Call To Servant Leadership

𝐀𝐏𝐑𝐈𝐋 𝟐, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟔: 𝐇𝐎𝐋𝐘 (𝐌𝐀𝐔𝐍𝐃𝐘) 𝐓𝐇𝐔𝐑𝐒𝐃𝐀𝐘

𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝟏: 𝐄𝐱𝐨 𝟏𝟐:𝟏-𝟖, 𝟏𝟏-𝟏𝟒

𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐏𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐦: 𝐏𝐬𝐚 𝟏𝟏𝟔, 𝟏𝟐-𝟏𝟑, 𝟏𝟓-𝟏𝟔𝐛𝐜, 𝟏𝟕-𝟏𝟖 “𝐎𝐮𝐫 𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠-𝐜𝐮𝐩 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐂𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭.”

𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝟐: 𝟏 𝐂𝐨𝐫 𝟏𝟏:𝟐𝟑-𝟐𝟔

𝐆𝐎𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐋: 𝐉𝐍 𝟏𝟑:𝟏-𝟏𝟓

𝐊𝐞𝐲 𝐕𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐞: “𝐚𝐬 𝐈 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐨 𝐝𝐨.” (𝐯.𝟏𝟓) 

         People normally go to a panic mode – like what many of us are going through right now – when the future seems uncertain and when we find there are lots of things to do with so little time left.

        This can happen when you are preparing for your birthday party, a surprise graduation party perhaps, the golden wedding anniversary of your parents and or, when you are tasked to handle any festive arrangements for a loved one.

         And in a similar vein, the feeling of anxiety of what lies in the horizon is something that is driving most of the people into a desperate situation. The current economic crisis caused by the war in the Middle East could lead to untold hardships as the prices of petroleum products continue to rise beyond the levels of affordability.

         But how does it feel if it will your own funeral that you are preparing for. Which reminds me a booklet that my friend Fr. Larry Tan prepared titled “Coming Home” which provides us an overview of the things we need to take care of as we prepare to meet our maker.

         This was the scenario that Jesus found himself in. And as we look back to the last days of Jesus, we could say that the Passover Feast was the point of no return.

         There was no turning back from this moment on and Jesus knew that he was stepping not into a situation that he was prepared for.  He knew that he would become the sacrificial lamb that would reverse the tide of sin that swept the world from Adam and he knew that this offering was the hour of glory that would reconcile men to God.

         This consciousness of the enormity and significance of what he was about to suffer would have filled Jesus with pride and yet even with this knowledge that his death will bring victory Jesus was the picture of utter humility and this is reflective of what true love is.

         Some of you may have experienced what you can do for love but there are times we look at our standing and balked at doing menial tasks. But this was not so for Jesus. He knew that he came from God and within a few days would be going back to God. He could have felt contempt for those who rejected him but there was just one thing that he needed to do and that was to show his disciples how to be a servant to lead.

         Leadership enamors a lot of people and today there are numerous publications that offer ideas of how to become a good leader in a corporate setup, social and civic organizations and even in the church or religious and spiritual communities there are modules to follow on how leaders are to conduct themselves.

         But this was not so for Jesus who gave his disciples a different picture of leadership that is founded on the towel and this brand of leadership is what we must keep in mind especially today when sitting at the head table appears to have replaced the apron.

         As he was about to wrap up his earthly ministry, Jesus dined on the Feast of the Passover with those closest to him – the 12 Apostles whom he chose from among the disciples who formed his evangelical ministry that went to every village, town and city to bring the Good News to the people Jews and Gentiles alike.

         As they were eating and to everyone’s surprise, Jesus stood up from the head table where he was seated and took a basin of water and a towel that he wrapped around his waist. He then proceeded to wash the feet of every person gathered around the table including that of Judas who would betray him in a few moments.

         Foot-washing was usually performed by household servants as an act of hospitality to guests whose feet gathered dust from the roads of Jerusalem. Masters of the household would not stoop to do such a menial task, but Jesus did.

         After washing everyone’s feet Jesus returned to his seat and gave his disciples the parameters of what servant leadership is: “𝐃𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮? 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐦𝐞 𝐓𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐋𝐨𝐫𝐝, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐨, 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈 𝐚𝐦. 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.” (𝐯𝐯.𝟏𝟐-𝟏𝟓)        

         What Jesus did gives us an idea of the correlation between greatness and service because too often the world is full of people who out of their self-esteem would prefer to stand instead of kneeling down at the feet of their brethren.

          In other words, when we are tempted to defer to our dignity, prestige, the reputation we have built up, let us see again the picture of the Son of God with a towel wrapped on his waist and kneeling at his disciples’ feet.

         When Jesus washed the feet of his disciples (𝐯𝐯.𝟑-𝟓) he was demonstrating the fundamental principle that he has been drumming up to his disciples that to lead others, one must serve others.

         This is as true in public life, in the business world and more so in the Church as no amount of memoranda, speeches, exhortation or circulars can move workers and or Church members to commit themselves to an organization or to a cause.

         What would impact men to rise to their feet and act is a picture of a leader before them who has the attitude of a servant, placing the needs of others before his own and, committing himself to do concrete things to meet those needs and, looking neither for favors nor reciprocity from the people that he serves.

         Jesus knew he would be betrayed by one of them and that the rest would abandon him yet as the hour of humiliation drew near Jesus showed his disciples the supreme humility that shaped the love he had for them.

         The knowledge he would be betrayed by someone he loves could have easily led to bitterness or hatred, but Jesus met the specter of betrayal and disloyalty with the greatest humility and supreme love. Jesus loved his disciples to the very end even when they failed him and forsook him.

         This is the same kind of love that Jesus has for us – unconditional love, a love that rises above our unfaithfulness, a love that does not seek favors and it is this kind of love that has the power to set us free to serve others with Christ-like compassion and humility.

         There is also no doubting the fact that the Philippines is in a sorry state right now because of the wrong choices that we made. Corruption and immorality have become norms, but we too are partly responsible for this because we allowed these things to happen when we elected the wrong people in positions of authority that allows them to dip their hands into the national treasury as Judas did.

         In 2028, we are obliged to cast our vote, but this time let us make sure that we elect leaders who will lay down their lives in defense of our Christian values. There is an urgent need to elect leaders who will defend our people from the onslaught of graft and corruption and shameless thievery of public funds and the specter of evil legislation that is hovering above our heads such as the proposed bill on divorce and same-sex marriage have become primordial if we want to save the Philippines from the imminent corruption of its soul.

         𝐒𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐭 𝐀𝐮𝐠𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐞 in his sermon for this day, wrote: “𝑯𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝒍𝒂𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒅𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆; 𝒘𝒆 𝒃𝒚 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒔𝒕 𝒄𝒂𝒏𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒄𝒉𝒐𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒈𝒕𝒉 𝒐𝒇 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒔, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒆 𝒅𝒊𝒆 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒊𝒇 𝒊𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒕 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍. 𝑯𝒆, 𝒃𝒚 𝒅𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈, 𝒅𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒐𝒚𝒆𝒅 𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒉 𝒊𝒏 𝒉𝒊𝒎𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇; 𝒘𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝒅 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒉 𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒚 𝒊𝒏 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒉.

        𝑯𝒆 𝒏𝒆𝒆𝒅𝒆𝒅 𝒏𝒐 𝒉𝒆𝒍𝒑 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒖𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒔𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒖𝒔; 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒘𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒅𝒐 𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈. 𝑯𝒆 𝒈𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒉𝒊𝒎𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇 𝒕𝒐 𝒖𝒔 𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒔; 𝒂𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒘𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒏𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆.

       𝑭𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚, 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒊𝒇 𝒃𝒓𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒅𝒊𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒃𝒓𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒔, 𝒚𝒆𝒕 𝒏𝒐 𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒚𝒓 𝒃𝒚 𝒔𝒉𝒆𝒅𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒃𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒅 𝒃𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒈𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒃𝒓𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒔, 𝒂𝒔 𝑪𝒉𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒕 𝒃𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒈𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒖𝒔.          

       𝑰𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒖𝒔, 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒂𝒏 𝒆𝒙𝒂𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒊𝒎𝒊𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒂 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒐𝒏 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒓𝒆𝒋𝒐𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒏𝒈. 𝑰𝒏𝒂𝒔𝒎𝒖𝒄𝒉, 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒏, 𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒔𝒉𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒃𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒅 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒃𝒓𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒔, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒚𝒓𝒔 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒗𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒅 “𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒎𝒆𝒂𝒍” 𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒆𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑳𝒐𝒓𝒅’𝒔 𝒕𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆. 𝑳𝒆𝒕 𝒖𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒔 𝑪𝒉𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒕 𝒂𝒍𝒔𝒐 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒅 𝒖𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒈𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒉𝒊𝒎𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇 𝒖𝒑 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒖𝒔.” (𝘌𝘥 𝘔𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘺 - 𝘈𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘭 2, 2026)