On the way to Jerusalem, Jesus prepares his disciples for the third time for the dramatic event of his passion and death, but precisely those who have followed him most closely are unable to understand.
Furthermore, conflict breaks out among the apostles themselves: James and John ask to occupy positions of honor "in his glory" (cf. Mc 10, 37), the others become indignant and complain, and the group is divided.
Then Jesus, patiently, calls them all to himself and reveals to them once again the disturbing novelty of his announcement.
«Whoever wants to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must be slave of all.».
In this phrase from the Gospel of Mark there is a crescendo in the image of the servant-slave. Jesus leads us from an attitude of mere availability in a limited and reassuring group to a total dedication to all without exception.
A completely alternative proposal that goes against the grain of the human conception of authority and government that perhaps attracted the apostles themselves and that also affects us.
Could this be the secret of Christian love?
«There is one word in the Gospel that we Christians do not emphasize enough: to serve. It seems outdated to us and unbecoming of the dignity of man, who gives and receives. However, the Gospel is all there, because it is love. And to love means to serve. Jesus did not come to command but to serve. […] To serve, to serve one another, is Christianity, and whoever does it with simplicity—and everyone can do it—has done everything; and not just a whole that remains there, but, because it is living Christianity, it spreads like wildfire.»[1].
«Whoever wants to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must be slave of all.».
The encounter with Jesus in his Word opens our eyes, as happens to blind Bartimaeus in the following verses (cf. Mc 10, 46-52): frees us from the narrowness of our schemes, makes us contemplate the horizons of God himself, his project of "new heavens and a new earth" (2 P 3, 13).
He, the Lord who washes feet (cf. Jn 13:14) contradicts with his example the rigidity of the tasks of service that our civil communities – and sometimes religious ones – reserve for categories of socially fragile people.
Thus, Christian service is to imitate Jesus' example, to learn from him a new style of "sociality": to be a neighbor to all people, in any human, social, or cultural condition, and to the very core.
As Giovanni Anziani, Methodist pastor of the Waldensian Church, suggests, "[…] by accepting to place our trust and our hope again in the Lord, who is the servant of the multitudes, the Word of God asks us to act, in our world and in the midst of all its contradictions, as agents of peace and justice, as builders of bridges for reconciliation between peoples."[2].
This is how Igino Giordani, writer, journalist, politician, and father of a family, lived during a historical moment marked by dictatorship. To express his experience, he writes: "Politics is—in the most dignified Christian sense—a servant, and must not become a master: it must not become abuse, domination, or dogma. This is its function and its dignity: to be social service, charity in action: the first form of national charity."[3].
Through the testimony of his life, Jesus proposes a conscious and free choice: to no longer live withdrawn into ourselves and our own interests, but to "live the other," with his feelings, bearing his burdens and sharing his joys.
We all have small or large responsibilities and positions of authority: in the political and social spheres, but also in the family, in our studies, and in the faith community. Let us take advantage of our "positions of honor" to serve the common good, building just and supportive human relationships.
Letizia Magri and the Word of Life team
[1] Cf. C. Lubich, «Servir», in Ciudad Nueva n. 4 (1973), p. 17
[2] chiesavaldese.org/marco-1043-44/
[3] P. Mazzola (ed.), Pearls by Igino Giordani, Effatà, Turin 2019, p. 112.
