We live in times that cry out for leaders with wisdom, common sense, strength of character, and integrity.  We are in the midst of a global pandemic; we continue to try to figure out how to respond and adapt to climate change; chronic issues involving race relationships in Canada and the US are reasserting themselves intensely in our times; and that is just what is in the headlines right now. As we try to deal with these immense challenges, we are approaching significant elections in the States and now in our Province and maybe sooner than later nationally, even while the competence and integrity of some of our leaders are highly suspect.  Well, we won’t solve all these pressing problems in one day or with one sermon but, maybe, the scripture readings for this week and our reflections on them will help us get a better handle on what constitutes credible authority to lead and what integrity in leaders might look like.

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OPENING IN COMMUNION WITH THE ANCIENTS

Psalm 25:1-9, from “Psalms for Praying”, Nan Merrill, Continuum Press, 2002

To you, O Love, I lift up my soul.

O Heart within my heart, in You I place my trust.

Let me not feel unworthy; let not fear rule over me.

Yes! let all who open their hearts savor You and bless the earth!

Fill us with an innate knowledge of your ways, O Love;

shepherd us upon your paths.

Lead us in your truth and teach us,

for through You will we know wholeness.

We shall reflect your light both day and night.

I have experienced your mercy, Compassionate One, and your steadfast love.

You have been with me from the beginning.

Forgive the many times I have walked away from You, choosing to walk alone.

With your steadfast compassion, once again, companion me along your Way.

 

LISTENING TO SACRED SCRIPTURE

Matthew 21:23-32

An incident in the life of Jesus and his parable as a reflection on this experience.

When Jesus entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him as he was teaching, and said, “By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?” Jesus said to them, “I will also ask you one question; if you tell me the answer, then I will also tell you by what authority I do these things. Did the baptism of John come from heaven, or was it of human origin?” And they argued with one another, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say to us, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ But if we say, ‘Of human origin,’ we are afraid of the crowd; for all regard John as a prophet.” So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.” And he said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.”

“Consider this,” Jesus continued.  A man had two sons. He went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ He answered, ‘I will not’; but later he changed his mind and went. The father went to the second and said the same; and he answered, ‘I go, sir’; but he did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are going into the kingdom of God ahead of you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him; and even after you saw it, you did not change your minds and believe him.”

Philippians 2:4-11

A reflection from the writings of Paul on the leadership style Jesus embodied,

probably incorporating words from a hymn or poem circulating at the time.

Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others.  Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death — even death on a cross.  Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

 

TED’S REFLECTIONS

Jesus once counseled his followers to be “as wise as serpents and as harmless as doves.”  He knew very well that, although they carried a benevolent message, they would often do so within a hostile crowd.  Being “sheep among wolves” he called it.  If the medium is the message, as Marshall McLuhan would later put it, then Jesus and his followers are not just to preach but also to embody peace and integrity if they want their message to prevail in a culture that operates largely under more compromised and even sinister rules.

The Gospel passage today shows that Jesus knew well from personal experience what he was talking about.  The incident also shows how well he could handle himself in just such a situation.  He shows that he has the savvy to recognize when he is being played and how not to fall into the trap devious opponents are trying to set for him.  He also shows how fine a line one needs to walk in such a predicament.  How to engage in a verbal sword fight in which your opponents have sharpened their weapons to go in for the kill while you use your words partly to parry the attack but above all to stick to your truth.  How to engage an opponent without stooping to their level.

As the incident develops, Jesus is teaching in the Temple in Jerusalem under the watchful eyes and attentive ears of agents planted in the crowd by the religious establishment.  They interrupt him to ask by what authority he teaches, being an upstart outsider in their estimation – and a dangerous one at that if he manages to find enough receptive folks amongst his audience. They are trying to discredit him with the crowd by putting him in a no-win situation. If he claims to be teaching on his own authority alone, that means he has no official endorsement upon which to claim any credibility, publically exposing himself simply as an ego-inflated, deluded fanatic.  What they would prefer, though, is for him to claim he has his authority directly from God, in which case he would be guilty of blasphemy.  However he answers, he would discredit himself with the crowd and even make himself subject to arrest.  Either way, he would be effectively silenced and his threat eliminated to their authority and to the settled status quo.

Realizing, though, that theirs is not an honest, straightforward question but a trap, he takes a deep breath, gathers his wits, and poses a question back to them about their opinion of the authority by which John the Baptist had taught and acted.  He’ll answer their question, he says, if they answer his. Having a quick huddle, the authorities realize they are hoist on their own petard and withdraw their challenge to Jesus’ authority.  They recognize that, however they answer Jesus’ question, they will undermine their own credibility with the crowd and only end up increasing his public popularity.  Nifty little manoeuver that, which buys him a bit more time before the reigning authorities finally find a way to nail him.  Pun intended!

Jesus then goes on to tell a parable about two sons and their response to their father’s request for help in their vineyard.  The first son initially refuses to help but eventually does while the second initially agrees but doesn’t actually follow through.  I’m sure all of this happened within the hearing of Jesus’ original audience but he directs his parable very pointedly at the religious officials who have just challenged his authority.  They are very much equated with the second son in the parable, the one who said all the right words but didn’t back up his words with appropriate action.  By contrast, the first son represents those who turn out in the end to be the truly faithful ones.  In the whole incident, Jesus manages several things: he affirms the common people, including especially the discounted folk in the crowd; he shows up the official authorities as the villains of the piece; and he demonstrates his own right to teach whether he is officially recognized or not.

Parables and wisdom stories are rich in their application with many subtle layers of meaning.  At the risk of oversimplifying, let me suggest that this incident and its parable is one expression of the old saying that actions speak louder than words.  The proof is in the pudding, to borrow another old saying. So, if we are trying to choose whom to trust and whom to support, take into consideration their claims and their credentials for sure but, above all, look for the inner authority which is evident in the character that shines through their actions.

The excerpt from the letter of Paul to the Philippians today poetically captures the essence of the character of Jesus that shines through his teachings but, more to the point, his actions.  Jesus was the archetype of the servant-leader. The one for whom the common good was never put on the back-burner for self-advancement, ego-satisfaction, or power for its own sake.  The one in whom service, compassion, and humility were more than ideals to strive for; they were essential components in his DNA, expressing themselves innately in everything he said and did.  The one for whom his radical commitment to non-violence was the source of his strength not evidence of his weakness.  And, as Paul writes in presenting this vivid image of Jesus the Servant-Leader, it is not enough to admire him. The point is to emulate him. “Have the same mind that was in Christ”, as Paul puts it.  And then go on to let that mind inform everything we stand for and everything we do.

In the end, I think it comes down to this.  We are the leaders our times need.  It is not just about whom we elect and whom we look for to lead us in this or that context of our lives.  It is also incumbent on each of us to show the qualities of character in ourselves that we look for in those we grant the authority to lead.

Each of us exerts leadership in various contexts of our lives.  As parents and grandparents.  As neighbours and friends.  In our vocational and professional and volunteer roles.  In our choices and advocacy as consumers and in furthering causes and casting our votes as citizens.  In fact, just because we exist, we lend an energy to the world around us and exert an influence on the people we interact with along the way.  By the character we cultivate and the behaviours we exemplify, we help to spread an implicit ethos around us out of which our explicit leaders emerge.  In that sense – and in the best expression of democracy – we are the authority by which our leaders lead because we provide a principled foundation to which we hold our leaders accountable.

And one other thing, maybe the most important implication of our passages and theme for today.  We need to intentionally cultivate the qualities of character that express themselves in servant-leadership.  It is not that they are unnatural to human beings and need to be forced into us.  Just the opposite.  Living compassionately, humbly, and non-violently in the service of the common good is the essence of being human.  Jesus, as a fully-realized human being, demonstrates that beautifully.  But we are conditioned by the world around us so that, from birth, we gradually absorb the false values and strategies that have somehow taken over as normative in the so-called “real world”.  What is innately natural for a human being becomes at least compromised if not corrupted by the shadow side of being human that creeps in and influences a society and its power structure.

What is a church?  Not just a once-a-week event to drop in on when we can.  Not just a building to keep in good repair.  Not just an institution to perpetuate by our financial support and volunteer efforts.  But, above all, a support group to help us remember and recover our essential human nature that is most authentically expressed in compassionate, humble, non-violent service for the common good.  Such a process of spiritual formation leading to social transformation does not happen accidentally.  It happens because churches remember their primary calling to let the mind of Christ be also found in them and then intentionally set about to develop a structured common life that supports its members in their – in our – own healing and liberation, and in their advocacy and action in the world around them – around us.

I would love it if our actions would speak louder than my words.

 

A Quotation to Ponder

From “Leading from Within: Reflections on Spirituality and Leadership”, by Parker Palmer

“A leader is a person who has an unusual degree of power to project onto other people his or her shadow, or his or her light … an unusual degree of power to create the conditions under which other people must live and move and have their being – conditions that can be as illuminating as heaven or as shadowy as hell.  A leader is a person who must take special responsibility for what’s going on inside his or her self, inside his or her consciousness, lest the act of leadership creates more harm than good.”

Further Questions for Reflection

• Who are some examples of true servant-leaders in history or currently?
• In what contexts do I exert influence?
• How do I nurture my authentic self?

 

 

OUR DEDICATION

Our Deepest Fear – A Poem by Marianne Williamson

Also quoted by Nelson Mandela in his inauguration address as President of South Africa

 

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness
that most frightens us.

We ask ourselves
who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?
Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God.

Your playing small
does not serve the world.
There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking
so that other people won’t feel insecure around you.

We are all meant to shine,
as children do.
We were born to make manifest
the glory of God that is within us.

It’s not just in some of us;
it’s in everyone.

And as we let our own light shine,
we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.
As we’re liberated from our own fear,
our presence automatically liberates others.

 

CONCLUDING CHARGE AND BLESSING

In the words of Marian Wright Edelman, an African American activist and children’s advocate

 

A lot of people are waiting for Martin Luther King

or Mahatma Gandhi to come back –

but they are gone.

We are it.

It is up to us.

 

Peace to you.

Amen