Who's the king of the castle?
Who’s the greatest? (Luke 22:24-30)
This homily was preached at the CLTS Eucharist for Wednesday in the Week of Misericordias Domini by Associate Professor the Revd Dr Harold Ristau
“Who’s the king of the castle?” Remember that when you were kids? Climbing the snow hill mound in the middle of the cul-de-sac? And of course, pushing others down. It was all in fun. Yet still we’d get pretty competitive. Trying to be the greatest; the one on top. But then usually somebody started crying, one of the “dirty rascals”. That’s usually how the game ended.
Do we ever really grow up? We have our own adult mantras and games in our pursuit for greatness -- often at the expense of others. There’s a cost to getting to the top.
We want to be great. We want to be important. We want to be known. Its different for each of us. Some idolize trophies or can’t live without their name on a plaque. Others value promotions, aspire for public recognition and popularity, or aim for pay raises. Some dream about a legacy, to memorialize the family name hailing human achievements. Although trophies, plaques and public recognition have their place, the unceasing desire to be great does not discriminate between age or sex or status in life.
And if you think you are exempt because you aren’t a high achiever, ask yourself if you ever get jealous of others, and why; say, when others succeed where you were unable; when others are applauded or advanced, and you feel left out in the cold. We want to be better than others. We want others to serve us with compliments, admiration and even awe. We want those beneath us to look up to us. After all, that’s one of the benefits of being on top!
Even in the kingdom of God, when considering the salaries of synodical officers in, say, the LCMS, its hard to believe that the best rewards aren’t reserved for those at the top, or the most popular pastors. Certainly, those positions are necessary and honourable vocations. But it’s hard not to gaze upon the ladder, believing that there is nothing greater than climbing it.
When I was a parish pastor and had decided to join the army, one hard hit to my heart that I will never forget was when the elderly janitor said something like, “We knew we were small, and that eventually you would outgrow us. The military! Wow! That’s the big leagues. Congratulations!!” Though seeming enthusiastic about my decision, I believe that he secretly assumed nobody would want to stay and serve in his small congregation. Now thankfully I didn’t get the sense that others viewed my decision in that light. But nevertheless, I have never forgotten his tragic perception that greatness was found outside of serving a small and modest congregation. For in fact, there is no higher office.
The best thing is to serve. Jesus says so Himself to His disciples:
24 A dispute also arose among them, as to which of them was to be regarded as the greatest. 25 And he said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those in authority over them are called benefactors. 26 But not so with you. Rather, let the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the leader as one who serves. 27 For who is the greater, one who reclines at table or one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines at table? But I am among you as the one who serves.
And Jesus doesn’t just say it, but He does it:
“Even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
He who is the greatest, becomes the least, was looked down upon, took the lowest seat, washed the dirtiest feet, to offer the world a cup of water and his followers a cup of His blood. He offers his life to us, and thereby raises us -- who are by nature lowly -- up as most important in his sight. There is indeed a cost to our ascent from our pit of sin, filth and death and into God’s holy and wonderful presence. Yet it’s a price He himself paid. Given to us. With His own precious blood, Jesus paid the highest price for the least valuable of items. That was his plan from before the creation of the world. The Son of man came to serve, not be served.
The only one who deserves to be at the top, doesn’t see divinity as something to be grasped. Instead, He deems service as best. The one who ought to recline at table, serves as host. Still today, we are his invited guests divinely served with a feast of his mercy.
From heaven above to earth He came for us. The great distance he travelled reflects the remarkable extent of his grace. From His descent into hell all the way to his ascension into heaven to the right hand of the Father, he raises us up with Him. And still today and now, as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. For nothing can separate us from his love. Baptism is proof of that.
No wonder, that the poor and lowly are named the most blessed, since it offers our most gracious Jesus another chance to demonstrate his mighty love and lift them up out of their pits and resurrect them. When we perceive ourselves likewise, we become those blessed poor. By the forgiveness of our sins, we are stripped of all that hinders our ascent. He raises us to his blessed side.
He does it all by his powerful word. The preaching office then becomes the continuation of that divine service. Disciples are called to serve, and the highest and greatest service they can possibly offer, is preaching Christ’s forgiveness of sins. Like their master, pastors stoop low into the perilous pits of their people to lift them out to celestial ground. The highest honour is always doing the work of Jesus.
New pastors, or candidates, begin their ministries at the bottom of the totem pole, so to speak. And the “greatest” among them, rejoice in that place. For that is where the people are. The people for whom Christ came, died, and rose. And that is one reason why it is the greatest place on earth. As St. Lawrence reminds us, the poor are the greatest treasures in the Kingdom of God meaning, there is nothing better than spending time with them.
Some may consider a seminary professor as a steppingstone towards higher goals. Its certainly an honourable vocation, yet precisely because it exists to form and support pastors, who serve God’s people. The holy Office of the Public Ministry is always about serving God’s people. The fact that pastors get to preach sermons more than faculty, get to counsel and spend time with God’s people, sharing the Gospel, getting more opportunities to serve them the meal of forgiveness, should make the divine call to a congregation the envy of all.
So no wonder that the highest office continues to be the preaching office. And because Predigt and Amt go hand and hand, the pastoral office, the washing of feet through the forgiveness of sins -- expressed to people in all sorts of parish contexts – preaching, teaching, counselling, caregiving, even socializing -- remains the highest and greatest office. That all happens, at the bottom, with people, people who happen to also be “little Christs” as Luther put it.
Fellow servants of Christ: Repent of aspiring high, wanting to be great, secretly desiring personal gain or reward, and wanting to be known. Repent of the jealousy when others seem to surpass you in greatness and when you envy the position of others.
Instead, rejoice that God continues to serve you his servants at his festal table, with a Gospel meal fit only for kings; that Jesus forgives your pride and devilish desires to be free from his service and your obligations towards mankind. Rejoice that Jesus raises you with him, and calls you great, because you are messengers of his great gospel.
For Christ is the King of the castle! Yet you aren’t dirty rascals. You are his dearly beloved servants. For this king who starts at the top of the mountain goes to the bottom of the hill to lift all those he finds there, up, making each one, great. And wherever the master goes, the servants follow. So, If he remains among us as one who serves, we are placed among others to do the same. Amen.
Christ is Risen!
May the risen Christ uplift you from your pits and empower you with an attitude and spirit of service of those entrusted to your care. Amen.
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