Jesus’s Paradigmatic Leadership
Jesus’s words and actions in the upper room before his crucifixion provide paradigmatic guidance from the New Testament on leadership. Jesus gathers a group of leaders—his disciples—who are shaping the movement he began and will shape it even more profoundly after his death, resurrection, and ascension. Earlier I noted how this moment carries significant political importance in the New Testament: not only is Jesus about to be crucified as a political prisoner, but now he tells his disciples how to order their own politics as church community. He tells them about authority in the kingdom of God. Recall Luke 22:24: “[Jesus] said to them, ‘The kings of the gentiles lord it over them, and those in authority over them are called benefactors. But not so with you; rather, the greatest among you must become like the youngest and the leader like one who serves.’” The disciples, of course, had just been arguing among themselves about who was the greatest. Jesus does not rebuke the disciples sternly; instead, he simply tells them that they sound like gentile kings who flaunt their authority.
Jesus does not dwell on these kings, but the contrast is clear enough. They glory in their power over others. By that understanding, one person’s greatness comes at the expense of another’s. Authority rooted in divine power, on the other hand, does not glory in overcoming or dominating. The primary mark of power rooted in divinity is humility. Such power does not revel in itself but gladly shares power with others. As Jesus shares his power in the Gospels, his own power does not diminish but increases. Think of Luke 10, in which Jesus sends out seventy-two followers who preach and heal in the towns Jesus will visit. As Jesus spreads power among them, his power grows too. In some human calculations power and authority appear a zero-sum game. One person having power means others must not, and so those with power flaunt it. But for Jesus, sharing and distributing power only extends his own divine power.
Jesus’s Teachings on Leadership
Jesus expressly tells his disciples to act similarly. Greatness and leadership entail sharing power, holding it lightly, and being willing to move to different places of status in varying circumstances. “The greatest among you must become like the youngest and the leader like one who serves.” We see Jesus’s understanding of the need for flexible authority on full display in John. In John’s portrayal of the upper room, Jesus enacts this understanding of authority by washing his disciples’ feet. One moment he acts as a servant to his disciples; the next he returns to the role of teacher as he gives the upper-room discourse in John 14–17. Jesus willingly takes on varying roles that carry completely different connotations of status. In one moment he acts as a servant; in the next moment he acts as a revered teacher.
Applying Jesus’s Leadership Principles
Notice that Jesus neither denies the role of power, authority, and status nor gives it deference. In Luke 22, he makes mention of the gentile rulers but quickly moves on, such that these secular leaders do not greatly concern Jesus. In his own ministry, Jesus often seems playful with his authority. When political and religious leaders like scribes and Pharisees challenge him, Jesus employs his own power and authority as a popular and revered religious teacher to sternly rebuke them (Mark 12:24–27). In contrast, when Jesus encounters people who seem to carry little power, his manner transforms into gentle meekness, as when he publicly offers grace to the woman caught in adultery (John 8:2–11). The disciples carry on this play- fulness with authority and gentleness in the book of Acts. When Sadducees arrest Peter and he subsequently speaks before “rulers, elders, and scribes assembled in Jerusalem”—a powerful gathering, to be sure—he whimsically retorts that he has been arrested “because of a good deed” (Acts 4:5–9). A few chapters later, Peter quietly and gently prays alone by the bedside of Tabitha and resurrects her from the dead (Acts 9:36–43). When around the politically powerful, Jesus and the disciples act artfully with the authority they have. This shows political savviness combined with a conviction that they do not take earthly political power too seriously. To those who have little worldly authority, Jesus consistently shows gentleness and mercy.
Excerpted from The Good News of Church Politics by Ross Kane ©2024 (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.). Reprinted by permission of the publisher.
