Readings: 1
Corinthians 9:16-23 Mark 1:29-39
We pray: May the words of my mouth and the meditations
of our hearts be acceptable in your sight O God, our rock and our
sustainer. Amen
Today I would like
us to think about what it means to serve God.
To explore the ways in which firstly Paul, and then Mark understand
Jesus’ commission to us to proclaim the Gospel, to share the good news.
In the reading
from Corinthians it will be helpful if we first remind ourselves of the words
that precede the ones we heard today. In
the previous chapter Paul refers to the knowledgeable converts who quite
correctly argue their right to eat the meat given to idols because they are
aware that the idols have no power or status. It is just food. But the difficulty comes from those without
that clarity of understanding who see and copy, still thinking that the idols
have some ability to impact their souls.
At this point you are not serving God but leading others astray – best
to give up meat, says Paul. And then, in
today’s reading, Paul tackles the same question of how we best serve God but
from a different perspective. He argues
that to be effective in service to God you actually need to put yourselves into
other people’s shoes; to share in the blessings of the gospel, you must share
in the cost of the vulnerabilities of those you serve. Can I put that a different way? It may well be our natural bent to want to
deliver the message of the Gospel in and through the strength of our conviction
and our blessing. Whether it is
preaching from the pulpit, leading study groups, hanging out with young people
we find it easier to pray that our certainty, standing where we are, inviting
others into our well organised space, will draw people to the church and to
God. That our understanding of truth is sufficient, in itself, for everyone
else. Apart from being somewhat arrogant, Paul is telling us that this is not
being a serving church nor is proclaiming the freedom that Christ brings us
into.
‘Freedom in
Christ’ says Bruce Rigdon, ‘means the radical freedom to identify with others
in their otherness – the way in which Christ did by giving his life for the
poor and the weak on the cross.’[1]
In the story of
the eating of the idols food, Paul expressed the responsibility that the strong
have for the weak – in this passage he insists on the responsibility that the
weak have for the strong and that in serving relationship, transformation is
for server and served. That bears some thinking
about does it not.
Christ came to
serve, his disciples also must serve.
And so we come to
the mother-in law of Simon (another nameless woman) who, in the Mark reading,
illustrates exactly the point Paul makes.
An initial
reaction is to wonder why the men couldn’t feed themselves but I want you put
aside your outrage that she leapt off her sickbed so that the men would be
properly looked after – and think about this.
She is not
commanded to do what she does, she is not doing it from any sense of a woman’s
place but rather she has understood intuitively that the gospel message is one
of service. This is the Sabbath
remember. Jesus has healed in the
synagogue – on the Sabbath. He has
healed in the home – on the Sabbath. And
she – on the Sabbath – overcame all the selfishness and restrictive teaching–
and chose service to the people who had gathered in her house over the
sacredness of the Sabbath – no matter the consequences. She is not a menial – she is Jesus first
deacon and, as Ophelia Ortega suggests, she joins Jesus as his first servant in
the radical announcement of what the kingdom of God will look like. The healed
mother in law and Jesus share the same liturgy!
But the disciples
do not do so well. Nor do the vast
majority of the people. Despite the
desperate need there would have been for healing, they do not turn up until the
sun had gone down and the restrictions are lifted. And then they flood in.
Simon, in his
turn, - well he should have taken notice of his mother in law – then he and the
disciples might have figured out the servant path a great deal earlier. But instead they see responding to the crowd
as Jesus role, not theirs and their astonishment at his leaving while there is
still work to be done is barely held in check.
Can I connect this
idea of servanthood this Waitangi weekend with the fact that it was just over
three years ago when we celebrated the 200th anniversary of the
initial contact of Maori and Missionary on the beach at Hohi (Oihi) in the Bay
of Islands - where Samuel Marsden led worship and preached the Gospel to Maori
and Pakeha alike. And I wondered how the bringers of the good news of Jesus
Christ approached those important first encounters – with servanthood or with
compulsion. Almost certainly much of this
relationship between church, settler and tangata whenua would have been
characterised by not putting self in others shoes and seeking rather to
command.
But rather than
dwell on the mistakes can I share some thoughts that give us hope here in Aotearoa.
For sure, we have
not served God well in much that is associated with bi-cultural relationships
in this country. Even with the best of
intentions all participants in the living document that is the Treaty of
Waitangi can dominate, frighten, incense, and cause seemingly unrecoverable
divisions. And yet there is hope - and
reconciliation – and where do we find it?
In the stories of the people! I
have a longtime friend called Dave who I have known since university days and
Dave’s mother was Helen Jackman – a deaconess in the Presbyterian Church and a
tireless and compassionate leader in education – she was principle of Turakina
Maori Girls school among other things.
She is in the book out in the Morrison Lounge called “A Braided River of
Faith” along with many other woman whose lives of service are a light to us
all.
The story of
Sister Annie Henry and her discerning and compassionate ministry of
reconciliation to the people of Ruatahuna is nothing less than inspiring. With her presence to guide, and in the light
of her unselfish devotion to the welfare of the people, her care of them in
sickness and in need, the most unlikely covenant was reached between the
Presbyterian church and the Ringatu Church under their leader Te Kooti – where
Christian mission schools would be set up for the children of the Tuhoe. The co-existance of two faiths respecting and
caring for each other still today could teach us a great deal about how to live
in a reconciled and loving community. I
think of people like Rod Madill who succeeded Sister Annie in Ruatahuna,
ministering within the tension of a pakeha dominated church in a Maori
community and who, with vision and compassion, built a strong and remembered
relationship with the people. Many, many
people have served God in this place of cultural reconciliation and restorative
justice.
And finally I
would speak of the work of Te Ako Puaho
When, as an intern I and others were invited, with some apprehension I
might say, onto the marae in Ohope it was like no other experience of marae
that I have had. The sense of embrace
and welcome was palatable, the conviction that God calls us all to serve each
other was lived out in the teaching and the sharing of stories of faith and
action, and, you know what, I got really excited about the ways in which we can
grow in faith through the contributing lenses that each of our cultural
journeys brings. It was a moment of
epiphany for many of us.
There is much to
hope for, I believe.
May we always seek
to know how we might too serve God in bringing reconciliation, restoration and
hope to the lives of all people in this wonderful country – working for a world
that lives into the hope of all peoples, in all times. “He iwi tahi tatou” – we are one people . Around this table of welcome as we share in
the bread and wine “He iwi tahi
tatou” – we are one people
And for this we say - thanks be to God.
Margaret Garland
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