Many Servants

Genesis 18:1-10a

Psalm 15

Colossians 1:15-28

Luke 10:38-42

Today's lesson from the Gospel of St. Luke is the story of Mary and Martha.  It's a well-known story, with a well-known moral.  Martha received a rebuke from Jesus when she complained about her sister sitting listening to the rabbi and not helping with all the things that needed to be done around the house.  It doesn't say this in the gospel, but I get the feeling that this was not the first time Mary had left Martha holding the broom.

What is not often pointed out is that both Mary and Martha were doing important things. Mary was sitting at the feet of Jesus, listening to his teaching.  It is obvious that this is what we as Christians should be doing as well; seeking the presence of Christ in our lives, and learning from him.  Hopefully, that's one of the reasons we are here this morning.

 

But Martha was the one who had invited Jesus into their home.  Hospitality was even more important in that time and place than it is now.  Our Hebrew Testament lesson showed how Abraham greeted the three strangers who suddenly appear before his tent.  He begged them to stay and refresh themselves; then prepared a calf and cakes and curds and milk, and sat them all before the visitors.  In fact, some maintain that the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah, which resulted in their destruction, was inhospitality.

Assuming the responsibility of hostess, Martha was making sure that her numerous guests were comfortable, a ministry of service to those guests. She was seeing to their physical needs, while Jesus was seeing to their spiritual needs.  Where Martha went wrong was assuming that her ministry was more important than what Mary was doing.  It was not more important, it was just different.

The bishop who ordained me once said that the more we study the Bible, the more we seem to study smaller and smaller passages of scripture.  This morning I want to talk to you about one word that appears twice in the original Greek of our gospel passage, although our translation obscures word.  The New Revised Standard Version translation says " . . . Martha was distracted by her many tasks; so she came to him and asked, 'Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself?”  Previous translations have Martha distracted by all her serving, and she complained to Jesus that Mary had left her to serve alone.  The word appears directly in Paul's letter to the Colossians, when the apostle says, "I, Paul became a servant of this gospel."

The word I want to talk to you about this morning is the Greek word diakonos, which is usually translated as "servant," but it can also be translated as "minister" or even "messenger."  In the context of messenger, it can also be translated as “a runner,” and the part of me that still considers myself a runner delights in that image.

While diakonia means ministry or service of several kinds, the immediate context of the word is table service.  At the Last Supper, Jesus asked his disciples "For who is greater, the one who is at table or the one who serves?  Is it not the one at the table?  But I am among you as one who serves."  A servant, a "diakonos."  From this Greek root we get the word deacon.  And I hope you'll forgive me if I use this fortuitous coincidence of a deacon preaching on these lections to do a little lecturing on what that word means.

According to the Catechism in our prayer book, deacons are one of the orders of ministers in the Christian church - the others being lay persons, bishops, and priests.  Deacons have the ministry "to represent Christ and his Church, particularly as a servant of those in need; and to assist bishops and priests in the proclamation of the Gospel and the administration of the sacraments."  (BCP, p. 856)

The ordination rite makes it clearer when it describes the permanent diaconate as a special ministry of servanthood directly under the bishop.  The bishop charges the ordinand - "In the name of Jesus Christ, you are to serve all people, particularly the poor, the weak, the sick, and the lonely."  "At all times, your life and teaching are to show Christ's people that in serving the helpless they are serving Christ himself."  And the Bishop also directs the ordinand to "interpret to the Church the needs, concerns, and hopes of the world." (BCP, p. 543) 

In that last context, Katherine Jefferts Schori, our Presiding Bishop, talking before a recent conference of the North American Association for the Diaconate called deacons to be the “nags of the church.”  I seem to excel at this.  At a staff meeting last month, I talked about writing an Angelus article about our local chapter of the Episcopal Peace Fellowship by observing that I hadn’t irritated anyone lately.  And Dean White is fond of shaking his head in mock exasperation and saying, “Deacons!”

Early on in the history of the Church, the diaconate evolved as an order of servants directly associated with the bishops.  Indeed, Paul addressed his letter to the Phillipians, "To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons." And today, deacons work directly for their bishop, although they usually work under the supervision of a parish priest, or a cathedral dean.

Deacon's have a role in the celebration of the Eucharist, which is almost as old as the Eucharist itself.  In the First Apology of Justin Martyr, written about 140 AD, Bishop Justin tried to allay the Roman Emperor's fears about Christianity by telling him what happened during the early Church's services.  After describing the prayers said during the Eucharist, Justin wrote, "And when the president has given thanks, and all the people have expressed their assent, those who are called by us deacons give to each of those present to partake of the bread and wine mixed with water over which the thanksgiving was pronounced, and to those who are absent they carry away a portion."  This ancient role of deacons is alluded to in the canons of the Episcopal Church, which specify that in parishes where Eucharistic Visitors take communion to the homebound, they are to work under the supervision of a deacon.

The liturgical role of deacons is little changed today.  We read the Gospel lesson, as a sign of our ministry to assist bishops and priests in the proclamation of the word of God.  In the same way, bid the prayers of the people, and we call the people of God to confession. But we are primarily waiters, and as such we prepare the altar for the Eucharist, and we clean it up afterwards.  Finally, at the end of the service, we give the dismissal. 

But our ministry inside the church building is only a reflection of the more important ministry we do outside of these walls.  While the ministries of service for which deacons are known vary widely, they usually fall under those broad categories that Christ set down when he said, "for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me."

The director of the Episcopal Anti-Hunger Network and the Kansas City Community Kitchen, is Allen Ohlstein, a deacon.  Bruce Hall works with at-risk youth and reconciling offenders and their victims.  I work with people suffering from traumatic loss, with emergency services personnel, and with those they serve.  Other deacons serve as drug abuse counselors, parish nurses, hospital and hospice chaplains.

What does all this mean to Grace and Holy Trinity, though?  Or more precisely, what does this mean to you?  The bad news this morning is that I am not the only person in this room who is being called to the diaconate.  One of our jobs is to watch you; to identify persons in the congregation who have a zeal for the integrity of creation, who respond to human need by loving service, who seek to transform the unjust structures of our society, to identify the future deacons among us.  Hopefully before their hair gets as gray and sparse as mine.

But over and above identifying persons for holy orders, deacons are to call all persons to ministries of service.  Just as there is a priesthood of all believers, there is a diakonia of all believers.  Whether lay person, priest, or deacon, we collectively share a ministry of service to the world around us.  By our baptismal covenants, we are called to be Christ to a broken world -- to be Christ's hands and heal those things around us that need his compassion -- to be the body of Christ on Earth, the body of Christ in Kansas City, the cathedral at the heart of the city. 

The most important job in the liturgy of the Church is the job a deacon does last of all in the service, and it's one that should be done at the back door instead of at the altar.  The deacon pronounces the dismissal.  But deacons don't dismiss us to go home, have fried chicken for lunch, and then plop down in front of our televisions to watch whatever sporting event is currently in season.  Deacons dismiss us to "Go forth in the name of Christ,” to “Go in peace to love and serve the Lord," and to "Go forth into the world, rejoicing in the power of the Spirit."  Deacons dismiss the Church to go out and be the Christ that Christ wants the Church to be.