I have a friend who doesn't like to go to fast food restaurants, cafeterias or any other kind of self-serve eating establishments. It's not the nutritional content of the food that bothers him. He's not a slow food advocate. "I like to be served," he says, and wants a full service restaurant where he will be waited on.

We all probably prefer to be served rather than serve ourselves. The do-it-yourself movement, while strong and growing, is mostly due to economic necessity, I suspect, and not personal preference. Who would rather build his own deck, all things being equal, rather than have someone else do it for him? Or wash the car? Or clean the house?

It's a sign of status and wealth to be served. Another friend of mine moved to India a few years ago. He is embarrassed to tell his friends that he has a team of servants to perform just about every household task imaginable - a cook, a waiter, a maid and a groundskeeper. It is expected in that culture, he says, as a way of employing local residents in the community where he lives, but he still feels it smacks of an ostentatious show of wealth.

In today's Gospel reading, the disciples are once again fighting over who is most important in Jesus' company. James and John approach Jesus privately and ask him, "Grant that in your glory we may sit one at your right and the other at your left."

Jesus is not pleased at their attempt to separate themselves from the others. "Whoever wishes to be great among you will be your servant," Jesus tells them. "Whoever wishes to be first among you will be the slave of all. For the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many."

We may like to be served, and see it as a sign of dignity and importance. Jesus does not. He calls his followers to be servants of all, and concludes his message with the reminder that this was and is his ministry. The Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve.

These are challenging words for a culture that celebrates the served more than the servant. But our lives are to be about following Jesus' example of empowering others, especially the weak and frail in our communities. This, he tells his followers jockeying for positions of power and influence, is the path to true greatness.

Jesus redirects the ambition of the disciples and challenges them to aspire to a better way of living, one where they can enjoy God's power, rather than acquire and protect their own. His message and his example are clear. No one relinquished more power and influence than he did, for friend and enemy alike. If God is servant of all, there is nothing greater that we can hope to become.

Bill Peatman writes from Napa. He may be reached at bptidings@yahoo.com.