Words for Worship

Ministry Today

Matthew 21.1-11

Philippians 2.1-11

 

Two thousand years after

Jesus' entry to Jerusalem,

another visitor

came to the city.

 

It was Germany's last Kaiser,

Wilhelm II.

 

His entourage was so grand

that he had to have

the Jaffe Gate widened

so that his over-sized carriage

could pass through.

 

After the parade had ended,

someone attached a large sign

to the gate.

 

The sign read,

"A better man than Wilhelm

came through this city's gate.

 

He rode on a donkey."

 

 

But what made Jesus

a better man, do you think?

 

What was it about him

that compelled people

to spread their cloaks

and wave their branches in the air?

 

What is it about him

that still inspires

millions of people

to give their lives to him

and even for him?

 

What indeed is about him

that we should try

to see more of in ourselves?

 

Well the answer to all

those questions

seems to have its roots

in what Paul wrote

to the Philippians.

 

For this morning we heard"

He did not regard equality with God

as something to be exploited

but emptied himself,

taking the form of a servant

and humbled himself,

becoming obedient to the point of death,

even death on a cross."

 

Let’s then this Lenten time

unpack that a bit.

 

Because this Easter

we should not forget

that Paul goes on to say

to the believers of Philippi –

"Let the same mind be in you

that was in Christ Jesus,"

 

In other words

if we want to better ourselves

along  the lines of the Jesus model

we too need do share

his beautiful mind.

 

I don’t know if you noticed

what happened

when President Obama

entered 10 Downing Street.

 

Because when he passed through,

the commissionaire

who was holding

the famous black door open

obviously said –

good morning.

 

In return the President

not only replied

but shook his hand.

 

Now he need not have done so.

 

Doubtless most of us

in his exulted position

and occupied with great affairs of state

would have replied

with a mere nod.

 

Or we might just ignore him

as indeed Gordon brown did

later to a policeman.

 

But no the president

pumped the attendant’s hand

who will remember that

and him

for the rest of his life.

 

Here then is the first mental rule

given by the Jesus

riding on a donkey.

 

And it is contained in those words –

he did not exploit

his equality with God

rather he emptied himself.

 

Because the truth be known,

we all have a degree of equality

with God.

 

For we each have free will.

 

And so we have freedom

to choose

instead of obeying instinct.  

 

We too have the mixed blessing

of knowing right from wrong

and we have also

the power to treat others

well or badly.

 

Moreover, we retain that ability

even if we are preoccupied

or harassed

or even being abused.

 

Since on that first Palm Sunday,

Jesus mind knew all

these experiences

and a sight more.  

 

He also had the power

but he did not exploit it.

 

And for those reason,

he and the manner of entrance

is remembered

in life after life.

 

But in the end of the day,

the way we treat people

superficially

won’t make us more Christ like.

 

For that

we need to delve deeper

into his perfect thoughts

remembering that Paul

next talks of Jesus

humbling himself

by being a servant.

 

Now I suppose

we often epitomise

servants as individuals

of an upstairs, downstairs variety;

each having a personality and value.

 

But of course that was not

what Paul had in mind at all.

 

Because Willie Barclay

Advises we should translate servant

as slave.

 

And in antiquity’s slave owning culture

there ain’t no lower!

 

Since a slave was not a person

but an owned item

rather like a horse or chair.

 

Maybe we should envisage

Today

a farm tractor

or washing machine

or computer

instead of a human being.

 

And there isn’t much personality

or value in that thought!

 

Therefore Jesus’ willingly taking

the mind set

of an enslaved servant

was truly shocking.

 

But even more stunning

was commitment

to voluntary enslavement.

 

Because Paul then goes on to tell us

of Christ’s death upon the cross.

 

A death suffered to serve us.  

 

 

Here then is our inspiration

to service even of

the hard, unstinting

and unremitting kind.

 

Not a politicians’ mindset

which has put self-service back

into public service.

 

But rather the deliberate choice

for the backbreaking,

grotty

even stomach churning service

that just ordinary people

do day in day out.

 

Maybe they are serving

next door to you

for a loved one,

maybe

up the street

for a friend

or maybe from a generous heart

to someone totally unknown.

 

And to illustrate

the level of service

that Christians  render

in the shadow

of their master’s example,

I turn to the memoirs

of General Farrar-Hockley –

The edge of the sword.

 

 

The incident in question

happened during the Korean War

when British troops

had been ordered

to abandon their position

on the Imjin River.

 

Here is his account.

 

The signallers were stamping

on the ashes

of the codebook

they had just burnt.  

 

Then, in small groups,

the Headquarters split up

and ran over the ridge.  

 

When they had gone,

I, too,

came up on to the ridge crest

and prepared to descend

the other side.  

 

The Regimental Medical Officer

was standing alone

by the path

that led to the steep slopes

below us.

 

“Come on, Bob”, I said

“We’re about the last to go –

you ought to have gone before this.

 

 The Colonel will be off

in a minute

and that will be the lot.”

 

 He looked at me

for a moment

before saying:

“I can’t go

. I must stay with the wounded”.

 

For a few seconds

I did not comprehend his meaning;

we were all making our way out –

there seemed a very fair chance

that some of us

would make it;

to stay here was certainly

to face capture,

possibly for death,

when the Chinese attacked.  

 

And then I realised

that he had weighed all this –

weighed it all

and made a deliberate choice:

he would place his own life

in the utmost jeopardy

in order to remain

with the wounded

at the time

when they would need him most.

 

 

Somewhere, the words appear, “

Greater love hath no man than this…”

 

 I knew now exactly

what those words meant.

 

Too moved to speak again,

I clapped my hand

upon his shoulder

and went on.

 

 

In the strangely haunting film –

a beautiful mind –

the Nobel Prize winning mathematician

John Nash says –

My primary teacher

told me

that I was born with two helpings of brain,

but only half a helping of heart.

 

Well, that was not

the beautiful mind

of the Messiah on a donkey.

 

Since through his service

he showed that

he had far more

than two helpings of heart.

 

 And it was that heart

which made him

a better man than any

who have entered Jerusalem.

 

It was that mind

that makes him memorable,

inspirational and captivating.

 

It is that eternal mindset

which makes us

minded also to serve

even to the extreme.  

 

For as Professor Nash says

to his wife;  

 

 

It's only in

the mysterious equation of love

that any logical reasons

can be found.

 

I'm only here today

because of you.

 

You're the only reason I am...

You are all my reasons.

 

Amen

 

Offering

 

HYMN…….

 

 

 

 

 

 

Beautiful Mind