It was her favourite sweater. Every morning I helped her put it on and every morning she told me she had made it. And every morning I told her it was beautiful. The creamy woolen cardigan sweater with its large wooden buttons had served her well. It had two large pockets that held her daily necessities: Kleenex, a few coins, house keys. It gave her security, comfort, warmth and joy. She was mostly blind by macular degeneration and ninety-four-years old. She had knit the sweater at least sixty years earlier. One day her daughter took it home and washed it. It was just like a brand new sweater. It just kept giving and giving and giving. Talk about service beyond the call of duty!

That woolen sweater represented to me what genuine servanthood is all about. It made the words of the Apostle Paul clearer: "to present our bodies as a living sacrifice which is a Christian’s reasonable service."

The woolen sweater gave her security in its lifelong faithful service and commitment reminding me of Ruth’s faithful promise to her mother-in-law when she said "Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried" (NIV Ruth 1:16,17). Ruth was turning her back on her old way of life, denying herself in order to provide security to another. In Matthew 16:24 Jesus says to deny ourselves and follow him. We have to ask ourselves: "Could I do what this young widow did? Could I put my mother-in-law’s needs before my own?" This denying of one’s own wants and desires and looking to serve others as a way of life fulfills our reasonable service to God.

The familiar woolen sweater gave the old woman comfort and a feeling of well-being and contentment. Jesus was born to be a servant, to give comfort to all. In Mark 9:35, when the disciples were disputing who was the greatest… Jesus said "If any man desire to be first, the same shall be last of all and servant of all." A servant’s job is to do all he can to make life better for others. A servant’s first interest is not himself but others. "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than you. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others" (NIV Philippians 2:3-4). Isaiah tells us how. He says: "Learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow." He then says what the Lord promises us in return for our sacrifice. "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool" (Isaiah 1:17,18). Do we act on our feelings to comfort and nurture others who have less than we do? When we, as God’s people, do as God commands: "if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head." Do we have what it takes to forgive? If we overcome evil with good, we have succeeded in fulfilling the instruction of "offering our bodies as living sacrifices."

On cool mornings, the woolen sweater snuggled her in love and warmth. Jesus made it clear that our relationship with God is evidenced by our relationship with each other. In fact, Jesus authorized an identifying mark of his followers and that was bound up in our ability to love our brother. Selfishness is the source of division and servanthood the basis of unity. As the King’s loyal son, Jonathon’s love for David is a good example of selfless brotherly love. David was dressed in shepherd’s apparel unfitting for Saul’s court. "And Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was on him and gave it to David, with his armor, including his sword and his bow and his belt" (1 Samuel 17:57). This evidently was an ancient custom - friends exchanging armor. In this case David had none to exchange, and so Jonathan gave him his. The ancients believed that clothes were simply an expression of what the man was. In that moment, Jonathan was giving of himself to David when he gave him his armor. David had already rejected Saul's armor, but he accepts Jonathan's. And as his soul was knit to David, Jonathon sacrificed his entitlement to his father’s throne. Jonathan loved David as himself and he made a covenant with him, a permanent commitment to their friendship. And he proved his commitment by giving all he had, laying down his life for his friend. He clothed David in warmth and love. What greater friendship is this? Have we learned to love our brethren like this?

The woolen sweater was, in her dark world, a daily source of joy and pleasure. If anyone is qualified to speak on the subject of suffering it is the Apostle Paul—a man flogged, beaten, imprisoned, and exposed to death over and over. Paul was able to "rejoice" in his own suffering because he knew "in all things God works for the good of those who have been called according to his purpose" (NIV Romans 8:28). "For Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong" (NIV 2 Corinthians 12:10). That’s how Paul was able to remain assured in his terribly unsure years in prison. We should think of a spiritually joyful Paul in prison, not someone downcast and fearful. He is striding around some small room or dismal cell in Rome, perhaps even chained to a Roman soldier, yet we see Paul carefully dictating a profoundly positive letter to encourage the church.

The letter to the Philippians becomes a message of joy. The word joy occurs 16 times in its various forms in the letter. Spiritual joy, rejoicing in Christ, is a major theme. "I will continue to rejoice," Paul writes to concerned believers while he is under house arrest in Rome (Philippians 1:18). Yet he is the one encouraging the church to have hope, joy and peace. He virtually demands the members to feel triumphant: "Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!" (v 4). Paul demonstrates a wonderful pattern for us as a "living sacrifice." Do we follow Paul’s lead and not complain about our discomfort and trials? To rejoice and to give joy and pleasure to others in spite of our own trials is fulfillment of our reasonable service.

Do others want to put us on like a comfortable woolen sweater? Do they feel snuggly secure and safe, warm and joyful in our presence? Of course having the ability to be a living sacrifice takes a miracle…the love of God in each of us. Let’s remember the woolen sweater and how it selflessly bestowed upon the elderly blind woman a feeling of security, comfort, warmth and joy, and in doing so became symbolic of true and faithful servanthood.

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Let’s look at the secrets of wool from a sheep’s body that provide for our security, warmth, comfort, and joy as an example of a living sacrifice.

"The secret of wool lies in the structure of its fiber, which absorb moisture, insulate against heat and cold, resist flame and maintain their resilience. Unlike cotton, linen, silk or polyester, wool fibers are covered with tiny scales, making them look like pinecones…When one fiber’s scales rub against those of others, they pull the fibers together in irreversible tangles. When compacted under heat and moisture, the wool shrinks into felt. Although its scaly surface tends to repel liquids, the wool fiber’s core is highly absorbent, taking in as much as 30 percent of its weight and moisture…By drawing perspiration away from the body, wool clothes prevents the skin from feeling clammy during summer and helps to hold in heat during winter" (Wool, the Fabric of History. National Geographic Vol. 173, No. 5 May 1988 p.556)