The Servant

A homily for Maundy Thursday, April 17, 2025
St. Saviour Anglican Church, Penticton BC
The Very Rev. Ken Gray

So what do Gosford Park, The Remains of the Day, Upstairs Downstairs, and Downton Abbey have in common?

Apart from each show’s unique historical meta-narratives, each of these very English period dramas describe “life downstairs,” the loves, duties, and servitude of generations of working class brits who served the wealthy gentry through the early years of the 20^th century.

These exquisite dramas document the lives of household servants who catered to the at times excessive needs and wants of a pampered generation of land owners, mostly inheritors of tremendous wealth and property, and of a sumptuous lifestyle unimaginable in our own day.

Each production embodies the notion that one is born to one’s position, whether to privilege or to penury. Sometimes however, roles can be reversed, as in the 1963 film, The Servant, starring Dirk Bogarde, a film noire classic featuring the music of Johnny Dankworth and his wife, Cleo Laine. Through the dark, eerie suspenseful plots the typical roles played out by servant and master are upended—the mighty are brought low and the lowly lifted up—sounds rather biblical doesn’t it? Roles and positions can change, not without difficulty however.

My point in “taking us to the movies” tonight is this. Power dynamics exist in all cultures and nationalities. If socialism tries to evenly distribute power, neoliberalism places power in the hands of a very few with the promise that benefits will trickle down. The fascism we see in the new US administration moves well beyond both these philosophies, where a new administration and oligarchy possess absolute power now placed in the hands of a very few (some elected, others not) with no promise of distribution of power or wealth beyond themselves.

When social balance and communal respect function well in relationships, society progresses well. When it does not, well, the symptoms are all around us presently. Ukraine is daily ravaged by Putin’s Russia; In Gaza where yet another Episcopal hospital is damaged, 80% of the country is uninhabitable; In Myanmar, where a special place in hell ought be assigned to military leaders who wage war on disaster refugees, well once again, in these and so many other places globally, relationships are way out of balance.

For tonight, as  we watch Jesus serving his disciples and urging them to serve each other and the world, in today’s world any notion of service, in the very best sense of the word, exists more in concept than in practice.

To whom then should we repair, in order to repair our world, a creation seeking peace which the world seems unable to give? Where might we find a perfect kind of service. We need an example, an exemplar, an embodiment of love, which for Christians, is Jesus:

“Who, being in very nature God,
    did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
rather, he made himself nothing
    by taking the very nature of a servant,
    being made in human likeness. (Philippians 2:6-7)

If Paul lays out the theology, John tells the story in Jesus’ words:

“Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than [their] master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.” (John 13:14-17)

The hymn we just sang, Who would ever have believed it, [Common Praise 199] set to the beautiful Scottish ballad A FOND KISS captures the spirit and story of the servant image perfectly. Composed by Graham Maule of the Iona Community, it takes the singer through a scriptural odyssey, through incredulity, to the discovery of Jesus as the servant of all, for all, always.

From the language of creation, via the range of human emotions marred by the foolishness of rejection, winced by physical pain, struck by the stab of sin, bottomed out in isolation and despair, in all of these the murky muck of life is taken and dealt with by the love of God shown in Jesus, the ultimate lover.

We, like sheep despite our wisdom,
all had wandered from God’s purpose;
and our due in pain and anger
God let fall on one among us.

Who would ever have believed it?
Who could ever have conceived it?
Who dared trace God’s hand behind it
when a servant came among us?

Allow me to conclude with one simple story shared by Julianne Stanz on Facebook this past week. She writes:

“There was great chatter on social media this week about the unexpected visit of Pope Francis to St Peter’s Basilica. Words like undignified, unseeingly and unbecoming were thrown around. His clothing, particularly his poncho were the source of much derision and mockery.

What I saw was different. Healing—especially after a serious illness—has a way of reshaping and refocusing our priorities. It teaches us to be grateful: for life, for reduced pain, for each precious breath.

[For those whose] image of the priesthood is configured to power, rather than service, then you may struggle with the image of Pope Francis-frail, in his wheelchair, oxygen apparatus clearly visible in a simple poncho.

But to me, it is an image of profound humility and humanity. A Pope who leads by presence, not performance. A Pope for the people, of the people.

That, to me, is the very embodiment of servant leadership.”

[Ken Gray] For religious conservatives, some who wish Pope Francis gone, some who wish he was never pope, well he’s still with us. And hey, some said the same about Jesus centuries ago. And he remains with us still. Thanks be to God.