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“Whoever wants to be
first must be the very last and the servant of all.”
Summary : Paradigm shift is a term first used by Thomas Kuhn in his book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (1962) to describe a change in basic assumptions within the ruling theory of science. In common language it means a complete change in thinking or belief systems that allows for the creation of a new condition previously thought impossible or unacceptable possibility. Sometimes it seems to me that the main challenge of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is that it requires us to make a paradigm shift. Very often it seems that the values that Jesus teaches run against the grain of what I like to call humanity’s default way of operating. They stretch our thinking and cause us to change the basic assumptions on which we make our judgement calls and choices in life. Take for example the text for today: Whoever wants to be first must be the very last and the servant of all.”
First be last, how paradoxical!
I suppose this is what makes being a Christian so challenging and at the end of the day explains why many people walk away from the life it calls one to, not because they think that Christianity and Christian values are a bad idea, but because it feels too hard to put the teaching of Jesus into practice. Coming to faith in Jesus requires a paradigm shift, a radical change within our hearts that profoundly impacts the way we act, speak and relate. Let us take ambition for an example. It is human nature to want to get ahead in life, to be first, to be acclaimed, to be successful and to have status. This desire is illustrated in the scene from this morning's gospel, Jesus is on a teaching mission around his home territory of Galilee and Capernaum. We find the disciples indulging in a very human activity. They are arguing about which of them is the greatest. Jesus overhears them and reflects back to them, “If anyone wants to be first, he must make himself last of all and servant of all.” (Mark 9:35). In this one scene, in this one moment, we join the disciples in learning a great deal about the values and the principles of this man, Jesus. He is counter cultural, he is working within a different paradigm. You see when it comes to ambition there is a difference between success and significance. In worldly terms ambition translates into being successful, it is often about having a big income, being beautiful, achieving great things in sport, acquiring status. I am not saying that these things don’t carry some weight and importance, nor that they do not have the power to make our lives easier if handled wisely nor am I saying that any one of them per se is a bad thing. I am simply saying that these things never seem to carry much weight with Jesus. He was marching to a different drum beat so to speak. He was focused not so much on success as on being significant. Jesus’ values, his perspective, his context requires higher order thinking and one which has an eye on eternity and so he encourages his disciples to be ambitious but not for success , rather for significance. “If you want to be first you must make yourself last of all and servant of all “.(Mark 9:35). In other words you must strive not to be successful over people’s lives, but rather significant in their lives. In Jesus’ thinking it is humility that exalts us and enables us to live the kind of significant life that
Jesus teaches his disciples that if we seek true greatness in His kingdom, then we must find that greatness not by being first, but by being last, not by trying to be successful but rather by being significant, not by seeking to be masters but by being servants of all. Think about it the men and women we remember and admire down the generations. Florence Nightingale, Albert Schweitzer, Mother Theresa, Francis of Assisi etc They are those who have made a real serving contribution to society.’ Jesus encourages us to be ambitions but for opportunities that will enable us to serve others and this make good common sense. Ponder this:
The passage then goes on to refer to a little child being welcomed. Through using the example of the child Jesus is in effect saying “If anyone welcomes the poor, ordinary people, the people who have no influence and no wealth and no power, the people who need things done for them, he is welcoming me. He is welcoming God. “ How might this challenge of Jesus, to live lives that are not so much successful as significant, impact your and my life if we were to take it seriously? The answer to this question may involve a radical change in what you do or it may simply involve a change of perception about how you do what you are already doing. How you read to your children, how you answer your teenagers questions, how you spend your time with your aged aunt. The challenge to be significant begs the question: Who would we need to serve at this time?
Who might we need to put ourselves out for, inconvenience ourselves for,
perhaps even make big sacrifices for, that we might in so doing welcome
Jesus, welcome God into our lives, into our community, into our midst?
Right now we are needing tutors for students who have been excluded from school The chaplaincy service needs money and volunteer chaplains in our hospitals To name only two practical ways service is needed in our own community. To be significant requires serving others with our time, our talents and our money.
Many of us are to some extent time poor but perhaps we might ask ourselves:
We all have talents. What are we doing to discover or rediscover those talents that they may be used for the benefit of others. We all have some money and while it is imperative that we are careful and wise in the use of our money and that it is used to provide for our families we surely have from time to time something to share with others. Christ has gifted us with another perspective, another way of looking at life and people. Every person is valuable to God and we his followers are to understand that other people are always worth serving, whether we like them or not, whether they are important or not, whether we like it or not. |
