Sermon: The Servant King

From Wellington Cathedral of St Paul

Good Friday 2010: Three Hour Service Pt 1

HYMNS THAT SPEAK TO US

Talk No 6: The Servant King CP 432

Jenny Wilkens

The final hymn I have chosen today is a hymn that was written as recently as 1983, by Graham Kendrick, another British hymn-writer. born in 1950,

Graham Kendrick is another internationally published hymn writer of our time, whose songs are sung in churches across the whole spectrum of denominations and traditions. It's said that Charles Wesley wrote thousands of hymns, of which we perhaps sing a hundred or so today. There were many other people writing hymns in his time, none of whose work is remembered or sung at all today. It is has often been thought that of the myriad of hymns and worship songs being written in the church in our day, most will be forgotten but some of Graham Kendrick's hymns will still be sung in the centuries ahead. And this is one of them.

This hymn is perhaps best known by its title, The Servant King, rather than by its first line, 'From heav'n you came, helpless babe'. But I think these sixteen lines of densely packed images fulfil well what Dean Frank described in his introduction as the essence of a good hymn: 'a few pithy lines of well-chosen words'.

I find in these sixteen lines an abundance of imagery to reflect on, and an amazingly condensed theology of the incarnation and self-offering. It doesn’t say everything there is to say about the cross and Easter, but what it does say is powerfully expressed.

The first verse plunges us straight into the mystery of the incarnation and the vulnerability of the Word becoming flesh in our neighbourhood - 'helpless babe, enter'd our world, your glory veiled'. I am reminded of Wordsworth's words in his Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood: "trailing clouds of glory do we come, from God, who is our home".

And then immediately the motif of service is introduced, echoing Jesus' words to his quarreling, competitive disciples in Mark 10:43-45. "Whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many."

This is our God, the Servant King. I think through familiarity we lose the shock value of that juxtaposition of Servant and King. Perhaps it would be better if we went back to the original meaning of the Greek word used here, doulos, slave. Jesus is the Slave King. Perhaps that reclaims for us the starkness of that oxymoron, Slave and King.

Verse 2 contains its own oxymoron, its own paradox as the emotions of Jesus' experience in the garden of tears, the garden of Gethsemane, are explored. Juxtaposed alongside each other, we hear first of all that going to the cross as the sin-bearer of our sins is Jesus' own choice : 'my heavy load, he chose to bear'. But then we are reminded of the reality of Jesus' humanity, his struggle with the approaching suffering, 'his heart with sorrow was torn', and then finally that note of resignation or is it resolution - 'yet not my will but yours, he said'. In typical Biblical fashion, these seemingly conflicting emotions are simply placed alongside each other. And this is so often the reality in our lives, our mixed motives, our wrestling before God in prayer, our final faltering step of trust, Jesus knew these experiences too.

Verse 3 I think for me expresses in extraordinary images the reality of the crucified God. It is this same Creator God whose hands flung stars into space, who now allows himself to be pinned down to the cross, to cruel nails surrendered.

This is no impassive God watching from a distance, while his Son writhes on the cross. This is no divine child abuse as it is has been called. Rather as Paul tells the Corinthians, God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself (2 Cor. 5:19). God knows the reality of self-giving, of self-sacrifice.

That is as far as Kendrick takes the Easter story in this hymn, for his focus then shifts to our response. Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all (When I survey the wondrous cross).

And so we are called to model our lives on Christ - 'so let us learn how to serve, and in our lives enthrone him.' How do we enthrone Jesus in our lives - by serving others, in whom we see the face of Christ: 'each other's needs to prefer, for it is Christ we're serving.

And we are to seek to do this daily - 'to bring our lives as a daily offering of worship to the Servant King.' Our worship of God does not just happen in this building, rather as Paul reminded the Roman church: 'I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.' (Rom 12:1)

You may like to reflect on how God the Servant King is calling you to serve and worship with your life this Easter time.