The leadership of service

For Sunday 18^th October, 2009

Mark 10:35-45 (NIV)

 ³⁵Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him. "Teacher," they said, "we want you to do for us whatever we ask."

 ³⁶"What do you want me to do for you?" he asked.

 ³⁷They replied, "Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory."

 ³⁸"You don't know what you are asking," Jesus said. "Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?"

 ³⁹"We can," they answered. Jesus said to them, "You will drink the cup I drink and be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with, ⁴⁰but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared."

 ⁴¹When the ten heard about this, they became indignant with James and John. ⁴²Jesus called them together and said, "You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. ⁴³Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, ⁴⁴and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. ⁴⁵For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."

Lord, bless the speaking and the hearing our Your Word today. Open our hearts and minds to Your holy Spirit, so that Your saving Word brings light and life to our lives. Secure us in your love and grace, and change all that needs changing in our lives, in our churches, our nation, and throughout the world. Amen.

Winston Churchill was a strong, decisive, and bold leader. He was the leader Britain needed to face the threat and dangers of the second World War. Despite his great achievements, Churchill was rude to his staff, battled depression, and was often volatile and unpredictable. His archenemy Adolph Hitler was kinder to his staff, but few people appreciate Hitler as they do Churchill. The key difference is this: Churchill was not a totalitarian dictator.

We need leaders, but not dictators. Totalitarian rule takes to an extreme, the sin of disregarding others and insisting on having our own way. One of the main lessons we need to learn as young children, is that life includes other people, and their needs and desires, not just ours.

Leaders do well to remember this. Whether we are leaders in our families (parents or older siblings), at school, work, or in our congregation or other community organizations, we will be tempted to do what Jesus warns his disciples against, in today’s gospel:

(Mark 10, verses 42 and the beginning of 43)

"You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you.”

“Not so with you.” Jesus says very clearly: ‘as my followers, I want you to be different.’

As you heard in the reading, the background to this is that James and John asked Jesus to set them up in positions of privilege and power, one at his right, the other at his left. This made the other disciples angry. Why? Because they either wanted those positions for themselves, or they wanted a say in who got them! But Jesus said, in effect, ‘God the Father will look after who gets those positions.’

Jesus doesn’t tell them off for wanting positions of authority or leadership. But he makes three points:

1. There is a cost – a ‘baptism’ (in the sense that we say someone might go through ‘a baptism of fire’) –  that has to be paid before we gain positions of glory.

2. We usually think we know who will best fit a certain position, whether ourselves or others, and we might try to make this happen by human means and manipulations. But what really counts is the Father’s will.  (I.e. what God the Father wants for us and for others).

3. There are two ways of exercising authority:  (1) the world’s way of “lording it”  or dominating other people, and (2) Jesus’ way of lowly service.

It might seem practical and expedient to “lord it”  over others. We know the saying:

‘Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely,’ but in our case, do we sometimes fantasize about having absolute power, or at least a bit of extra power, to actually get things done?   It takes time to consult everyone and go through the democratic process, and often nothing happens. Executive power can be practical: it can serve the needs of a group to have certain people, or a certain person, to look after particular jobs and responsibilities.

Sometimes, for practical purposes, we let our leaders make decisions for us. However, some things should always come back to the whole group.  At the very least, the needs of the group should be carefully considered. God puts people in authority to serve.

God has called us to love each other, and to serve each other. We do not love or serve others if we make up their minds for them, make decisions for them, or keep them quiet.

To allow all in the group to participate shows love and respect and fulfils God’s law of  love.  

Why might we not allow others to voice their thoughts and ideas? We might be afraid that the group will decide to do something different to what we want. So we manipulate things in such a way as to get our own way. We won’t allow certain things to be discussed. We won’t allow certain people to speak. We shoot down their points or reasoning, or if we can’t do that, we shoot them down instead in subtle and not so subtle personal attack. It’s not pleasant to be on the receiving end of this.  

Our Lord laid down his life for us. He calls us to lay down our lives in love for one another, and for the wider world. We need to give him our fears and insecurities, and anything that might drive our need to be right, and to have things our own way. Jesus came to serve us… to deliver us from our insecurities, our fears. More than this, he came to die for our sins. Let’s humble ourselves and seek God’s forgiveness, if we have sinned by abusing authority in any way. Let’s also ask God’s forgiveness if we have not helped our leaders to serve in the best possible ways.

The work of the Spirit is to brings us back to God. Through the gospel, he does this.

Now, with clean hearts and clear consciences, we can take a fresh look at our patterns of behavior, and any structures or set ways of doing things. If the way we do things excludes and puts down other people, we need to change.  We are called to serve one another, and to build up each other in love. May God grant that we never lord it over a brother or sister or over anyone in our world. Instead, may he fill us with his Spirit, the Spirit of love and humble service. Amen.