from being the servant to serving

When I first read today passage (Mk 9:30-37), I am deeply puzzled. My discomfort is not whether what Jesus’ saying is radical or not, but whether his saying really makes the world better for living. During the cultural revolution in late 1960s, intellectuals in China were forced to become factories’ workers, farmers and labourers, while the farmers had taken the position of managers, teachers and CEO. This radical change had finally made China finally complete social disintegration and disruption. Therefore, what Jesus’ saying, ‘Whoever wants to be first must place himself last of all and be the servant of all’, should not be interpreted as that the pastor does the cleaning duties or the cleaner does the pastoral duties. It is not a matter of defending the hierarchy, but this is not a right way to understand Jesus’ saying.

There is an incident yesterday. A pupil who was injured and admitted to the casualties, but he hadn’t had a Hong Kong Identity Card (HKID) with him, and his mum was asked to send a copy of his certificate of birth to confirm his citizenship status. Otherwise, he had to pay the non-local medical fee before he could be admitted to the hospital. Since this was an urgent case, his mum did not argue with the hospital and paid the non-local medical fee. After the treatment, his mum complaint to the hospital and this incident has raised the public concern. The government quickly responded that what had been happened was absolutely unacceptable, because this incident had happened in the casualties. Casualties meant urgent and emergency, and therefore, medical treatment should be provided irrespective of whether the patient was able to pay.

This experience provides us a perspective to understand what Jesus’ saying. We are called to serve which is not necessarily related to pick up positions of servant and lower ranks. Since what matters is serving, the CEO can still be a leader but serving, and the pastor can be a leader but serving. However, serving here is not understood in the setting of customer service, but is about adopting the perspective of the option for the less advantaged in your job duties. Let us return to the case I have mentioned. The managers, the doctors and the nurses have to give weight to the perspective of the option for the less advantaged to design the hospital’s building, administration and management. The pupil was rejected from immediate treatment, because the staffs did not have the patients’ perspective in their mind. On the contrary, patients have to be fitted into the bureaucratic system. In fact, this is only the tip of the iceberg. For example, hours of visitation in hospital is set by the hospitals, and no consultation with the patients and their family. It is convenience to the hospital, not the patients. Thus, the servants are servants, but they are not serving. On the other hand, the managers are not servants, but they can be serving. Serving is about taking the perspective of the option for the less advantaged.

Apart from the saying, ‘whoever wants to be first must place himself last of all and be the servant of all’, Jesus puts his arm around a child and says, ‘Whoever welcomes in my name one of these children, welcomes me.’ This is another way of talking about serving. Why is a child chosen? The reason is not only because they are vulnerable, but because you would not receive reward from a child. For instance, a child seldom gives tips after the meal; a child seldom says thank you when you hold the door for him; a child seldom sends you a gift of appreciation. My description of a child has no intention to look down on a child, but this is the ‘is’ of a child. In this understanding, what Jesus requests us is to embrace and welcome a child whole-heartedly without any expectation of return. To show your embrace and welcome is not just about a word, but about extra time and energy. For instance, although I am not in a senior position in the University, I can’t deny that my position makes me have influence. Some years ago, I worked with a professor from the Social Work Department to support the workers in our university to fight for fair terms of service. Because of our presence, the workers felt being supported and encouraged. We had received a clap from the workers, but we might receive a ‘pig stamp’ from the University. I am not asking you to copy what I have done, but it is not enough just to fulfil the requirement of the job duties and to meet the needs of the boss. We should go beyond the terms of service, and make those who receive our service feel better.

I do hope that the interpretation above would not distract the child whom Jesus refers to is really a child. In other words, we should not ignore the needs of children. Some years ago we are very concerned about poverty of next generation (跨代貧窮). Children poverty is serious in Hong Kong. To embrace and welcome children means to have a social policy that supports them to participate into society freely and joyfully. In the coming government’s policy address, we have to ask what the government has done to combat poverty of next generation.

To be honest, what Jesus has said here is not really radical, for this is the value we find no difficulty to accept no matter whether you are Christian or not. But what this story inspires us is that we are exactly the children being embraced by God. We are the people being served (saved) by God. Once we realize that we are the recipients rather than the givers, we will be easier to identify taking a perspective of the option for the less advantaged, doing something more than duties and caring the children, for our Lord is there.