What is the name of the waiter or waitress who served you the last time you ate in a restaurant? What are the names of the plumber or air-conditioning man who last came to service your house? Do you find them hard to remember? Most people do. In fact, most people never learn the names of those who serve them, at table, at the gas station or at the supermarket. They are just there, people to serve and rarely to be noticed. Strange as it seems, the ideal to which Jesus calls us is one of service. That is why He says, “Whoever wishes to be the first among you will be the servant of all” ( Gospel of Mark, 10 : 43 ).

Servers often work in great pain because they have no choice and cannot afford to do otherwise. Yet, they are seldom noticed and rarely appreciated. Without the servers and the dishwashers and the busboys and the cooks, the restaurant would be nothing. Those who serve are very important people, and should not be taken lightly.

We almost never think of the men and women who collect our garbage or take care of maintenance. We seldom notice the people who wash the sick in our hospitals or launder the sheets at the motels we use. It is hard for most of us to put a name on the policeman who directs traffic at the center of town or the clerk in the supermarket. But, we know the names of important people such as athletes, movie stars, politicians, even those in positions of leadership in Churches. The little people, however, escape our notice.

Jesus is telling us that we have put the cart before the horse. It is the janitor who is just as favored as the Bishop, the orderly as the doctor, the teacher as the principal, and the student as the master. Jesus turns everything upside down. True greatness, according to Jesus, is to be achieved by serving others, whatever your state in life.

“Name dropping” is an all-American sport. People like to tell others what important people said or did. They love to be able to say they read their books, visited their birthplace, slept in a bed they once used or, wonder of wonders, met them in the flesh. If we followed Jesus’ teaching we might start another kind of name-dropping: mentioning what the cook said, or the nurse’s assistant, or the waitress, or the child.

How revolutionary is the teaching of Jesus about service! Have you ever noticed how politicians love to drop the names of ordinary people, like Joe the plumber ( even if Joe is not actually a plumber ), when seeking re-election? They do this to show that they connect with ordinary people because they need their votes. The gospel is not about vote-getting. It is about serving the way JESUS served, even to laying down His life for us.

On the way to Jerusalem, two of Jesus’ disciples, James and John, asked if they could be His top men when He would “come into glory.” They were in for a big surprise. He corrected their misconceptions and distortions of His kingdom which have nothing to do with careerism and self-aggrandizement. It has to do with service, not “lording it over” others (Matthew 20:25).

The true meaning of authority in Jesus’ kingdom is service.

There should be no conflict between leaders and servants in the Lord’s kingdom because all are engaged in the service of the Lord.

—Fr. Hugh Duffy