The Worthy Heart IV - Longs to Serve

St. Matthew 20:17-28 (8/14) Gospel for Thursday of the Ninth Week after Pentecost The Worthy Heart IV ~ Longs to Serve: St. Matthew 20:17-28, especially vss. 27, 28: "...whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave - just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many." In this passage from St. Matthew, the Lord Jesus draws our attention to the desire to serve - a quality of heart required for His Kingdom. He whom Isaiah called, "The just One Who serves many well" (Is. 53:11), reveals, through His Life and teaching, the high calling of "servanthood." He illumines service. He transforms serving. He raises service from an activity and establishes it as a blessed, divine attitude of heart! A heart worthy of the Kingdom of God longs to serve in the manner and by the grace of God Incarnate. Thus, our Lord Jesus discloses "service" to His Faithful ones (vs. 17) - in the context of His Passion (vss. 18-19). Hence, to receive Baptism in Christ and partake of His Cup (vss. 20-23) is to join Him in giving one's life "a ransom for many" (vss. 24-28). When the critical time came for the Lord Jesus to go up to Jerusalem, He took His disciples aside from the multitudes, and shared with them the solemn events that lay ahead: His betrayal, condemnation, death, and Resurrection. The largest portion in all four Gospels and the preponderance of what is taught in the Holy Icons, concern the Passion and the Resurrection. For the faithful, the Lord's "servanthood" dominates even our approach to the passage of time. We mark the weeks by fasts on Wednesday and Friday and by the celebration of the Resurrection by calling the first of the Week "the Lord's Day." Similarly, the years are marked by Great Lent, Holy Week, and Pascha, so that the Mystery of service is held in the hearts of the faithful. By His own actions as "The Suffering Servant" (Is. 52:13-53:12), Christ our God reveals the profound depth of blessing in service even when done menially. Notice this: Christ our Lord is inviting us to see His teaching and actions in the context of His Passion (Mt. 20:18-19), as "service" rendered for us. In the Passion, He exposes the illusions of the grandeur, majesty, position, and prestige that men seek. True status and honor are given eternally by God our Father to "those for whom it is prepared" (vs. 20:23), servants of the Lord. The incident involving James and John (vss. 20-24) follows the Lord Jesus' disclosure of the necessity of death to self (vss. 18-19) for any who would embrace service. James and John were captivated by Jesus' power over sickness, disease, nature, and death. In turn they were impressed with their own "status" as disciples. They spun images of themselves in the trappings of prestige and power; yet, as we know that "...in the grave...kings and beggars are the same." Like them, we also may easily forget how death levels us all. See, when our Lord spoke of mocking, scourging, and crucifixion (Mt. 20:19), the brothers, remained charmed by what St. Macarios the Great calls "the inconstant dreams of this world." Let us not, like them, fail to grasp that Baptism into Christ is to share His Cup (vss. 22-23). Rather, let us hear our Savior as He exalts the high truth of service and brushes away our fantasies. In the solemn Mysteries of Holy Baptism and the Divine Liturgy, the Lord Jesus illumines the blessings to be found in service. He sobers the heart and shows the mind the import of being the first who quietly serves and slaves for others (vss. 25-27). When one ransoms a slave or captive by paying the price of his release, he knows true joy in seeing one like himself released from bondage. Thus, St. Paul reminds us that Christ our God knew joy "as He endured the cross, despising the shame" (Heb. 12:2). Surely our Lord is also calling us to share His joy by serving with Him in freeing others (Mt. 20:27, 28).