During my first class for the Diaconate I still vividly remember the comment by the instructor that as a Deacon we were to be like Jesus, a servant to the world.

This obviously struck a chord with all of us when we heard it. We were being called to serve and not be served. We all, wives included looked at each other and wondered how this would be possible for us. We were a disparate group of men with their wives about to embark on a journey that would be in one moment adventurous and at other times intimidating. In the end I am sure there are at least 18 very willing servants ordained last October. I am still holding out hope for the 19^th.

I was scared by the comment that were to serve like Jesus served, because as we just heard that did not end all that gently for him. We do however know how the story finishes so there is some glory yet to come from the Passion we just heard about. We hear the remaining pieces as we move through the Easter season which will soon be upon us.

In the Passion from the Gospel of John we see how Jesus serves right up until the end by carrying his own cross to his crucifixion. Of course there are a number of places within the Passion where we are reminded of his divinity. The first being where he simply states “I AM” to the guards who have come to take him away. Since this is what God had said to Moses, this was an opportunity for them to show him homage by lying prostrate before him. They did continue though and bring him to the high priests.

We are all called to be servants to those who do not know the Lord. This is accomplished in a number of ways. There are those we see who go out and place bible readings on signs in front of their homes, there are also those who always carry the sign that state John 3:16 at most televised sporting events.

Some of these ways if we choose to follow them will lead to us be ridiculed and told that what we say is a bunch of rubbish. Of course if we look at it, this is what happened to Jesus and that seems to be a good example to follow. I know that this is something I have struggled with at times. I was not shown how to do this early on as I was always told to keep quiet about faith. That is not the way we are taught by Jesus to be though.

We see another nice example of what it means to be a servant from Isaiah today. He is trying to get the nation of Israel to act as servants to show the Gentiles around them that Gods way is the way to the Promised Land. He does remind us that the servant shall prosper.

Of course the Isaiah story is also a prophetic vision of the coming of Jesus Christ who becomes the ultimate servant. He acts in the way that the Father has asked him to act. He has done nothing behind the back of the Pharisees. They have been aware of him from the beginning of his ministry. He was tracked and continued to be ridiculed in those circles where they believed they knew more. They were the ones who had been educated and had access to the scriptures. They were the ones who believed they knew better. I know this description has fit my life at times. During formation and still today I struggle with the thoughts, am I worthy enough to serve God as a Deacon.

Unlike today the scriptures were not widely available to those outside the temple. Today we have access to the Bible anywhere we would like to have it. We have a Bible in our home, we can have one on our phone or tablet and we can access it from the computer anytime or anywhere we would like. This should make the role of being a servant of God all that much easier as we have access to his user guide everywhere we go.

We have lived in a society for many years where our faith has not been challenged and I know due to that I left mine alone and let it wither for a long period of time. We seem to be coming into a period where we see more persecution of people for their faith in Jesus. We hear of the stories of Christians being put to death and churches burned in the Middle East and elsewhere in the world. We see the destruction going on in the Ukraine now which has included some persecution of priests who were fulfilling their ministries. There is also the new rumor coming out of the Ukraine that all Jews must register.

We hear this more and more at home as we are told that the name of Christ is no longer welcome in the public square. We have a number of options in how to handle this aspect of life here at home. We can choose to go ahead and make a lot of noise and try and shout down the people who believe that Jesus does not belong in the square. This will certainly get us noticed, but not necessarily for the correct reasons.

We can also follow the prophet Isaiah who reminds us that

If he gives his life as an offering for sin,
he shall see his descendants in a long life,
and the will of the LORD shall be accomplished through him.

This does not mean we try to make more noise than others, I believe it means we are called to be more and more like Jesus. We need, as much as it seems scary, to continue the revolution that Christ began 2000 years ago. The prospect of being like Jesus still scares me, yet we are all reminded in the letter to the Hebrews, because Christ became human he understands our shortcomings and failures.

While Christ allowed himself to be led quietly to his crucifixion, he showed us the way to behave like him. We are to be meek, humble and follow Jesus’ lead, regardless of whether we feel scared or not.

So today are we ready to be like Jesus, as we were told in our first diaconate class or are we willing to allow someone else to lead the way?