do answer him – which has always seemed bizarre to me.  They say, “Yes, we are!”  And I have to wonder what they were thinking!  Did they still think this was all just a prelude to the coming kingdom of Israel?

So, with those two stories – the statement about his death and resurrection, and the request to share power in his kingdom – with that contrast as the background here, Jesus makes the statement that we focus on today.  And this is a statement about his true kingdom.  It’s a statement about the kind of leadership that would characterize that kingdom.

He starts with a contrasting statement of his own.  “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles ‘lord it over them,’ and their great men exercise authority over them.”  “You know out in the world it’s all about how people exert power over others.”  “But!” he says, “It shall not be so among you!”  I love that!  “It shall not be so among you!”  And then he lays down his vision, his requirements for leadership in his kingdom.  “Whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all.”

We can’t hear this enough.  Jesus’ vision for leadership in his kingdom is not the same as the world.  And I think it’s good to revisit this each year when we install our own leaders.  Jesus calls people as leaders, but they’re not like the leaders of the world.  He calls people to “servant leadership.”  That’s the title of this message.  That’s what people have been seeing this week as they’ve been driving by our sign.  “Wanted:  Servant Leaders.”

Jesus made that comparison, that contrast, between leadership in his kingdom and that of the worldly kingdoms.  And we’re well aware of the “worldly kingdoms” part of that, aren’t we?  We’re in a time now when we think of our national leaders – people with “earthly power.”  We will soon elect the next “Leader of the free world.”  That’s a description we’ve used for years!  And it speaks of that earthly power!

I remember a time when my kids were young, and we took a trip to New York City.  It was a great trip!  We did all the “New York things.”  We even took a 2 hour boat tour around the harbor.  (I saw Gilligan’s Island too many times to want to take the 3 hour tour!)  But coincidentally, while we were there, one of the other people who was staying in our same hotel, was the President of the United States!  And you have never seen so many police officers, in cars, on motorcycles and bicycles, and on foot!  There were miles of barricades and motorcades, and there were a whole lot of people with little curly wires behind their ears, trying not to look like Secret Service agents!  And the whole time I remember saying to myself, “I thought we didn’t have royalty in this country?”

It was quite the lesson for us about those who wield worldly power!  And I think about that when I hear this statement from Jesus.  “It shall not be so among you.  Whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all.”

Jesus reminds us again and again, that the great ones in his kingdom are to be servants.  And not only that, but he was to be their greatest example!  And he reminds them of that – and us – in his last statement.  He said, “Even as the Son of Man (he himself) came, not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life for many.”

That is the Jesus we follow.  That is the example of his “servant leadership” thqt he gives us.  So, anybody want to reconsider?

Prayer

Eternal God, we thank you that you have called us to be your people.  Guide us, we ask, as we seek to follow the example of Jesus.  Teach us what it means to be part of your kingdom, and show us how we can best promote your kingdom in the world.  For we pray in Jesus’ name, Amen