Perspective: The Place at the Top

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The Place at the Top

So which one is greater, the one who is seated at the table or the one who serves at the table?  Isn't it the one who is seated at the table?  But I am among you as one who serves.

Luke 22:27 (CEB)

Lean on me
When you're not strong
And I'll be your friend
I'll help you carry on
For it won't be long
Till I'm gonna need
Somebody to lean on

From "Lean on Me" by Bill Withers

Esau has just prepared a special meal for his father Isaac.¹  Earlier that day, Isaac, who has become nearsighted, called for his son Esau and asked him to go out on a hunt and to prepare him a meal from what he killed.  Isaac, unsure of how much time he has left in this world, promised to give Esau a special blessing after he finishes eating.  Esau approaches his father and says, "Let my father sit up and eat from his son's game so that you may bless me."

Isaac turns toward his son and asks, "Who are you?"

Esau replies, "I'm your son, your oldest son, Esau."

Isaac begins trembling and says, "Who was the hunter just here with game?  He brought me food, and I ate all of it before you came.  I blessed him, and he will stay blessed!"

Esau begins weeping.  He cries to Isaac, "Bless me!  Me too, my father!"

Realizing what has happened, Isaac says to Esau, "Your brother has already come deceitfully and has taken your blessing."  While Esau was still on his hunt, his twin brother Jacob conspired with their mother Rebekah, disguised himself as Esau, served his father a meal Rebekah prepared, and then received the special blessing meant for Esau.

When Isaac unknowingly blessed Jacob, he said to him,

May God give you
showers from the sky,
olive oil from the earth,
plenty of grain and new wine.
May the nations serve you,
may peoples bow down to you.
Be the most powerful man among your brothers,
and may your mother’s sons bow down to you.
Those who curse you will be cursed,
and those who bless you will be blessed.

This blessing is evidently irretractable and unrepeatable, and it essentially secures the blessed son's place at the top of a hierarchy.

As the oldest son, Esau should have been guaranteed the place at the top, according the customs of his culture.  Esau's twin brother Jacob reportedly came out of the womb immediately after Esau because he was clutching Esau's heel.²  Evidently Jacob has been trying to wrestle the place at the top away from his older brother ever since they were born!

Devastated, Esau asks his father, "Haven't you saved a blessing for me?"

Isaac replies, "I've already made him more powerful than you, and I've made all of his brothers his servants.  I've made him strong with grain and wine.  What can I do for you, my son?"

Isaac cannot simply give both of his sons the same blessing.

Then Jacob and Esau would have to be servants to each other.

Imagine that.

In the Gospels, we read that one day Jesus' disciples start grappling for the places at the top.  Believing that Jesus will soon be crowned king, His disciples James and John ask Him if He would make them His second and third in command.³  When the other disciples become angry, Jesus says,

You know that the ones who are considered the rulers by the Gentiles show off their authority over them and their high-ranking officials order them around.  But that's not the way it will be with you.  Whoever wants to be great among you will be your servant.  Whoever wants to be first among you will be the slave of all, for the Human One didn't come to be served but rather to serve and to give his life to liberate many people.⁴

The Disciples want places of power, but Jesus urges them to seek places of servanthood, pointing out that He has acted as a servant among them.

In the Gospel of John, we read that, on the evening before Jesus is arrested, He models humble service for the Disciples in a very vivid way.  He takes off His robe, ties a towel around His waist, fills a basin with water, and washes the Disciples' feet.⁵  When Jesus finishes washing the Disciples' feet, He puts on His robe and says to the Disciples,

Do you know what I've done for you?  You call me "Teacher" and "Lord," and you speak correctly, because I am.  If I, your Lord and teacher, have washed your feet, you too must wash each other's feet.  I have given you an example: Just as I have done, you also must do.  I assure you, servants aren't greater than their master, nor are those who are sent greater than the one who sent them.  Since you know these things, you will be happy if you do them.⁶

If the Son of God is not too important to serve people, then neither is anyone else.

It seems like so many people in this world are trying to make it to the top of a proverbial ladder.  To get ahead, they have to pull down the people above them, and, to keep themselves from being pulled down, they have to kick the people below them.  As usual, Jesus calls us to be countercultural.  He urges us to get off the ladder entirely and encourages us to seek ways to serve each other.

There can only be one person at the top, but we will find the people who are truly blessed in the places of servanthood.


Notes:

1. Much of this perspective is based on Genesis 27:1-40.  Quotations are taken from the Common English Bible.
2. Genesis 25:24-26
3. Mark 10:35-37
4. Mark 10:41-45 (CEB)
5. John 13:4-5
6. John 13:12-16 (CEB)

Isaac Blessing Jacob was painted by Govert Flinck in 1638.