I am among you as the One who serves

 Now there was also a dispute among them, as to which of them should be considered the greatest.  And He said to them, "The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those who exercise authority over them are called 'benefactors.'  But not so among you; on the contrary, he who is greatest among you, let him be as the younger, and he who governs as he who serves.  For who is greater, he who sits at the table, or he who serves?  Is it not he who sits at the table?  Yet I am among you as the One who serves.  But you are those who have continued with Me in My trials.  And I bestow upon you a kingdom, just as My Father bestowed one upon Me, that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel."

- Luke 22:24-30

Yesterday we read that when the hour had come for Christ's final Passover supper, He sat down, and the twelve apostles with Him.  Then He said to them, "With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; for I say to you, I will no longer eat of it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God."  Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, "Take this and divide it among yourselves; for I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes."  And He took the bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me."  Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you.  But behold, the hand of My betrayer is with Me on the table.  And truly the Son of Man goes as it had been determined, but woe to that man by whom He is betrayed!"  Then they began to question among themselves, which of them it was who would do this thing.

Now there was also a dispute among them, as to which of them should be considered the greatest.  And He said to them, "The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those who exercise authority over them are called 'benefactors.'  But not so among you; on the contrary, he who is greatest among you, let him be as the younger, and he who governs as he who serves.  For who is greater, he who sits at the table, or he who serves?  Is it not he who sits at the table?  Yet I am among you as the One who serves."  My study bible comments here that this small-minded dispute is out of place in the context of the mysteries which Christ has just revealed to them (see yesterday's reading, above, in which the first Eucharist has been instituted).  Christ corrects His disciples -- first by comparing them to the power-hungry Gentiles, whom they considered to be an abomination, and then by contrasting them to Himself.  Christ serves us although He is Lord of all.

"But you are those who have continued with Me in My trials.  And I bestow upon you a kingdom, just as My Father bestowed one upon Me, that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel."  My study bible quotes St. Ambrose of Milan commenting on this text:  "Christ judges by discerning the heart, and not by examining deeds.  So also the apostles are being shaped to exercise spiritual judgment concerning faith, and in rebuking error with virtue."   It notes that the apostles will judge not with earthly judgment, but rather by the witness of their own lives.  Since the kingdom of God starts with Christ's Resurrection, the authority of judgment has been given to the apostles and their successors (Matthew 16:19; John 20:23).

Throughout the whole of the Bible, there is repeated reference to God's work which in some sense turns the worldly order upside down.  Isaiah makes a prophesy of the downfall and transformation of the kingdoms who oppose of Israel, and their eventual worship of the Lord.  But even in Zion, there is trouble for those who did not call upon the Lord in the time of trial.  He writes of the proud and mighty, "Indeed the Lord of hosts will cast out and destroy such a man, and take away your robe and glorious crown, and cast you into a large and unmeasured country.  There you shall die, and there your beautiful chariot shall be brought to dishonor and your master's house trampled.  You will be taken from your stewardship and position" (Isaiah 22:17-19).  The Greek Septuagint version of Psalm 34:10 reads, "The rich became poor, and they hunger; but the ones seeking after the Lord shall not lack any good thing."  Hannah's song reflects this influence of the Lord turning the world's order upside down, as when she sings, "The bows of the mighty men are broken, and those who stumbled are girded with strength."  See the whole of her song at 1 Samuel 2:1-10.  Out of all of the examples we can choose, we must pick Mary's song, called the Magnificat (after its first word in Latin), which Luke gives us in the first chapter.  Mary sings, "He has shown strength with His arm; He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.  He has put down the mighty from their thrones, and exalted the lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich He has sent away empty" (see the whole of her song at Luke 1:46-55).  In giving us the Beatitudes (found in both the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5, and the Sermon on the Plain in Luke 6), Jesus invokes a sense of the world turned upside down, in which the poor are blessed, as are they who mourn and are meek.  Here in today's reading, He speaks of the kind of Church He wants, the representation of the kingdom of God, in which He contrasts the worldly power of the Gentiles with the kind of power He wants from His disciples, citing Himself as their example:  "But not so among you; on the contrary, he who is greatest among you, let him be as the younger, and he who governs as he who serves.  For who is greater, he who sits at the table, or he who serves?  Is it not he who sits at the table?  Yet I am among you as the One who serves."  St. Ambrose comments on Christ's pronouncement that they will become judges that they "will rebuke error with virtue."   Christ's way is not meant to be the way of the world.  God's work in us will startle and surprise us.  We, also, may be "turned upside down" and our thinking is changed through the work of prayer.  Things we once thought we had to live by are toppled over, and we come to see a different way.   God's power is not like worldly power.   God's power does not merely manipulate and control, and in participation in His Kingdom, Christ also asks us to share in that power and allow it to work through us.  We may be called upon to bear a cross.  We may respond to unkindness with gentleness and righteous behavior.  And in difficulty, we may find there is a grace for us -- a way to see that has to do with perceiving what God holds for us even in hardship.  But it is this way of life, and these sorts of experiences, that actually give us "good judgment."  Jesus notes that these disciples are the ones who have borne the greatest faith, the ones who have continued with Him in His trials.   This is the key to understanding how we come to know God's power: we stick with our faith through all things, meaning that in humility we endure, and we live to experience and to see the changes God can make in our lives and in our world.  We welcome the insights, contrary to worldly expectations, which our faith has for us.  We can look at the world and all of the images we create for ourselves, but there is one place in which we dwell, where we look for the truth of who we are.  We look to the One who serves to teach us where we need to be and who we need to be.  Let us remain blessed in that place, though it is not necessarily the way of the world.