For those of us who profess to be followers of Jesus, I believe our lectionary passages this morning call us to fill two roles in the Kingdom of God – those of Priest and Servant.
“Hold on. Me?,” you say. Yes you. I’m pretty sure many of us would just assume ignore the passages that talk about the priesthood of believers or we find ourselves to be completely unqualified or unwilling to serve in this way. But this is the gig. If we say “yes” to believing in Jesus and “yes” to inheriting eternal life, then we’re also saying “yes” to be fellow Priests and Servants with Jesus. The work he began – to heal and reconcile the world unto God – continues with us.
In First Peter 2:5, 9-10, we read our commission to priesthood.
5 you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
verse 9 You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
What does it mean to be part of this priesthood along with Jesus? Well, it means taking seriously the description of Jesus’ priesthood here in Hebrews 5 (page 973). The passage says priests are “put in charge of things pertaining to God” on behalf of the people (v 1). We as priests are tasked with bringing the spiritual realities of God’s Kingdom into the physical realities of this earth. This means we are priests not just at church but in line at Meijer or while doing the dishes or when working in the office or making phone calls or writing letters or participating in meetings or breaking up fights around the dinner table. It means find God in all things.
Being a priest means dealing with sin – starting with our own. (Heb 5:2) “[The priest] is able to deal gently with the ignorant and wayward, since he himself is subject to weakness; 3 and because of this he must offer sacrifice for his own sins as well as for those of the people. We enter our priestly role from a place of humility. We are not judgmental and condemning of ourselves or of others, but gentle, extending the gracious arm of Jesus.
To be a priest is to “offer up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears” (v 7). To pray in this way is to be conscious of the gaping chasm between the wholeness of God’s Kingdom and the brokenness of our world. When we live in the already-but-not-yet of God’s intended peace for all of creation, our hearts are broken in two when we read another headline about school shootings or pass by the homeless or read about the growing number of children in foster care or learn about the human trafficking crisis. This cannot be! And so we cry out as Jesus did with gut-wrenching sorrow and earnest pleading for God’s will to be done on earth as it is in heaven.
As this kind of prayerful priest we being to see ourselves as part of the solution, a bridge between the wholeness and the brokenness. We begin to be a bridge between the raging arguments of liberal and conservative politics. We are tasked with bringing the peace of God into conflicts and broken relationships. We will find ourselves bridge-building across the enormous gaps of wealth and class between rich and poor, white people and people of color, immigrants and bigots. “Yes,” writes Rev. Susan R. Andrews, “as ‘priest’ each of us is called to stretch out our arms to embrace all that is dissident, becoming a dwelling place of reconciliation where all of creation finds a harmonious home in God’s heart.”
To be a priest is to learn obedience in the middle of suffering, just as Jesus was obedient to death, even death on a Cross. It’s not easy-going, this priesthood gig we’re called to embody. In fact, it’s quite devastating at times because we’re the ones living in the strange in-between-ness of God’s Kingdom. We’re the ones who’s spiritual eyes are being opened more and more to God’s realities, to seeing God’s grace and peace and love in all people and in all circumstances. But then we blink, and that spiritual reality seems but an impossible dream, because just look around, it looks more like the world is going to “hell in a handbasket.” So we wrestle and struggle and fight to keep sight of God, and when we manage to see the spiritual realities present in our families and our board meetings and in newscasts and in death and loss and in poverty and bigotry, we keep on trying to help those around us become aware of this Kingdom coming all around us. Because the more of us who can see it and hold tight to the vision of it, the more quickly it will come.
To be a priest is to be a servant. The closing line from the Gospel passage today was Jesus telling two narcissistic disciples that they were completely missing the point of following Him. Do you see yourself in their story at all? I know I do. They were hoping following the Messiah would mean greater rewards, status and prestige. We can start out with the greatest intentions, but our pride and selfishness creeps up in a second. Yet to be a priest like Jesus means setting aside status – even status rightly earned. (Hebrews 5:4) “And one does not presume to take this honor, but takes it only when called by God.” Being a priest means being a servant, leading from a place of submission rather than a place of authority. Jesus’ response to James and John is just as true for us today. Mark 5:44-45 – “Whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many”.
This, Church. This is our call in the Kingdom of God: to be a servant-priest. Not just some of the time (like at church or when we’re doing something “righteous” like giving the panhandler some money or dropping off a donation to a food bank.) We’re called to be priests and servants all of the time. We need to be vigilant against our ever-present mindset of “What can I get out of this?” or “What’s in it for me?” We do this a lot if we’re honest. I mean, don’t we even come to church thinking, “What’s in it for me? What can I learn? Will the songs make me feel good? Will someone pray for me?” And goodness, if it’s difficult to be servant-priests at church – the one place where it makes total sense – how much harder is it to serve others and bring God’s realities into the moment when we’re sitting in the doctor’s office for two hours or on the phone with customer service or dealing with your family’s never-ending bickering or debating politics?
How do we become servant-priests who enter every moment with the attitude of humility and submission, asking, “How can I help bring God’s kingdom into this moment?” By following our Great High Priest Jesus, setting down our authority and power for the sake of another, noticing the grace of God in every moment, and in so-doing helping to bring the Kingdom of God to earth as it is in heaven.
And it begins now, by confessing our failings, our insecurities and our selfishness and by coming in obedience to Christ’s Table.
