“The Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve”
Jesus says in the Gospel, “For the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.” [1] Many of us today lack full understanding of what service truly is and how as Christians we are called to serve.
What does service mean? “In general, performing one’s religious duty as a creature toward God, and fulfilling one’s moral responsibility of meeting the needs of others. To serve God is the primary obligation of human beings, personally and socially, to be done in acts of worship and prayer; and in acts of virtue as prescribed by the natural and revealed laws of God….To serve others is the secondary obligation of a person, deriving from the preceding duty and depending on it.” [2]
How does the Church still carry out Christ’s call to service? Many people will claim the Church does not care about the poor and serve her fellow man. This is a lie. In the poorest areas of the world there one will find the Catholic Church. “The Church, right through history, continues Christ’s mission of service to mankind.” [3] “That office[,]…which the Lord committed to the pastors of his people, is in the strict sense of the term a service.” [4] We do this through both spiritual and corporal works of mercy.
VIDEO – We are the Catholic Church
“Experienced in human affairs, the Church, without attempting to interfere in any way in the politics of States, ‘seeks but a solitary goal: to carry forward the work of Christ himself under the lead of the befriending Spirit. And Christ entered this world to give witness to the truth, to rescue and not to sit in judgment, to serve and not be served’. Sharing the noblest aspirations of men and suffering when she sees them not satisfied, she wishes to help them attain their full flowering, and that is why she offers men what she possesses as her characteristic attribute: a global vision of man and of the human race”. [5]
VIDEO – Sisters of Life
This is just one of the many Catholic Religious Orders and organizations that go into the world to serve our fellow man. The Sisters of Life help the most vulnerable, the unborn, pregnant mothers, and children.
How should we serve? “…we should seek to serve God and men with a truly supernatural outlook, not expecting any return; we should serve even those who do not appreciate the service we do them. This undoubtedly does not make sense, judged by human standards…by so doing he shares in Christ’s mission and thereby attains his true dignity.” [6]
“This dignity is expressed in readiness to serve, in keeping with the example of Christ, who ‘came not to be served but to serve.’ If, in the light of this attitude of Christ’s, ‘being a king’ is truly possible only by being a servant’, then ‘being a servant’ also demands so much spiritual maturity that it must really be described as ‘being a king.’ In order to be able to serve others worthily and effectively we must be able to master ourselves, possess the virtues that make this mastery possible.” [7]
Why should we serve? The three theological virtues are faith, hope, and charity. If we live out the first two, charity will be overflowing, pouring out of us. We would not be able to help ourselves in being generous with our service.
“In the Church of Christ there is no place for pottery competitions of pride or the manipulations of aggressiveness, for ambitions of success or glory or preeminence over others. Anyone who lets himself be ruled by such unseemly desires is not behaving like a Christian, but like a pagan: ‘You know that those who are supposed to rule over the Gentiles, lord it over them’ – says Jesus—but it shall not be so among you; but whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be a slave of all’. If there can be any rivalry among Christians, let it be to gain possession of the post of greater service, yet without ostentation, seeking to disappear rather than to stand out. Jesus gives us the example of this, for he ‘came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many’. We serve then by carrying the cross for ourselves and for others, by suffering to atone for our own faults and for those of others, and by offering ourselves, with Jesus, ‘as a ransom for many’, for all.” [8]
We should serve not because we are forced to, but because we have faith and hope in Christ Jesus, and through those virtues we cannot help but to love God so much that we are willing to be a servant to others. “Whatever authority is to be exercised by the disciples must, like that of Jesus, be rendered as service to others rather than for personal aggrandizement. The service of Jesus is his passion and death for the sins of the human race.” [9]
[1] Mk. 10:45
[2] Hardon, Modern Catholic Dictionary pg. 500
[3] Navaree Bible Commentary Gospel of Mark, pg. 144
[4] Lumen Gentium, 24
[5] Paul VI, Populorum progression, 13
[6] Navaree Bible Commentary Gospel of Mark, pg. 145
[7] John Paul II, Redemptor hominis, 21
[8] Divine Intimacy pg. 139
[9] NAB Footnotes, Gospel of Mark 10, 42-45