The Ones Who Reflect Jesus--November 9, 2021

The Ones Who Reflect Jesus--November 9, 2021

"Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls and will give an account.  Let them do this with joy and not with sighing--for that would be harmful to you." [Hebrews 13:17]

Before we go any further here, there needs to be a disclaimer: I'm a pastor.  That is to say, I am also supposed to be a leader in the disciple communities where I live and serve. And of course, that means there's a certain inescapable weirdness about reflecting on a verse telling other people "obey" their spiritual leaders... because I am one. And sometimes I get things wrong. (The writer of Hebrews is certainly not talking about civil leaders in this passage--rulers like Caesar or local puppet-kings installed with Rome's permission could hardly have been described as "keeping watch over your souls."  We'll have to talk about the role for deference to civil authorities in another conversation.)

So, yeah, let me just own my own awkwardness digging deeper into a verse that begins by saying, "Obey the spiritual leaders who are keeping watch over your souls," because that just seems ripe for abuse from would-be "spiritual leaders" who misuse their authority, swindle their supporters, or manipulate the minds of those who listen to them.  The call to "obey your leaders" can so wrong in so many ways, I'm tempted to just skip over this verse because I don't want to get entangled in any of them.  

After all, how many church leaders once upon a time in our own country directed their congregations to help catch and recapture people who had run away from enslavement, and did so with deep conviction they were doing God's work, certain that they had a stack of Bible verses to back them up?  How many pastors told their congregations it was wrong to stand up to civil authorities backing segregation in the South during the Civil Rights era, or sinful to oppose Mussolini's fascism in Italy or Hitler's Nazism in Germany in the 1930s?  How many bishops and popes told their people it was God's will to go off and fight Crusades and take up weapons in the name of Jesus, despite Jesus' insistence to his followers that we not take up arms for his sake?  How many pastors today think they have God's authority when they tell their congregations it is sinful to wear a mask to protect your neighbor, or that it is "the mark of the Beast" or a wicked infringement on your "freedom" to go get vaccinated from COVID?   How many pastors, priest, bishops, district superintendents, or whatever other titles they might use, have done deep damage to the people in their care with bad theology, or because they claimed to have expertise in counseling when they really didn't? How many have left people's souls broken and hurting, convinced they were unlovable and unworthy of grace? How many spiritual leaders were sure they had all the answers... only to discover later that they were wrong and had fooled even themselves into believing their own hype?

Clearly, there are so many ways that spiritual leaders can lead people astray--whether knowingly or unintentionally--that some part of me keeps wanting to answer back to this verse from Hebrews, "Hold your horses!  What will stop bad leadership from causing real damage?"  And yet... the writer of Hebrews is hardly naive.  He knows full well how easily leaders can mess up--and he seems to take it for granted that leaders are accountable for the harm we cause to others' souls. And still he insists that it is worth listening to those who are good and genuine leaders.

I want to suggest that even for all the ways we pastors and spiritual leaders can screw things up, all of us who follow Jesus need others to help guide us--even if the guides themselves are not perfect.  We need people who are skilled at living the Jesus way of life, and who can help shape our lives in his likeness.  That's what leadership is supposed to look like in the Christian community.  The Scriptures don't define good leaders by how much money they make for their churches, how big the crowds are that line up to hear them, the cleverness of their sermon illustrations, or the influence they wield in the halls of power.  Rather, the biblical writers suggest we need leaders who can help us to be more like Jesus... even when that's a struggle.  Or maybe, especially when it's a struggle.

I think that's actually the most important reason for having leaders in Christian community whom we trust enough to follow their directions.  It's that sometimes, the thing that Jesus is calling me to do is not easy or fun, and I will look for any way to avoid it, ignore it, or pretend it isn't there.  Sometimes I know Jesus wants me to do good to people I don't like... or people I don't think are worthy of my care... or people who live far away and won't give me credit for it--and if it were up to just me and my own selfish perspective, I wouldn't do what I know Jesus is calling me to do.  Sometimes just taking a vote among a bunch of selfish people doesn't yield wisdom--it just produces more selfishness with the veneer of democracy.  What we need is the authoritative voice of women and men who cay say with integrity, "It doesn't really matter if you feel like it or not, or even if a majority of you agree on something, if it isn't in the character of Jesus, we're not doing it."  We need people who can call us out and help us recognize our blind spots, because on our own I'll never see my own.

All of this is to say that, despite the many ways leaders blow it, all of us Christians need good trustworthy leaders who have authority that comes from their integrity to be able to direct our actions, thoughts, and choices to be shaped more like Jesus.  When their own lives show us the face of Christ, we will trust them to help smooth away the places in each of our own hearts and lives that are out of step with Jesus and the Reign of God that he brings. 

So, yeah, this is going to be one of those times when two things are true at once: yes, sometimes (maybe even often) Christian leaders fail at being good leaders who are actually like Christ.  And at the very same time, we need people who are further along the road that we currently are who can guide us along the way, and it's worth following their direction and accepting their counsel if we've seen the face of Christ in them before.  I know as a pastor myself writing, all of this can sound terribly self-serving, like the preacher is just telling people, "You should listen to me--look the Bible says you have to!"  So let me bracket myself out of the equation here and leave it at this: where you have been blessed with good and faithful women and men who show you the way of Jesus authentically in their lives, trust them. Follow their direction and listen to what they have to tell you, even if at first you don't understand, or even if it sounds difficult.  Let the people in whom you have seen the face of Christ help shape the reflection of Christ in you as well.

Lord Jesus, give us the courage and humility to trust the good leaders you place in our lives who care for our deepest selves.  And give those leaders the courage and humility to lead while remaining correctible themselves.  Help us all--we need each other, and you.