Festival of St. Bartholomew, Martyr

Text: Luke 22:24-30

24 A dispute also arose among them, as to which of them was to be regarded as the greatest. 25 And he said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those in authority over them are called benefactors. 26 But not so with you. Rather, let the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the leader as one who serves. 27 For who is the greater, one who reclines at table or one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines at table? But I am among you as the one who serves.
28 “You are those who have stayed with me in my trials, 29 and I assign to you, as my Father assigned to me, a kingdom, 30 that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

           Grace, mercy and peace be to you, from God our Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  When I read the conversation in our Gospel text I can't help but have one of those jaw dropping moments. Why would they ever engage in such a discussion.  Here they have Jesus with them and they are arguing as Luke says, "as to which of them was to be regarded as the greatest."  It's  like that school yard discussion, "I'm better than you are."  You'd think it's fairly obvious that Jesus is the greatest.  What a disappointment it must have been to Jesus to watch his disciples behave so poorly. 

            And yet he must continue to be sad as members of churches continue to do what happened in our Gospel text, except it's with a slightly different twist: It's simply a fight to be the greatest in the church.  Whether it be a member trying to control the congregation, a board or council dictating with power, or a pastor who will take on more than he has been called to do.  What the Apostles were doing still happens today.  It's a power struggle in our churches as we're influenced by business models and customer service scores. 

            The reality is Jesus teaches us today that we should flee from the desire to have power, because we're not here to power-monger.  Rather we're here  to hear Christ's clear words, you're not called to be served but to serve.

WHO IS GREATER?

I.

            I'll tell you who's the greatest: the one who has the most power!  Who's the greatest person in a company?  It's the president, CEO, or chairman.  Who's the greatest on the football team?  The one who gets paid the most.   Who's the greatest one here? The world say it's the one who controls the power. 

            And if you think about it, you crave power.  You want to move up in the world, you want to be paid more.  And even if you don't want this we all desire to be recognized for our actions.  We want our family to appreciate us, we want God to value us. 

            Maybe you still argue, "I don't desire to be great."  Well the Jews are a great example of this.  They weren't necessarily concerned with being great either.  The Old Testament even shows that they understood what it meant to serve and that to serve was good for it was rooted in the commandment, "love your neighbor," as the rich man told Jesus in Matthew 19. 

            But this command to love the neighbor for the Jew had become degraded because their desire was to serve a powerful master, an important person, someone they wanted to serve, because in this way you looked good in the eyes of another and it made serving pleasing to the self.  The 9th and 10th commandments get to this point of being great: You shall not covet.  To be told to not covet is to be told to not desire something.  So even in the midst of the Jews desire to serve, it had morphed into a desire to get something, even just being great by serving.

            This idea of service was utterly rejected by the Greeks.  It was the task of only the slave as Jesus says, “The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those in authority over them are called benefactors." What's Jesus saying?  The gentile view is that the one in charge of those who serves, who tells the servants what to do, though not actually doing any work themselves, considers themselves the doers of good.  So they didn't actually have to do any work, they could just tell others what to do and be considered generous!  The gentiles simply don't see any need to get their hands dirty if they get the credit for their servant's work!

            How often we do these and not even realize it.  You see this also comes up in a larger way in society today.  Customer service.  The jobs of service are seen by the public as the least important in society, like working in fast food or retail.  When I worked at Kohl's one of the important things drilled into us was the customer is always right.  We consumers push this by how we treat these workers: as if they are beneath us as if these stores owe us something.  The stores know this is how to win your business, they want to empower you to think you are the most important, as Jesus says, "For who is the greater, one who reclines at table or one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines at table?"

II.

            Jesus though flips this on its head, he says:  "But not so with you. Rather, let the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the leader as one who serves…I am among you as the one who serves."  He said in Matthew 20:28, "the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."

            Who's the most important?  According to Christ: the one who serves.  This service has a special word in Greek called διακονία.  This διακονία is the willing service of a person.  It was one the disciples finally grasped after the death of Jesus.  As Jesus served them and you by his death on the cross. In fact, in Acts 7, the realization of this task to serve was so great that the disciples created a position in the churchso that the service of the poor and widows could continue while they continued the service of preaching and teaching the good news.  These first seven workers were called Deacons!  Also, this word for deacon is sometimes translated as minister.  And so one of the first realized tasks of the pastor is a server, one who serves the gifts of Christ!  These Deacons in the early church were considered to be like assistant pastors or maybe elders, whose primary focus was to be the church's hands and feet as they provided for the poor and the widows.

            This service is something that you do now. It's important because it reflects the faith that you now have.  It must be clearly understood, διακονία does not save you but the one who has faith created in them desires to serve.  This is why James says, So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.  These works that one does naturally flows out of the faith created in you as you hear the Word of God.  This is διακονία at work.  President Harrison and his staff included διακονία in the synod's three-fold emphasis of witness, mercy, life together.  Which one is διακονία?  If you guessed mercy you are correct!  For our service is rooted in the mercy we show to others. διακονία always flows from the faith worked in you. The mercy first showed to you by Jesus.

            So what does it mean to serve?  It's not just about giving out food or doing some manual task but it's found also in the mercy shown to others as you simply spend time with someone.  You need not seek out tasks, nor do you make sure other see what you do, rather Paul, in the epistle says, "We have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us." You are like an ordinary clay jar.  You're full of good, even when your tasks seem ordinary.  For this treasure of service is always rooted in Jesus Christ.  So what do you do with the contents of a jar?  Do you keep the treasure of Jesus Christ to yourself?  If I have a large pot of soup what good is it if I do not share it when people are hungry? 

            Luther refers to this as the sack.  First your sack is filled with Christ's goodness as faith is created and built up in you, as you are forgiven by Christ alone, for Christ's sake.  For you do not create faith on your own but as Paul says, "(You are) always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.  For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh." The sack is filled as you receive the death benefits of Jesus.

            How do you receive the death of Jesus?  In baptism, in the absolution, as you hear the Word of God preached, and as you eat and drink of his body and blood.  Christ fills your sack till it overflows with his mercy.  But my friends you don't hoard this sack to yourself.  You dole it out as your vocation directs you as father, son, husband, neighbor, employee, etc.  Here, let me do the dishes tonight dear.  Here, let me clean my room willingly mom.  Here, your house burned down let me help you start getting back on your feet.  Here, let me invite you to St. Andrews.  Most importantly, Here, I forgive you.  And guess what happens to the sack?  The sack gets empty. And it needs to be refilled!

            But maybe this sack analogy isn't so helpful because instead of revealing how you empty your pot revealing Jesus Christ at work in your life you instead find a full pot of moldy soup because you don't want to serve.  Or worse yet you find an empty pot because you have refused to be filled by Christ?  Not feeling so great anymore?  You realize you haven't been a servant?  Recall Jesus words again.  Jesus is among you as one who serves.

III.

            Recall again how Paul views you, as a clay pot.  What do you have inside of you now?  Christ comes to you as a hidden treasure, as a lowly servant to fill you up.  If you are looking for greatness in the obvious things like money, power, and belongings you won't find it here.  You won't find greatness in knowing you have many people who serve under you here.  You won't find true greatness in being able to tell others what to do here.  Instead today you've come and your pot is refilled, you have this new treasure as you sit and hear your sins of selfishness are forgiven!  Your pot overflows again as you come and eat of his precious body and blood.

            So greatness is not found in who you are but it's found in the Divine Server.  He comes to you.  Jesus fills you up with seemingly ordinary things, into your very ordinary pot.  These ordinary things: water, bread and wine, words, and all of this is connected not just to some ordinary thing but it is connected to the Divine Word.  God's holy promise of forgiveness.  Jesus Christ serves you through his διακονία, which he distributes through his servers--he serves you through each other and through your pastor. 

            Oh yes, 2000 years ago he served you so that he could continue to serve you today as well.  He was the afflicted, perplexed, persecuted, and struck down One.  You can carry the death of Jesus, because Jesus was crucified for you.  You now serve, yes even be it imperfectly because he first serves you perfectly.

            Jesus is your Savior, the crucified one, he became the lowest of low servers so that you would not descend to the depths of hell but because of his service may be lifted up to heaven.  Christ's mercy is the greatest because by it you are saved.  By his mercy you are saved for apart from it you have nothing. 

            And herein lies the greatest part of serving.  The one who is served, receives and so because Christ is the one who serves you, you are the receiver, you receive every goodness of Christ and what is that goodness?  It is life and salvation found in the forgiveness of sins. 

            This is what's so great about receive the Lord's Supper in just a few moments.  In the catechism, we are asked: What are the benefits of this eating and drinking? And it's spelled out for us clearly: These Words, "Given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins," show us that in the Sacrament forgiveness of sins, life and salvation  are given us through these words.  For where there is forgiveness of sins, there is also life and salvation.

            You are great, not because of who you are, but because you confess your sins and are served forgiveness. You are great because you have receive the faith that it's Jesus who makes you great, who creates in you a drive to serve others and tell others about Christ and what his service has done for you, to serve those around you and to proclaim this forgiveness to others who need to hear it.

            Who's the greatest?  Well the obvious answer is Jesus.  But because Christ suffered and died for you and me and we have this treasure in us, we are made the greatest  before the Heavenly Father.  Because you and I are great, we are now made to do διακονία, to serve. We are ones who serve not to be saved but because we are saved.  Thanks be to God. In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Amen.