In
today’s gospel, Jesus affirms the Pharisees and scribes as the legitimate
leaders of the people, following Moses. He tells His disciples to obey and
respect them but not to follow their example. What they say is true so follow
them, but in practice they are misusing their authority for the sake of their
selfish advantage, so do not imitate their example.
Many
people say that today, we have a leadership crisis. But we do not have a
leadership crisis but a servant leadership crisis. We have too many people who
want to be first, who want to lead the parade, to be on top of the heap, who
want the big office, to have the title, the power, the perks and the prestige.
We don't have enough people who really want to wash the dirty feet of others as
Jesus did. The question today, is not where are the leaders but much simpler
than that, where are the servants.
Many
people say that authority is bad. They say that power corrupts. Everyday we
hear stories about scandals among politicians, corporate heads, even in the
church and others who hold positions of authority. But authority is good
because it comes from God. God
entrusts a share of His authority to men and
women. It is the abuse of authority that makes authority a bad thing. Authority
is entrusted to us by God not to dominate and exploit others but for service.
So leadership is service, leadership by example.
In
the gospel text of today, and in fact in the whole of chapter 23, Matthew
collects more sayings of Jesus to highlight Jesus' criticism of the religious
authorities of His day. The scribes and Pharisees took pride in being leaders,
yet failed to be servants. In the world, for you to be a leader, you must have power,
a title, some elevated authority, you must be able to order people on what to
do. But God's view of leadership is quite different. We see this on Jesus. In
the mind of Jesus, if you want to be a leader, you must be a servant. It is at
this point that we come face to face with the shattering words of Jesus Christ:
"whoever would be great, must become a servant. Whoever desires to be
first, must become the slave of all."
So,
how do Jesus’ words apply to us here in the 21st century? He is telling us, “Be
aware who we listen to and who we imitate. “These men preach but they do not
practice.” Yes, if Jesus were here today would he be saying, “Don’t pay
attention to some of the things you see at the movies or on television, don’t
listen to some of the things you hear on the radio, don’t admire some rich
people who have gained their wealth by dishonestly inflating the earnings of
their companies only to have the company go bankrupt and their employees lose
their pensions? He is saying, ” Choose carefully those to whom you listen
because there are many examples in our society of the modern “Scribes and
Pharisees.”
If
we do an honest soul-searching, we know that what Jesus was criticizing here
are not the tendencies of the Pharisees and saducees alone. We also fall into
them, the tendencies are also ours. Although Jesus and St Paul and Malachi are
speaking predominantly of religious leaders, there is a measure here for us
all, of course. Humility, which means seeing ourselves in the proper
perspective and relationship to others and God, is a quality that Jesus upholds
over and over again. It is so easy to lose our humility is not a popular trait
today. With all our emphasis on positive self-concept and feeling good about
ourselves, we may have gone in the other direction.
But
how are we going to serve as leaders in order to show good example to people?
St Paul in our second reading today tells us his description of service as a
leader among the Thessalonians. He tells them that he worked day and night
while preaching the gospel. He served selflessly. He was not trying to impress
them or gain anything from them. Thus, he was giving to people not simply human
words but the word of God. St Paul is truly a great example, putting into
practice precisely what Jesus teaches today: “The greatest among you must be
your servant.”
If
we look and reflect on the gospel, it is clear that Jesus respected Moses and
the law. He knew how much His people had found strength in the law. The scribes
and Pharisees played an important role in keeping the great traditions of the
Israelites alive and Jesus recognized them as those who continued Moses’ task
and deserved people’s attention. The problem however, is that these Pharisees
and scribes face the danger of inconsistency between their teachings and their
practices. They taught very well and follow the law even to the smallest detail
but they do not practice what they teach in concrete lives. Jesus points out in
what He says that the greatest must be the servant (v. 11); that the leader
must be the servant of all like Jesus Christ.
It
is important to note that the gospel text of today is addressed to the crowds
and disciples (Mt. 23:1). To them, Jesus proposed the virtue of humility, and
simplicity. This simply consists in not drawing our personal identities from
the roles that we fulfill, or from the titles that are attached to our roles.
(23:8-10). In fulfilling our responsibilities, Jesus invites us to respect the
supremacy of God, the Father. Humility is defined by Webster as having a moderate
and realistic view of ones own importance. And what humility does best is cause us to see other people and their
needs, and their strengths and weaknesses. It helps improve our perspective and
puts God in the position that He should be. When we are humble and put others
first, we reap rewards in the future.
This
is the good news, God's Good News (IThess 2:9), as we read in the second
reading of today. I can be humble because of My depth. Our Christian community
can be simplle because we are rooted in God. The sole reason for the exercise
of the Church is to mediate this Gospel of God: have we not all one Father.
What
then, are we to do? The first thing we must do is to admit that there is a
tremendous gap between what we are and what we ought to be. We need to
recognize the truth about ourselves and then, asking for Gods mercy, set about
amending our lives. In the seventh chapter of his Gospel, Matthew reports Jesus
as warning us; "judge not that you will not be judged. For with the
judgement you pronounce, you will be judged, and the measure you give will be
the measure you get. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye,
but do not notice the log in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, let me
take the speck out of your eye when there is the log in your own eye? You
hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see
clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye."
It
seems to me that there is only one difference between a saint and a sinner, and
it's this: the saint keeps on trying. The saint humbly admits that God alone is
holy and that we all fall far short of God's infinite holiness. The saint tries
to be sincere, tries not to wear a mask, or to be pretentious. The saint tries
to walk the Christian walk and not simply talk the Christian talk. The saint
reverses the old saying or turns it around to say this: do as I do, not just as
I say. Ask yourself this question: when have you ever heard a saintly person
demand things of others that they don't demand of themselves? The problem the
Pharisees faced was that they loaded up others with heavy burdens placing
impossible loads on other people's shoulders without lifting a finger to help
them. At the same time they excuse themselves of many of those same
obligations.
Servanthood
is not about position or skill. It is about attitude. We have undoubtedly met
people in service positions like people in the government, organizations,
church and other areas who have poor attitudes toward servanthood. And just as
we can sense when a worker doesn’t want to help people, we can just as easily
detect whether a leader has a servant’s heart or not. The truth is, the best
leaders desire to serve others, not themselves, to put others ahead of their
own agenda, possess the confidence to serve, initiate service to others, not
position-conscious, serve out of love.
Servant-leadership
is never motivated by manipulation or self-promotion. In the end, the extent of
our influence depends on the depth of our concern for others. That is why it is
so important for leaders to be willing to serve. The call to leadership through
service is not only addressed to clergy and to those who hold apostolic office
in the church and to those who hold positions. All Christians are called to
show leadership through service. Those baptized people who do not seek to serve
God and their fellow human beings, cannot be Christians. Each one of us has the
responsibility to show the authenticity of the Christian message through our
love and service. Like for example, the best husband is the one who meets the
needs of his wife most generously. The good superior or boss is the first one
to do what he expects from his subordinates. The concerned school principal who
reports to school early finds the teachers punctual for their duties. The
dedicated head of office that attends to his tasks inspires the other employees
to work efficiently and effectively.
For
our government official, instead of fighting with each other, insulting each
other and hitting each other below the belt, pocketing the money for projects,
how about implementing projects that are for people so that people may love and
support them? In other words, it is service that matters. If we want to become
great human beings and outstanding Christians, then we must serve the rest. Our
service might take the form of meeting their physical and material needs like:
washing or cooking meals for the family and many more. It is a small thing but
taken for granted. In the eyes of God it is the greatest performance we ever
have.
Our
service might taken the form of caring for the emotional and psychological
needs of others like offering them companionship when they are down and
friendship, speaking words of hope and encouragement, showing acceptance and
giving recognition. Another form of
service might be to meet the spiritual and faith needs of others like giving
good examples, living simple lifestyles and many more.
Sad
to say there is a tendency for us, however, that the higher our office is, the more
we feel entitled to special privileges and the more we move away from the
hardships ordinary people experience. I hope we realize this early in our
lives, so that the greatest among us is the first to serve. Even the Pope is
reminded of this by his title, “Servant of servants.” If we know some Christian
leaders who are as hypocritical as the scribes and the Pharisees described in
today’s gospel, the challenge for us would be to try and make a distinction
between what they teach which maybe sound and how they live which may not be
worthy of emulation. Those who distance themselves from the Church because they
heard or saw unbecoming behavior of a church leader may indeed be throwing the
baby with the bathwater. Abuse of an office does not nullify the validity of
the office itself.
Let’s
consider how hypocritical it is for someone to approach the altar Sunday after
Sunday to take a share of the Eucharist, the Bread of Life, while all too eager
to cast a vote for politicians who support and promote the killing of unborn
children. How hypocritical it is for
married couples to go to almost any length, using pills and any other kind of
scientific devices so they can abandon the promise they made on their wedding
day to accept children lovingly from God.
How
hypocritical it is to challenge the young to just say no to drugs while adults
casually indulge and overindulge, themselves on alcohol at church-sponsored
events. How hypocritical it is to beg
God to bless Nigeria while filling our minds with the filth that pours out of
our Television screens. The list could go on and on. It is so easy to be hypocritical that we can
even be hypocritical about being a hypocrite.
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