“For the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Reflecting on the earthly life of Jesus, we see the reality of true servanthood. Indeed, because of his love for us, Jesus did not deem his equality with God but came down to earth as a servant to live among us and to live like us in all things but sins. During his ministry life, wherever he went, he brought blessings. He served people where they were, and performed miracles, allowing the lame to walk, the blind to see, lepers to be cleansed, and the dead to be raised again. Especially during the Last Supper, he knelt and washed his disciples' feet. He then concluded about his servanthood: For the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. This is Jesus’ servanthood. This is biblical servanthood. This is servant leadership.

Without a doubt, we now live in a world without an idea of what it means to be a servant. Servanthood has a negative connotation in most people’s minds. Indeed, the popular world’s mindset embraces the idea of being the leader, the head, the boss, or the stronger; however, Jesus modeled a radically different concept. Anyone not willing to humbly serve has no business being a leader. In other words, servant leadership is the opposite of being self-centered. Rather, it’s all about putting others first. And I think servant leadership is the perfect preparation for leadership the way God sees it, through which transformation happens. In other words, we demonstrate God's grace and love to the world by leading with the proper and humble mindset and the right heart.

I think of my dad as an example of this servant leadership. My dad was the sixth child in a well-off family of twelve children in North Central Vietnam in the 1940s. Unfortunately, at age 10, he lost his father because of persecution against Christians back then in Vietnam. Growing up without a father was very tough for him. He knew it so well that he wanted to make sure that we had a good father, and I knew he had tried so hard to be able to do it. He also worked so hard to provide us with everything we needed for our future. He was our first teacher of faith and morality. He taught us to pray and instilled honesty, strength, courage, kindness, and generosity in us. The best thing I loved about my father was, regardless of persecution and hardship, he never gave up his faith in God. He offered everything up to God and let God lead his life. He was also very generous with others. He sacrificed his whole life for his family and community. After getting married to my mother and having six children, he allowed himself to work for his parish for 30 years as a chair of the parish council without any compensation. In a nutshell, despite his defects and limitations, my dad was a great father to us, and a great leader for our community. His fatherhood and servant leadership set up a role model for me, my siblings, and many others, living out our faith, love, and hope. 

Sadly, many people nowadays carry themselves around with an “ahead of the pack” mentality, which goes against what Jesus taught. Their way often leads to discord and feuds. Meanwhile, God’s word, way, and leadership tell us to esteem each other better than ourselves. God’s leadership or servant leadership teaches us that the last shall be first and the first shall be last. Serving others in love allows God to elevate us to leadership. We’ve been called to freedom, but we must use this freedom to serve one another in love. When we can learn this spiritual law; when we keep our minds on the unfolding reign of God, He will help us to give up the self-serving self and gain another, higher, better self – the selfless and faithful self.