In Vietnam, a platoon of Alpha Company got into firefight just south of the DMZ.  Some of the new men were blasting away with their weapons on full automatic. A Staff Sergeant stood up in the midst of the firefight, walked from hole to hole calming his troops, putting their weapons on semi.  As he moved to the next hole, he was shot in the head and died caring for his people.  The Son of Man came into this world not to be served but to serve.  As followers of the Servant Lord, we must learn to serve.

As a rifle battalion chaplain, I had taken a helicopter out to a Fire Support Base shooting the Ashau Valley in Vietnam to provide a worship service. On a previous trip I discovered the advantages of helicopter transportation when the convoy I was in was shot up. I walked around the perimeter with the Platoon Sergeant as he passed the word for church. “You man the hole,” he said to a Marine. “You report up the hill to church,” he instructed two others. “Staff Sergeant,” I said, “that’s old Corps. You can’t order men to church.” “Ain’t going to hurt them,” was his reply. He was a leader in his platoon, and he took care of his people. When his troops needed dry socks, he got them, and no one asked where they came from. He was the proverbial man who would give you the shirt off his back, and if he didn’t have one, he would steal one for you. After I left the battalion, they moved up to the DMZ. His platoon got into a firefight. He had some new people and they immediately started blasting away with their weapons on full automatic. In the midst of the firefight the Staff Sergeant stood up and walked from fighting position to fighting position calming his troops, putting their weapons on semi, and moving on to the next hole. In the midst of the firefight, he was shot in the head and died caring for his people.

A Senior Enlisted Academy instructor pointed out to me that a Marine noncom’s sword has two edges—one represents the mission and the other represents the troops. The mission is essential. That’s what the military unit exists for, but the mission can’t be accomplished without the people. A good leader takes care of his people.

The disciples seemed to continually be discussing who had precedence among themselves. In the verses preceeding the Gospel lesson for today, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, and among the very first chosen to be disciples, came to Jesus with a request. Let one of us sit at your right hand and the other at your left. Give us the places of honor among our brothers was their request. When they learned of this, the other disciples were angry. After all, why shouldn’t any one of them occupy the positions of honor. Why James or John? Why did they think that they were special?

Jesus pointed out that was the way among the Gentiles, the pagans. Each wanted to get ahead in his chosen portion of life—whether it be politically like the senators of Rome, or in business like the great merchants, or socially. Each wanted to be prominent. Each wanted to be recognized. That’s the way earthly society constructs itself. “But not among you,” Jesus told them. And most certainly not in the kingdom of God. In the kingdom of God the one who wants to be great must learn how to be a servant. The one who wants to be in first place has to understand that in this kingdom he is subservient to all.

Then came the mind-bending, totally incomprehensible statement of the Lord: “The Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve.” That simply didn’t compute with the disciples’ understanding of the Messiahship. The Messiah would, in their understanding, introduce the great Day of the Lord. To them the Day of the Lord would be a Day of Judgment on all of their foes, and I suppose that most of them had the Romans in mind. The Messiah would arrive in pomp and ceremony. He would be the ruler of the world, and they, the disciples, would bask in his glory. Maybe Judas thought to give the Lord a little nudge. Help him to get on with the program. The disciples were still wondering when the kingdom was going to come, even at the Ascension. “Lord,” they asked him, “is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6).

The Son of Man, the Messiah, came to serve, not to be served. Think back to that Holy Thursday night when the Lord took a towel and basin and began to wash the dusty feet of the disciples. That was a slave’s job, not the host’s. Think back to the events of the following day when the Son of God laid aside all power and permitted himself to be crucified. God took the place of human beings. God held himself responsible for human failings. God lived the perfect life that humans could not live and counted it as if we had done it ourselves. The Son of Man, the Son of God, came not to be served, but to serve and serve he did. He served us.

A Sailor spends eight weeks at Recruit Training Command, Great Lakes, just to learn the basics. Marine boot camp is twelve weeks, and that is just the beginning for sailors and Marines.   I’ve watched the buses pull to a stop at the Marine Corps Officer Candidate School—watched the conversations die—watch the faces suddenly register “what have I signed on for?” Chaplains have the same experience. In my day it took thirty five training days to turn bright eyed, bushy tailed young clergy persons, into someone fit to serve with sailors and Marines. If a chaplain is going to be accepted by Marines, he has to practice being miserable with them. He has to spend his time in the dirt with them. If he is going to be respected by sea-going sailors he has to spend his time in the engine room and know what a spring bearing and a reduction gear are all about.

To be a follower of a Servant Lord means learning the basics of service. It is a matter of asking ourselves as baptized children of God “what can I do with the skills and abilities, the knowledge that I have acquired? What does God expect me to do with the gifts that he has given me? I had an insight the other day. Pastors tend to think of service as that which happens inside the church. The bulletins need to be folded. The money needs to be counted. Someone needs to serve as an usher. Someone needs to sing in the choir or praise team. Someone needs to fill the positions on all of the boards and committees. All of those things are vitally important and necessary for the smooth functioning of our congregation and its worship. But I have a sneaking suspicion that when God thinks of service he has more in mind a nurse stitching a cut on a teenager’s leg; a teacher struggling to communicate a math concept to a child who is struggling to grasp it. Have you held a friend while the undertaker is loading the body of her husband on a gurney to remove it to the funeral home? That’s how God gets served. God takes our hands, our minds, our resources and uses them to craft his world, his kingdom.

On this Veterans’ Day we give thanks for all of those who learned to serve—to serve their country—to serve us. Some of them have paid a terrible price for their service in their bodies, in their minds, in their spirits, and some will never recover in this lifetime. That was the cost of the service that they rendered. We need to thank God for all of the young men and young women who serve, for in their service they permit us to live a life of freedom.

Sometimes a Platoon Sergeant has to stand up in the middle of a firefight and move from hole to hole to comfort, and steady his troops. Sometimes he gets shot in the head and dies for their sake. Just where do you think that he learned that kind of service? Followers of a Servant Lord, we need to learn to serve.