All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others. Most of us probably know that famous phrase of George Orwell, describing the animal farm where after the revolution led by the pigs that ousts their exploiting farmer, very quickly the pigs become as exploitative as the old farmers, and even a bit worse.

And whenever societies have attempted to set up new social orders in which everyone was truly equal, it has never taken long before some of them became more equal than others, often at great human cost. Think of the French Revolution or communism in the last century.

And the same seems to be happening with Jesus’ disciples. All are equally called by Jesus, to follow Him, to become a new community of people whose only new identity becomes that they are followers of Jesus Christ.

And yet.

James and John come to Jesus and ask to sit at his right and left when he comes in his kingdom. In other words, they would like to become the prime minister and the chancellor.

James and John are trying to make themselves more equal than the others. And perhaps they show that there is still a bit of class-thinking among the disciples. While Jesus’ disciples are mainly fishermen, there is also a tax collector and a former revolutionary among them. And of course, not all fishermen are equal. I had never noticed, but one commentator points out that when the disciples are called James and John leave behind not only their boats, but also some hired men (Mark 1:20)! They were fishermen who could afford some other people to work for them, and so probably of a higher class and social status.

And perhaps this explains the ten being so indignant with them. It’s the two posh boys who are trying to arrange the best places for themselves again!

But all the disciples, James, John and the others in all their arguing get it completely wrong.

The disciples get it wrong If you’ve struggled a bit with the Gospel of Mark in the last couple of weeks you are not the only one. The disciples were the first to struggle to understand it! Mark is remarkably honest about their complete inability to understand what Jesus is saying. Three times Jesus predicts that he must go to Jerusalem, that he will be arrested, condemned, mocked, flogged, spat upon, and killed before he will rise again.

And every single time the disciples couldn’t get it more wrong: The first prediction (Mark 8:31) is immediately followed by Peter telling Jesus off for saying such things. The second prediction (Mark 9:30-32) is followed by them arguing among themselves on the road who of them is the greatest. And this is the third and final prediction, and James and John respond by asking Jesus explicitly for the most important places in his Kingdom. And note the crafty way in which they do so, they first ask for a blank cheque, introducing their question with, ‘Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.’

The Kingdom of God vs. the Kingdoms of this world It is as if Mark is emphasising how wide the gap is between our human tendencies and behaviour and the Kingdom of God that Jesus came to bring. And Jesus makes this explicit in comparing the Kingdom of God to the Kingdoms of the Gentiles, where power is the standard of greatness. How many people can I control, how great is the army I can summon?

There is a story about the Roman Emperor Caligula, who reigned in Rome only a few years after Jesus said these things, that he burst into roars of laughter at a dinner party. When the emperor laughs it is good to laugh with him, so everyone politely laughed as well. Then the most important people who were sitting next to him asked him why he was laughing. Caligula responded: Oh, just the thought that with a single nod of my head I could have you all killed on the spot.

Admittedly, Caligula is an extreme example – he did some other pretty mad things – but he was also simply one of many emperors who lived by the rule that he could do whatever he liked to anyone, because he was in charge.

What a contrast with King Jesus!

If we compare the dinner party of the emperor Caligula with the last Supper, when Jesus is the King who bows down at the feet of his followers and washes their feet.

It is the natural follow-up of Jesus Kingdom not being based on raw power, not on how to control as many people as possible, but on service out of love.

It is the Kingdom of the one who has come not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. Jesus is the leader who gives even his own life out of love for his people and as the price of setting them free.

And those who follow him, are to define their lives in the same way. By a desire to serve.

It says a lot about how Christianity has changed our thinking about leadership that not only church, but also all other political and public leadership roles are defined by and referred to as ‘serving’, even when, occasionally, the people who have the role are not always known for being servant-hearted.

To serve… And this means that we have to think a bit more about what it means to serve.

I found two definitions that might be quite helpful. The first is to do work in obedience to a master and for the benefit of others. Our master is Jesus, and his Kingdom, the Church, is not there to benefit us and our friends, but to benefit those outside the church. As archbishop William Temple once famously said, the church is the only organisation that ‘exists primarily for the sake of those who are still outside it.’ We are there for those outside of these church walls.

And the other definition identifies that the basic trouble in our human situation is that we wish to do as little as possible and get out as much as possible. But Jesus’ kingdom of service mean being driven by a desire to put into life more than we take out. To put in more in our family, our work, our church, our community, our village, than we take out. And I know there are many here in this church who do precisely that, and so often anonymously.  

And to be served… So often we think about our Christian lives as our service to God. And we get so busy with trying to live the Christian life, being good disciples, that we forget that Jesus’ Kingdom is the Kingdom of one who came to serve. Finding Jesus, finding the Church is about being served as well as learning to serve ourselves.

We refer to our Sunday meetings in English as services, and in Dutch (as in German) we use a similar word that comes also from serving, called ‘Dienst’. This may come from that we are together to serve and worship God together, but it also is a time that God comes to serve us. That we are fed and equipped for the week ahead by listening to God’s word and receiving the sacrament of Holy Communion, Christ’s Body and Blood, that he offers freely to us. There is no charge. All are welcome, all are invited.

So before we are sent out back in the world, to go and serve the Lord in the world outside these doors, let us allow ourselves to be served by King Jesus today. As we listen and reflect on his word, and as we receive the invitation to join in the meal in which he promises to feed us, let us open ourselves to the King who came to serve and not to be served, and who gave his life for us.

Amen.