Earning the Kingdom

Jesus was the master of shock and awe. In the Gospel lesson from Luke for this Sunday, he talks about a master coming home from a wedding feast and finding his servants diligent, waiting up for him. With the lights on, no less. The master is excited to see them, so he sits them down and serves them a late night snack. To the first century hearers, that would be the shock and awe.

I think we lose a lot reading the scriptures and living in the 21st century. Masters and slaves still exist but only from our easy chair, seen from our wide-screen HD TV. I wonder if we truly "get" the scriptures regarding service and servitude. None of us serve because we have to. We do it for a paycheck, a pat on the back, or in response to a need. More or less, we have a choice.

In the United States, there are some that have lost their freedom. Inmates in prison are not free but most of them were, at some point, free to make the decisions that landed them there. Servants, in Jesus day, were the property of their masters and were more slaves than employees. They were obligated to take care of the needs of their master and, in turn, the master provided them room and board.

I think because the parables do quite often use the roles of servant and master, we get a slightly skewed perception. So I ask this question. Do we get joy out of serving or is there a motive behind it. Are we looking to gain Brownie points in the Divine Game? Maybe we feel service is a payback for His grace or a proverbial jewel in our crown. Maybe a foot up on that ladder rung to heaven?

How are we transformed in this service to God and others? Does just "doing it" make us eventually not only want to, but ultimately change us to do it for the right reason? Or should we sit back and wait until we feel like it, for the Spirit to move us?

Looking back, I can definitely see for me it came in stages. Being a people-pleaser most of my life, I started out more or less trying to please God. Surprisingly I found there was an added bonus. I pleased lots of people that way. Who-hoo! Then life overwhelmed me, pulling me away from serving others to serving my husband during a long illness. It lasted a year and coming out of it, I realized I did not want to return to my former life. I saw what I had been, had done, and most of all why I did it. I realized I was not that person anymore.

So I did nothing. Oh, there were a few things I returned to - teaching my weekly Sunday School class, singing in the choir - but nothing major. I was not where I wanted to be, but was too sapped to think about anything else.

Now, I am in a different place. I decided to make myself available. Not to my church or other organizations, but to God. I have to admit I was a little disappointed when He did not use me right away. Kept waiting for the nudge or feeling. That little "ah-ha" I have felt in the past. Kind of like a person waiting for that phone call - the one saying they have the job.

But slowly, I realized if I was truly different, then I might not hear Him in the same old way. In fact, there were changes already taking place. I was seeing and responding in the ordinary. Without even noticing it. Seeing needs or places where I could "be" not necessarily "do". Feeling gratitude to the lady that cleans my office building and expressing it. Hearing the emotion in a person's voice and listening, instead of stepping over it to express my next brilliant remark.

I like this spot, it feels like a groove. No not a groove, because that is a "place". Maybe I am no longer a location but a moving target. I think I am living for short time periods in the "kingdom zone". It is not a destination, not even a journey. I can't describe it and you know what? I think that may be the way it is meant to be.