The Episcopal Diocese of Tennessee



Proper 26, Year A, October 30, 2011, Calvary Church Cumberland Furnace & St. James’ Church Dickson

“But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all students. And call no one your father on earth, for you have one Father — the one in heaven. Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Messiah. The greatest among you will be your servant” (Matt. 23:8-10).

Jesus chose the Twelve: it’s one part of the Christian tradition that is universally attested to in the Gospels. Whether you’re Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John, the portrait you paint of Jesus and his ministry includes twelve followers, persons that Jesus chose intentionally. The Twelve are representative figures, most likely chosen to symbolize the leaders of the Twelve Tribes of Israel, now symbolically re-gathered and re-formed after their dispersal centuries before.

The Twelve men that are named in the Gospels were not necessarily Jesus’ most intimate friends: John’s Gospel identifies Mary and Martha of Bethany, and their brother Lazarus, as particularly close friends who are not numbered among the Twelve. A number of the Gospels identify Mary Magdalene and other women (especially his mother Mary) as Jesus’ associates in his ministry. The Gospels don’t even agree on the names of the Twelve, in a few cases, simply on the fact that there were Twelve, and no Gospel provides many details about their biographies. Apparently none of these things are important, but it is important that Jesus chose the Twelve.

In choosing the Twelve, Jesus was conjuring with community. His movement was not intended to be a flash in the pan, a will of the wisp, but was meant to re-gather the lost sheep of Israel. The sheep were not gathered so that they could be dispersed again, but were gathered so that they could go and gather others. How extensive that gathering was meant to be was a subject of some dispute in the early Church. Was it meant only for the family of Abraham or were all the nations meant to be included in the newly re-formed Israel? This community issue very quickly became the issue in the early days of Christianity because community was crucial to Jesus’ purpose. The Twelve stand as testimony to the centrality of Christian community in the life and ministry of Christ.

Anyone with the most fleeting experience of the Church will know the impact of our fellow Christians upon our own discipleship. C.S. Lewis observes somewhere that the chief obstacle to Christian belief is our fellow Christians! That of course is a negative example, though true enough for all of us at different times. God’s People can test our faith. But it also works the other way. Your fellow Christians, after all, have given you the Gospel, formed you in the Faith, and inspired you when you might have been just about to despair. Thank God for the Church, for without it we would not believe.

It’s because community is central to Jesus’ purpose that our Gospel today gives some clues as to how the disciples are supposed to relate to each other, and in doing so it suggests some truths for us as we carry on our mission in our communities of faith. Community is relational: notice how Jesus gathers a group and relates them not only to himself but also to each other. “You have one teacher, and you are all students,” Jesus says: of course, he is the teacher, and they are the ones who are learning, though the word we have translated as “students” is misleading. The word more properly suggests a close kinship between the ones who are learning. They are related intimately, not just folks who are sitting in the same classroom. Then again, Jesus tells his followers that they have one Father in heaven, which makes them blood kin: it’s the same idea, if you take my point. Relationship amongst the members through their relation to Christ is the key to Christian community.

Our Gospel also provides some clue as to how leadership is supposed to happen in this community. Again, Jesus tells his followers, “Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Messiah.” “Instructor” doesn’t say enough here: the word is properly “Master” or “Mentor,” where the leader communicates the life lesson in a one-on-one fashion. Jesus of course is the Master, the instructor, and we all learn from him. The way ministry is passed on in the Church is on the same basis: one-on-one, where the “Master” or “Mentor” takes the time and the trouble to pass on the ministry and the mission to another. As Jesus tells them in our Gospel, “The greatest among you will be your servant.” Leadership requires this service, a willingness to give place to the other. If you want to make yourself indispensible, don’t teach anyone anything! But Leadership requires partnership, and a willingness to share leadership with others. Leadership is a cooperative venture in the Christian tradition. To be a leader is to help make other leaders. This requires sacrifice and a willingness to serve.

Folks at Calvary Church and at St. James know what this is about. Jesus is talking about you in our Gospel today. You know how basic it is. You know what it is to share leadership, to sit at the foot of the Master, to be related to one another in Christian community. Christian community is about relationship: the relationship we have with God our Father, with Jesus the Messiah, and with each other, his brothers and sisters. Let each of us be a sign to the other of the presence of Christ, and of the presence of Christ’s community the Church, so that we can be the presence of Christ in the world. We are not sheep who are scattered, but a Church which is gathered, so that we can gather all the nations of the earth.

- The Rt. Rev’d John Bauerschmidt, Bishop of Tennessee

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