"Joyfully Follow the Suffering Servant"

Sermon for 29th Sunday, cycle B

by Most Rev. Dr. Robert M. Bowman, Presiding Bishop, United Catholic Church

Think of someone, living or dead, who lived in the last 1800 years and who is the most saintly person you know of — someone very close to God, a model Christian. Who did you come up with? Mother Teresa? Francis of Assisi? Father Damien of the lepers?

Whoever it is, I’ll bet they joyfully followed the Suffering Servant. For that’s what it means to be Christian. Any time you come across a real saint, you will find that they possess these same qualities: servanthood, suffering, and joy.

We talked about being a servant four weeks ago. "He who would be first must be servant of all." Remember? If you don’t, I’ll give you a copy of that sermon after Mass, and refresh your memory.

Today’s readings talk about that too, but add the extra dimensions of suffering and joy. (And if you don’t think suffering and joy are compatible, you haven’t thought very hard about the lives of Mother Teresa, Francis of Assisi, or Jesus of Nazareth.)

All today’s readings identify Jesus as the Suffering Servant predicted by Isaiah. Paul, in his letter to the Hebrews, says that Jesus identifies with our weakness. He was tempted in every way that we are. What do you think was the greatest temptation faced by Jesus. I think it was probably the temptation to use his power to avoid the horrible suffering, agony, assumption of guilt, and separation from the Father he went through on Good Friday. It wasn’t easy for Jesus to complete his task as the Suffering Servant. He carried the Holocaust on his shoulders. He bore the guilt of all the sins ever committed — the horrible murders, the unfaithfulness, child abuse, brutal rapes, ... all of it, and the excruciating physical pain of the crucifixion besides.

Having to undergo all that, how do you suppose Jesus felt toward us sinners who put him through that? Did he feel anger, loathing, pity, disgust, hatred? No. He felt love and joy!

With all our faults, Jesus loved us, and still does. Those of you who are parents know a little about love. You know the love you feel for the helpless child you helped create. This is but a pale shadow of the enormous love God has for you, and you, and me — every single one of us, warts and all, just as we are, right where we are. Jesus went to the cross feeling love for us — those of us who made his crucifixion necessary, and even those who carried it out. (Remember? "Father, forgive them. They know not what they do.") Yes, Jesus loved us all the way to the cross ... and beyond.

But what about "joy"? How could Jesus have felt joy at that awful time? But remember, "There is more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents ..." Jesus shared in that joy. Yes, he experienced great agony, both mental and physical. But he also went to the cross knowing that because of his sacrifice, millions of sinners would repent and be saved.

Mothers, you have an idea what I’m talking about here. If you are able to do something for your child, something that will make him or her happy, something of enormous benefit to your child, doesn’t that give you a feeling of joy? Even if it hurts, even if it’s a painful sacrifice, you are glad to do it. Oh, because we are very imperfect humans, sometimes that joy is mixed with resentment. We tend to keep score. And it comes out when we don’t think we’re getting the appreciation we deserve.

Remember the incident when Jesus was teaching and someone told him his mother and brothers were waiting to see him. Jesus said, "Who is my mother?" and he let Mary cool her heels outside. Now some of us believe Mary was just as human as the rest of us, and she was a Jewish mother. I can just hear her later that night, when she finally got Jesus alone: "So, miracle worker, this is the way you treat your own mother? After all I’ve done for you??"

But, of course, we’ll never know. The scriptures don’t say much about Mary after that until she shows up at the foot of the cross.

One thing we do know is that Jesus wasn’t that way. Yes, he was human, and he suffered, just as we do. But he doesn’t harbor resentments. He doesn’t keep score. When God forgives, God forgets. That’s what’s so terribly wrong with the whole concept of indulgences, earning release from the wages of sin, one year at a time. It turns God into a scorekeeper. He’s not! Jesus, the Suffering Servant paid the price, all of it. The righteousness he earned, the mercy he procured, the grace he merited ... he offers to us freely, with love and joy.

That’s the good news. That’s the gospel. The question is, "How do we respond to it?" We are all called to respond in faith, to put our trust in Jesus and to walk in his footsteps.

Some of us won’t do too good a job of that. We’ll take the salvation he’s given us and say, "That’s nice." Then we’ll stick it in our pocket, or sit it on a shelf, or stuff it in the top drawer of our dresser, behind some never-used handkerchiefs. We know it’s there when we need it, and meanwhile we go on with our lives, never giving it much thought.

Others of us will take more seriously the call to emulate the master, to take up our cross and follow him, to joyfully follow the Suffering Servant.

In college, my best friend was Tom Moorehead. He used to say that he didn’t want to be heroic. He was determined to go to heaven, but he didn’t want to do more than necessary to get there. He said he’d be perfectly satisfied to sit in the back row behind a post at the Beatific Vision. He passed away a few years ago, and I imagine he made it. When I get there, if there are any posts, I’ll peek behind them looking for Tom.

But James and John, the sons of Zebedee, took the opposite approach. Not satisfied with a front row seat, they wanted to be up on the speaker’s platform, seated on either side of the Son of God! Needless to say, Jesus was not amused. (Neither were the other apostles.) But Jesus loved them very much, and was gentle in his response. "You don’t know what you’re asking. You have no idea what I’m going to have to go through." "Oh, we’re with right with you. We can take it," they protested. Then Jesus predicted their martyrdom, "From the cup I drink of, you shall drink; the bath I am immersed in, you shall share. But sitting at my right or at my left is not mine to give. My Mother is taking reservations for the head table." (No, that’s not exactly what it says. Never mind.)

Jesus told them that he had not come to be served, but to serve. And he repeated what he had told them earlier, as recorded in the previous chapter of the same gospel of Mark, "Anyone among you who aspires to greatness must serve the rest; whoever wants to rank first among you must serve the needs of all."

Now this must be a pretty important message for him to emphasize it so much that it got in Mark’s gospel twice. If you want to be number one, you must be servant of all.

But what if you don’t care about being number one? Maybe, like my friend Tom, you just want to sneak in and take a seat behind a post. Then what?

It doesn’t really matter. You are still called to be a servant. Tom was. I am. You are. All of us are called to joyfully follow the Suffering Servant. Some of us will follow more closely than others. Mother Teresa and Francis of Assisi were close enough to touch him. Francis even had the marks of the nails in his hands and feet when he died. He followed in the suffering as well as in the serving. And he did it joyfully.

Most of us follow at a distance, and sometimes we meander off the path. But we must never, ever lose sight of the one we are following. And we must never ever lose the joy that being a follower brings. Follow him, serve him, and serve each other in love and joy. That’s the Christian life. It’s what Christians do. And it is the most rewarding, exciting, exhilirating, joyful life you can imagine. And it’s yours. Free. Not for the asking; for the doing.

Joyfully follow the Suffering Servant. You will never, ever regret it. As Nike says, "Just do it." Let us pray.

Lord, we thank you for being our Suffering Servant. We accept with humility and thanks and joy the mercy, the forgiveness, and the grace that you have earned for us. We thank you for your example, and we commit to serving each other in your name. Lead on, Lord, and we will joyfully follow. Amen.

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