Gospel of Mark, Chapter 10:43

Servers are seldom noticed and rarely appreciated. We seldom notice the people who wash the dishes and launder the sheets. It is hard for most of us to put a name on the traffic warden who directs the traffic at road crossings or the clerk in the supermarket. We know the names of the important people-athletes, movie stars, politicians, church leaders-but little people escape our notice. In today’s gospel, Jesus is saying that we have put the cart before the horse. It is the painter who is just as favored as the pastor; the orderly as the doctor; the teacher as the principal; the servant as the master. Jesus turns everything upside down. True greatness, according to Jesus, is to be achieved by serving others; not by Lording it over others.

Name dropping is an all-American sport. People like to tell you about important people they know. 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 janitor said, or the nurse’s assistant, or the waitress. How revolutionary is the teaching of Jesus about service!

Authority is sometimes perceived negatively because it is so easily abused. Jesus condemns abuses of authority in today’s Gospel when he talks about those people who love to “Lord it over” others. The true meaning of authority is service, and Jesus brings us back to this original understanding of the term in today’s gospel. He possessed power as the Son of God, to perform miracles; to heal the sick; and to rise from the dead. But he humbled Himself as man to be the servant of all. This is how Jesus exercised His authority. He practiced servant-leadership.

For the true Christian, there should be no conflict between leaders and followers because they are all engaged in the same thing. They are all engaged in service to the same Lord.

Fr. Hugh Duffy