St. Lawrence Fund
Web site editing is password controlled
Jesus’ investment in others made him one with those he enriched. He enriched others through measureless service. His service came at the price of self-emptying.
Solidarity. Service. Self-emptying. These gifts exhausted Jesus’ very capacity to give. The fourth gospel comments: “Having loved his own in the world, he loved them to the end.” (Jn 13:1) The end that is, not of his life, but of his capacity to love.
Jesus himself urges: “Love one another as I have loved you.” (Jn 13:34) This imperative of love overarches all diversities of history, culture and community. It stands forever as the supreme challenge to the entire Church.
Diakonia -- the generic term for “service” in the pagan Greek religion--is often thought to have been first applied in the New Testament to the service committee of seven established in Acts 6:1-6. However, anterior to the “deacons,” anterior even to the “ministers of the word,” stands the love-in-service of Jesus himself.
The diakonia of the Savior is the pulse-beat of the gospel: “I have come that they may have life, and have it more abundantly.” (Jn 10:10) “I am among you as one who serves.” (Lk 22:27) “Greater love than this no one has, that one surrender his life for his friends.” (Jn 15:13) The heroic yet tender compassion of Jesus is for all his followers the touchstone of proclaimed availability.
The Greek-speaking widows of Jerusalem of the first century experienced the neglect that happens even in faith communities. Called to redeem a failure in the primitive Church, the Jerusalem “deacons” set the apostles free for the task of preaching the word. Here is a clear division of roles dictated by emerging needs.
Not much later in Acts,( Ac. 6:8ff, 8:5, 26-40, 21:8) Stephen and Philip are engaged in proclaiming the word of the Lord. Here is a clear example of evolving ecclesial roles. Somewhat later in the New Testament (l Tm. 3:8-13), the deacons form part of a threefold ministerial team:
- episkopoi (“administrators”)
- presbyteroi (“elders”)
- diakonoi (“assistants”)
The team shared responsibility for liturgy, evangelization, and the concerns of charity.
To the service dimension of the Christina faith, the apostle Paul contributed a rich theology and a rare organizational skill. He was the first to argue for:
- a diversity of gifts but the same Spirit
- a diversity of ministries but the same Lord,
- a diversity of works but the same God who works in all. (1 Cor 12:4-6)
Paul’s letters disclose his basic principle in this area: “a diversity of ministries according to a diversity of gifts.” While his theology affirmed the commitment of his co-workers, his organizational talent channeled their charisms to full pastoral leadership and service. For leadership in the Christian scheme of things is not a status but a service. And leadership and service strike a balance through moral sensitivity, not organizational efficiency. Joined together, leadership and service insure magnanimity; separated, one tends to breed ambition, the other baseness.
The diaconal function of the Church has two reference points: a genuine faith-experience of the servanthood of Jesus, a living witness to that servanthood in the complexities of human life. Christian diakonia, inspired by a Christ-centered vision of life, ratifies a system of values which addresses the needs and movements of the times. Thus by urging a generous sharing of ecclesial resources, sacred and secular, diakonia helps the human community to grow and makes possible, under God, a fuller experience of His kingdom.
For the deacon, then, Christian servanthood means love-in-service for others. This self-giving embodies the call of grace, the minister’s special gifts, and the specific needs of the community. Because such servanthood is based on biblical insight, the Exodus and Resurrection experiences still serve as pivotal patterns. The Exodus enshrines God’s invitation to covenant faith and liberation from oppression. The Resurrection inaugurates God’s basic victory over human violence, sin, and death. Both experiences arise out of a servant-leadership fully attuned to God’s will and call. Both experiences still speak of love-in-service and vulnerability to servant-leaders in the contemporary faith community.
