Sermon: Status vs Servanthood

Preacher:

Rachel Young

Date:

Sunday 24th August 2025

Venue:

Guildford Cathedral

Service:

Cathedral Eucharist

Prayer:

May I speak in the name of God, Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer. Amen.

Today we are celebrating the feast day of Saint Bartholomew, Apostle and Evangelist. Bartholomew was one of Jesus’ first disciples, mentioned in four lists of disciples in the New Testament. Not much is known about him, except that scholars think he was the same person as Nathanael whom we hear about in John’s Gospel; Nathanael was a friend of Philip and the fourth person to become a follower of Jesus. You may remember that Nathanael is reported to have said, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?!” He seems to have been an academic student of Judaism and so would have been someone who could assume that his status in society would rise as a result. And his comment about Nazareth gives away his assumption that Nazareth was a place of lowly status; why would God choose to send the Messiah from there?

Status is a theme that runs through our readings this morning.

In Acts, the people held the Apostles in high esteem, because of the evidence of God’s presence through their work. 20

[But] What was it really like, being an Apostle?

In our celebrity-dominated culture, we could easily put an apostle on a pedestal – thinking how great their life must have been, as a leader of the early church.

However, in 1 Corinthians and in Luke’s Gospel we find two realistic descriptions of what it was like to be an apostle:

In 1 Corinthians, the Apostle Paul is talking to members of one of the churches he had helped to establish. He describes what he understands, from his own experience, is the place of an apostle in society –

“Last of all, as though sentenced to death…

We are fools for the sake of Christ…

We are weak…

we are held in disrepute… 

we are hungry and thirsty,

we are poorly clothed and beaten and homeless, 

and we grow weary from the work of our own hands.

When reviled, we bless;

when persecuted, we endure; 

when slandered, we speak kindly.

We have become like the rubbish of the world,

the dregs of all things, to this very day.”

He contrasts each of these with the experiences of the Corinthian Christians; and he is saying it as part of his argument about where they should stand in society, what their status should be.

Earlier, in verse 18, he says “Some…have become arrogant.”

And then, “What would you prefer? Am I to come to you with a stick or with love in a spirit of gentleness?”

In verse 1 of Chapter 4, Paul urges them to “Think of us (i.e. Paul, Apollos and Peter) in this way, as servants of Christ and stewards of God’s mysteries.”

And then in Luke’s Gospel, we heard some of the teaching of Jesus to his twelve disciples (among them, Bartholomew, of course…) when they disagreed about which of them was the greatest:

‘The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those in authority over them are called benefactors. But not so with you; rather the greatest among you must become like the youngest, and the leader like one who serves.” (v.25, 26)

It must have been teaching that Jesus repeated over and over, and perhaps it didn’t sink in until a long time later, after the resurrection, what Jesus meant by saying he was “among (them) as one who serves.”

He was giving them an actual example, a role model from whom they could learn, and whom they were to look to for guidance as disciples.

“Who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves?”

We, like them, would probably answer, “The one at the table”. Our culture, too, chooses certain people to be more important than others.

Jesus turns everything on its head.

I think it’s true to say that the Church has had its struggles with status over the centuries:

• Trying to put into practice Jesus’ teaching about “taking up your cross and following me…” – how does that work in practice?
• Teaching Christians to think of others before themselves has, in some instances, led to their abuse - by those who would take advantage of the imbalance of power;
• How did the Church of the Emperor Constantine and King Henry 8^th, in the fourth and fifteenth centuries, behave when given political status and power?
• And how do we be the Established Church in England, when much of what we do is governed by the law of the land?

In the Church of England, our close association with government and education gives us a rich heritage which is to be celebrated and supported; but it also gives us a (sometimes) unhelpful bias towards middle and upper-class ways of behaving.

Last year, there was a movement amongst C of E clergy who had been brought up ‘working class’ (as they defined it), to support each other and question some of the assumptions that the C of E has – for example, the language we use in our worship;

the clothes we’re expected to wear (chinos or track suits?);

and the sense of entitlement we sometimes witness.

And then there are the social skills we have or need;

how do people know they are relating to someone believes themselves to be of a higher status?

Those who live in a minority (or even a persecuted majority)

can easily answer that question –

• My views are not respected or listened to
• My needs are not seen or  heard
• I am made to feel small, like a child
• I am expected to be quiet and conform
• I am told what to do and believe

They can be uncomfortable things to experience and hear about, because we may identify with them in some way – is this my experience? Or am I aware that I do this to others?

Jesus said:

“The greatest among you must become like the youngest,

and the leader like one who serves.”

“Love your neighbour as yourself”

He ministered to people who were on the margins of society – those with no status in the eyes of others.

And he himself had no human status either.

Jesus gave us a role model to follow;

but there might also be others we know who could be that for us. Saints, for example; or ordinary Christians we know.

I remember the head teacher of a primary school I knew, who regularly helped to put the chairs away and sweep the floor at the end of lunchtime in the hall.

In my experience, in order to be someone who serves we need to be constantly aware of our assumptions and prejudices –

so that we are acting with other peoples’ needs in mind. However, I believe that there is a helpful difference between serving others and behaving as a doormat.

Jesus also said:

“Be wise as serpents and innocent as doves”.

The first disciples of Jesus, like Bartholomew,

had all this to learn; as do we.

It took them a while for it to sink in; as it does for us.

To be a Christian who genuinely lives a life of love and generosity, without needing a status in society or the Church,

is one who can be an amazing, counter-cultural inspiration.

We can be encouraged

by the example of Bartholomew and the saints,

that in the school of life we can all be challenged,

honed and helped to follow Jesus.

Discipleship is, after all, a life-long enterprise.

 

Amen.