Second Sunday in Ordinary Time
Last Sunday we celebrated the feast of the Baptism of Jesus. Central to the story was the testimony of a voice from heaven that said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased!” (Mt 3:16-17). In my homily last week, I had said, that because our baptism is a participation in the baptism of Jesus, our baptism becomes a spiritual adoption as son and daughters of God. I also remember saying that just as Jesus was good at being a Son, we must be good at being sons and daughters; that since it is baptism that makes us Christian, we must good at being Christians.
Today, I would like to continue where I left off. Only, there is a radical shift from “Son” to “servant.” In today’s first reading Isaiah says, “The LORD said to me: You are my servant, Israel, through whom I show my glory” (Is 49:3). Here Israel is called, “servant.” In the very next verse, the servant is distinguished from Israel and is a person: “Now the LORD has spoken who formed me as his servant from the womb…” (Is 49:5). Then the role of the “servant” is prophesied. “It is too little, he says, for you to be my servant, to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and restore the survivors of Israel; I will make you a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth. This “servant” has a mission – he will bring God’s salvation not just to Israel to the ends of the earth.
Son yet Servant
In today’s gospel reading, John introduced Jesus saying, “Now, I have seen and have testified, that he is the Son of God” (Jn 1:34). This testimony is important. Israel needs to know that the Son of God was in its midst.
But the connection of this passage to the first reading is that even though Jesus was the Son, he lived as a servant. As Isaiah prophesied, Jesus became a servant of God in order to bring God’s salvation to the ends of the earth. He said of himself, “The Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mk 10:45). During the Last Supper he told his disciples, “I am among you as the one who serves” (Lk 22:27). It was his self-understanding as a servant that led him to wash his disciples’ feet at meal (Jn 13:12). A life of servanthood was central to his mission.
Servant-Discipleship
Servanthood was also central to Jesus’ teaching. After he had washed his disciples’ feet he said to them, “Do you realize what I have done for you? You call me ‘teacher’ and ‘master,’ and rightly so, for indeed I am. If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another’s feet. I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do” (Jn 13:13-15). When his disciples were vying about who is the greatest, he said, “Whoever wishes to be great among you will be your servant; whoever wishes to be first among you will be the slave of all” (Mk 10:43-44).
The English translation uses two words – servant and slave. In the Greek text, the word for both servant and slave is doulos and means a bond servant or a slave. It means total ownership and devotion. The English sense of the word “servant’ or a waiter at a table is denoted by the word diakonos. There is huge difference between the English “servant” and “slave.” A servant is free; a slave is not. A servant has rights; a slave does not.
Jesus did not use the English diakonos in relation to himself. He was Son but he referred to him as doulos. He did not use doulos in regard to God and diakonos in regard to others. The only word he used was doulos. Doulos is used in Philippians when Paul says, “Son though he was…, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave…” (Phil 2:7). Understood this way, Jesus’ teaching, “Whoever wishes to be great among you will be your servant; whoever wishes to be first among you will be the slave of all” (Mk 10:43-44) has a whole new meaning.
Implications for Life, Worship, and Family
In the II Eucharistic prayer we pray, “…giving thanks that you have held us worthy
to be in your presence and minister to you.” In the III Eucharistic prayer, the Pope and the bishops are referred to as servants. What are we to mean when we pray this – diakonos or doulos?
At a funeral Mass, the prayer for the deceased says “Remember your servant (Name), whom you have called from this world to yourself. Grant that he (she) who was united with your Son in a death like his, may also be one withhim in his Resurrection.” At our funeral, do we want it to mean - diakonos or doulos?” What did Jesus teach us?
In marriage preparation, one of the questions asked of couples preparing for marriage is, “Do you understand that you and your future spouse will be the ministers of the matrimony to each other? What implications and consequences do you see for yourself and for your marriage? How must these questions be understood – diakonos or doulos?
Perhaps the answer to both these questions is, “both.” There are times the need is to be diakonos and at other times the call is to be doulos. The point I am trying to make is that since our baptism is a participation in the Baptism of Jesus, we are sons and daughters of God. But, like Jesus, even though we are sons and daughters, the call is to live like servants.
If we defined our life in the church, in our families, and indeed wherever we find ourselves as a life of doulos, the implications are huge. For example, if each family member thinks of themselves as doulos, can you imagine? If in the church from the Pope to you and I lived as doulos, can you imagine? If our national leaders and politicians thought themselves as doulos, can you imagine?
Jesus, the Son of God, came to redeem the world. His way was doulos. In the Eucharist, Jesus continues to be doulos. We receive Him in bread and as sons and daughters. But our call is to life a life of servanthood.
- Fr. Satish Joseph