My brothers-in-law and siblings were talking the other day about the first jobs that we had. My first job was working at Dairy Queen. I was 16 years old and used to walk to Dairy Queen.
My sister, brother, future brother-in-law and I all worked at McDonald’s for some time together. We talked about what it would be like to work those jobs now that we are a little bit more mature and have more life experiences because back then it was difficult.
The most difficult thing about those jobs was dealing with the people. The people sometimes were just horrible. They were just mean to you. I think when you are 15 or 16 years old and somebody just yells at you across the counter, you take it personally. You do not really know how to respond or react to it.
We hear in the first reading today that the Lord says, “You are my servant.” We are all called to be servants in the world. I want you to think back to your first service job you had to do.
I can still to this day make that perfect Dairy Queen loop at the top of an ice cream cone. I can still do it. I learned at McDonald’s that every cheeseburger made has the perfect amount of ketchup and the perfect amount of mustard.
I learned a very important thing at Walmart. The rule at Walmart is that if the customer is looking for something you do not just say it is over there in aisle 15. You stop what you are doing and lead that customer to the product. That was a cool thing.
When I worked at gas stations, I learned that there are a lot of things to buy. There are a lot of different types of cigarettes, tobacco, alcohol and lottery tickets. I learned all about that at gas stations.
As I look back on these jobs and what it would be like to be an adult back then, I think I would approach it differently. I think I would actually serve and enjoy serving people because when you are younger you think about getting out of work or becoming the boss.
To become that boss or the manager would be really awesome, right? Are any of you bosses or managers? It is not really awesome, is it? It is like a priest becoming a pastor. It is not really that good. There are a lot of things that you have to deal with.
Jesus often comes to us as a servant, and he comes to us showing the way of service. I invite you to think of yourself as a servant and to surrender to that idea.
Just give in to the idea that in this world we do not have to be anything else but a servant. We have those sayings like “the customer is always right” even though you want to strangle them. “The customer is always right.” And, there is the saying “service with a smile.”
What if we went out into the world and were Jesus’ servants? We serve each other whether it is working at Dairy Queen, or helping to raise someone’s children, or serving somebody at work, or as a student preparing for exams. We may be called to be a servant as a husband serving his wife or a wife serving her husband or a child serving their parents.
It could be so different if we just realized that is Christ-like. Being a servant is Christ like. If we enter into that service with that mature faith, all of a sudden it becomes good and wonderful and noble.
We are called to go out into the world and to become servants for the world. Imagine what people would think about the Catholic Church if all of us really did serve the world with a smile.
I invite you to think about yourself as servants and, instead of rejecting that idea, embrace it. When we embrace it, we become more Christ-like. Christ served, and he was rejected. He was humiliated. He was spit upon. He was cursed. He was crucified. He endured it all to show us how we can serve and how we can make it through this world as servants.
Take upon that same mentality for yourselves as we receive the Eucharist, and we walk out of here to be servants for the world. People may truly know how good the church is, how loved they are by God, and ultimately, that we are there to serve them and bring them back.
