Stewardship and Servanthood: Becoming Last to Become First

  

 

This sermon was preached on the 18^th Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 20B) at the Episcopal Church of the Holy Apostles. You may watch the video of this sermon by clicking here. The readings which inspired the sermon were the following: 

Proverbs 31:10-31
Psalm 1
James 3:13-4:3, 7-8a
Mark 9:30-37

Opening Prayer: Holy God, let my words be your words and when my words are not your words, let your people be wise enough to know the same. Amen.

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Introduction

Has the following ever happened to you: You are engaged in a very important conversation—maybe this is with your spouse, a sibling, parent, or friend. Together you are treading into some newfound insight that has the power to change your life forever, but all of a sudden, the conversation gets sidetracked such that you find yourselves arguing over doing the dishes, who was mom and dad’s favorite child, why things aren’t as good as they used to be, or whose college football team is the best. If you’ve ever had a moment of divine clarity diverted by an argument over power or greatness, then today’s Gospel lesson is for you. 

(And to be clear, I believe we have all fallen prey to missing the important bit because our egos gets in the way)

In this Gospel lesson, Jesus and his disciples were journeying through Galilee. On the way, he shared with them the stark reality of what was to come: his betrayal, death, and resurrection. But rather than sitting with this profound teaching, the disciples found themselves caught up in a different conversation—one about authority and importance. 

We can imagine the scene. While Jesus spoke of transformative sacrifice, the disciples argued over perceived greatest. This tension between self-interest and sacrifice was not a new struggle even then, nor was it confined to the disciples long ago. It is a decision point we all face, especially in moments when we are asked to give of ourselves or when we are asked to take the path of service rather than self-promotion.

When they arrived in Capernaum, Jesus directly confronted the disciples’ argument. His response is a powerful reminder of what it means to be his follower: “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.” To illustrate his point, Jesus brought a child into their midst, a symbol of vulnerability and dependence. This was a particularly radical act in the first century when children were seen more as property than as people. Jesus enlightened those listening that welcoming the child is the same as welcoming him—and by extension, welcoming God.

What a profound teaching this is, particularly as we begin our financial stewardship campaign—Walk In Love. The heart of the spiritual practice of stewardship is not about status, power, or comfort. It’s about embracing the call to servanthood—about being last so that others may be first. It is about welcoming the vulnerable, the marginalized, and the dependent. And it is about living out our faith in a way that reflects Christ’s own generosity and sacrificial love.

Stewardship as an Act of Servanthood

In a world that often rewards ambition and individual achievement, Jesus calls us to live differently. He invites us to see greatness not in wealth or power but in humility and service. This is the essence of Christian stewardship. When we give, we are participating in the divine economy of grace—a system in which our resources are not hoarded but shared for the sake of others. 

Stewardship, then, is not simply a financial transaction. It is a spiritual practice, a discipline of the heart. Through our giving, we are called to align ourselves with Jesus’ example of servanthood. As we embark on this season of financial stewardship, we are invited to reflect on how we might “become last” in order to serve those in need, and how we can use our resources to welcome others into the embrace of God’s love.

Welcoming the Child: A Model for Stewardship

Jesus’ act of welcoming a child into the circle of disciples speaks volumes to us today. The child represents those who have little power, influence, or wealth—those who are often overlooked or undervalued in society. When Jesus takes the child into his arms, he makes a profound statement about where our priorities should lie. 

Who are the “children” in our midst today? Who are the ones Jesus is calling us to welcome through our stewardship? Perhaps it is the struggling family who relies on our church’s outreach ministries, the neighbor who finds solace in our community, or the young person seeking a place to belong. Our financial contributions are not merely about maintaining programs or keeping the lights on. They are about extending the welcome of Christ to those who need it most.

In giving, we are not just meeting the needs of the church; we are partnering with God in the work of transforming lives. Stewardship is about embracing this responsibility and seeing our gifts as a means to further God’s mission in the world.

Sacrificial Giving as a Reflection of Christ’s Love

The disciples’ argument over who is the greatest is a reminder of how easy it is to get caught up in self-interest. But Jesus shows us another way. His life was one of radical generosity, pouring himself out for the sake of others. As we reflect on the call to stewardship, we are asked to give in a way that reflects Christ’s own sacrificial love. 

Sacrificial giving does not mean giving until you get into financial trouble, but it does invite us to give in a way that stretches us. It invites us to step out of our comfort zones and consider how we might use the blessings we have received to bless others. This might mean giving more than we initially planned or reassessing how we prioritize our finances. But in doing so, we are living into the example Jesus set for us.

Stewardship: A Response to Grace

Finally, we must remember that stewardship is a response to grace. It is not something we do out of obligation or fear, but out of gratitude for all that God has done for us. When we give, we are not simply supporting the work of the church—we are responding to the incredible generosity God has already shown us. Every gift we offer is a tangible expression of our gratitude for God’s abundant blessings.

As we begin this season of financial stewardship, I encourage you to reflect on how your giving is a reflection of your faith. How might God be calling you to use your resources to serve others? How can we as a community grow in our commitment to welcome the vulnerable, the marginalized, and the overlooked?

Let us remember that greatness in the kingdom of God is not measured by wealth or status, but by our willingness to serve. May we embrace the call to be “last of all and servant of all,” and in doing so, may we reflect the heart of Christ, who gives everything for our sake.

Amen.

 

Shift in the Economy

Sermon Audio may be found here.

This sermon was inspired by Mark 6:30-34, 53-56.

The smell was what hit me first. We had not yet even entered into the ragged open air building when I caught a whiff of something so putrid I gagged in my mouth. A wave of sound crashed over my group right as we escaped from the 95°, sun-drenched day. Faintly over the crowd, I heard our group leader saying, “Stay together, the market can get a little bit crazy.” Vendors packed elbow to elbow extending everything from beans to beats, scarves to hats, goats to chickens, and even raw fish… that was of course, I realized from where the smell emanated. As the dark skinned people noticed the light skinned people carving through the overcrowded aisles it was almost like the Red Sea parting, as the vendors made way for some exotic (to them) visitors. There was no snake-shaped staff, instead it was simply twenty wide-eyed college students trying our best to keep a low American profile. The experience still resonates with me, and even though I love our Morgan County Farmers’ Market (I was there yesterday picking up some of Stuart Thornton’s famous pickles), there is nothing in the United States that compares to the marketplaces in the developing world, such as one I walked through in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

Going into this bazaar might have been the closest thing to ever entering into the setting of one of Jesus’ healings, like those described in today’s Gospel lesson. At the start of this Good News Jesus attempted to provide for himself and others a time of restoration saying, “Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.” Jesus and his disciples had been going at a frantic pace: stopping the suffering woman’s bleeding; healing Jairus’ daughter; feeling the inhospitality of Jesus’ hometown; Jesus sending out his disciples; and the disciples preaching, anointing, and curing. Upon their return it would have seemed appropriate to take a pause to refresh. And yet, as the disciples and Jesus attempted to break, the crowds chased after them like teenagers running behind a pop star, except unlike Justin Bieber or Ariana Grande, Jesus the Christ was not just a celebrity he was the Good Shepherd. Jesus had compassion on the crowds and taught them many things.
Our Lectionary skips ahead to a second section of healing that took place in the picturesque Gennesaret, which means, “the garden of the prince.” While this might sound beautiful, its marketplace was probably as chaotic as the one I frequented in Port-au-Prince, or like so many other commerce centers in developing parts of the world. You will look at me funny, but this town center was like Wall Street, Time Square, and Capitol Hill rolled into one. A tiny market of bartering and exchanging goods seems a little underwhelming; however, make no mistake about it, the sick being brought to Jesus in the marketplace was a big BIG deal.

Our world is the same world in which Jesus walked. Sometimes we forget this. And yet, we still have not moved beyond seeing mostly by outward appearance. We still are trapped by first impressions. We still are caught up in what someone is wearing, what color someone’s skin is, or what kind of car someone drives. In Jesus’ day some of these outward markers were different, but public spaces were the places where people’s status was on display. One Biblical scholar writes that in those days these markets were the places “in which legal hearings, elections, and debates took place, in addition to the buying and selling of goods. Thus the marketplace was the political and commercial center of a city or town” (Elizabeth Webb, Workingpreacher.org). If you were powerful, if you were able bodied, if you were part of the dominant group, then you ruled the economic, religious, and political arena of the day. We might have changed the currency, the religion, and the system of government, but we still fall into the same economy as those in the ancient marketplaces.

“Those members of the body that we think less honorable we clothe with greater honor, and our less respectable members are treated with greater respect,” so writes Paul in a letter to the Corinthians. Jesus initiates this practice within today’s story when instead of going along with the practices of the powerful or taking the sick out into the countryside where they will not be noticed, he heals the weakest members of society in the place where the powerful did business. As someone said to me this week, this is like the sick being lined up on 2nd Avenue during 3rd Friday or if the injured were laid out in the lobby of Regions Bank. Jesus restored those who had no place in society so that they could be a part of the communal body. In the process Jesus undermined the way that things had always been done and even the way that we continue to do things.

The Kingdom of God is not just open to VIPs, reward club members, or Prime members; The Body of Christ is not only for Platinum Card holders, Kroger Card participants, or Country Club members; the people of God are not solely the rich, the powerful, the able bodied, the white, the men, or whatever other dominant label that exists. In fact, Jesus says in the Kingdom of God the first will be last and the last will be first.

Today we welcome a new member into the Body of Christ. Thomas Parker Tubb is about to baptized and, like all of us, adopted as a beloved child of God. Callie, Stuart, and Parker’s godparents will make his vows for him promising to believe in Father, Son, and Spirit; to participate in the life and worship of the Church; to resist evil and repent from sin; to proclaim by word and deed the Good News of Jesus; to serve Christ in all people; and to respect the dignity of every human being. These promises are ways that we as the Body of Christ buy into God’s economy.

I so often love the economy of this world. I can so easily go with the flow as a white, Anglo-Saxon Protestant who is well-educated and able-bodied. Yet, to be a part of the Kingdom of God means that we are invited to take part in a different economy, a Divine Economy in which we love God with heart, strength, soul, and mind and our neighbors as ourselves. To be a part of the Body of Christ means that we don’t push to the side those who are different than us, who are poorer or richer than us, stronger or weaker than us, more conservative or more liberal than us, darker or lighter skinned than us; we are the Body of Christ and we welcome all who will follow Jesus and we extend our welcome to all whom we meet. To be the Body of Christ means we take part in God’s Divine Economy where there is more than enough for all. In the Kingdom of God the first will be last and the last will be first.

In the name of the Living God Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.