Back in the 1950’s & 60’s, when Christian Herter was governor of Massachusetts, he was running hard for a second term in office. One day, after a busy morning chasing votes (and no lunch), he arrived at a church barbecue. It was late afternoon and he was famished.
As the Governor moved down the serving line, he held out his plate to the woman serving chicken. She put a piece of chicken on his plate and turned to the next person in line.
“Excuse me,” the Governor said, “do you mind if I have another piece of chicken?” “Sorry,” the woman told him. “I’m supposed to give one piece of chicken to each person.” “But I’m starved,” the Governor said. “Sorry,” the woman said again. “Only one to a customer.”
The Governor was a modest and unassuming man, but he decided that this time he would throw a little weight around. “Do you know who I am?” he said. “I am the Governor of this state.”
“And do you know who I am?” the woman said. “I’m the lady in charge of the chicken. Now, move along.”
Whenever Jesus addresses the scribes and Pharisees in the Gospels, He always cautions them about how much they fail to understand what “service” to God and to God’s people is all about. He says that service is not about “throwing one’s weight around” or “Lording” power and authority over others. In fact, at the heart of genuine service to others is how we care (or fail to care) for Christ when we care (or fail to care) for other people. We do well to recall the power of the example set by Jesus when He washed the feet of His followers. “What I just did was to give you an example: as I have done, so you must do.” (John 13, 13-15)
