November 24, 2019- Jeremiah 23:1-6, Luke 23:33-43
Jeremiah 23:1-6; Luke 23:33-43
On Leadership
Reign of Christ/Christ the King – November 24, 2019
First Lutheran Church – Winnipeg, MB
Jesus is a leader.
Christians would say Jesus is the leader.
On Christ the King Sunday this is what we acknowledge above all:
That Jesus is the leader we look to,
to lead us from death-dealing ways to life-giving ways,
to lead us from injustice to justice,
to lead us from war to peace,
to lead us from despair to hope.
On this Sunday we celebrate Christ as King or monarch.
But it calls to mind that many of the titles given to Jesus try and describe his leadership.
Jesus the shepherd.
Jesus the high priest.
Jesus the rabbi or teacher.
On Christ the King Sunday we look forward to a time
when Jesus will reign in love over all creation.
When his love will bind all things together in harmony and peace.
When all peoples will live without fear of one another.
When creation will be cared for and people will delight in difference and diversity.
Christ the King Sunday looks forward to this reign of Christ – when love will reign.
It is a hopeful, forward-looking day. It is a day of hope.
In the meantime, we pray that among us,
at First Lutheran Church at the corner of Sargent and Victor –
we pray today that Jesus is reigning among us right now, in our community,
and that he is the leader we follow in all our ways.
We pray that Christ and his love is reigning among us and binding us together in the way that
one day we pray it will be reigning over and binding all things together.
It is a day to think about Jesus as leader – as the leader.
It is a day to think about leadership.
It is almost impossible, I think, to think about this day and to think about Jesus as leader and
to reflect on what leadership is or ought to be – without having in mind
the current political climate and the impeachment hearings in the United States.
A great part of our current context is thinking about leadership – what it is and what it does.
What do you expect of leaders?
What do good leaders do?
How does Jesus – the king, the shepherd, the priest –
how does Jesus inform our idea of leadership?
These are great questions to ask on Christ the King Sunday.
Let’s start by looking at Jeremiah.
The prophet states things very clearly:
bad leaders and poor leadership have caused the people to be scattered and divided.
Bad kings, says Jeremiah, have caused the people to be afraid and have ruled through fear and
intimidation.
Bad kings, says Jeremiah, have ruled by breaking people down, either through physical violence
or confusion.
Bad kings, says Jeremiah, have ruled by neglecting the people through
inattention and carelessness.
But, promises the prophet, God will one day send good leadership.
Under good leadership, the people will not fear.
Under good leadership, the people will no longer fear being broken down physically and
mentally by their own leaders.
Under good leadership, the people will no longer be neglected.
Poor leaders rule through scattering, through dividing people, through appealing to
the very worst of ourselves.
Good leaders rule by gathering people together, like a good shepherd who gathers and
protects the flock.
Good leaders rule by holding people together and creating community.
Good leaders rule by appealing to the very best that is within their people.
Throughout the New Testament Jesus is held up as the one who fulfills this promised leadership.
Jesus is always gathering people together, creating an unlikely community of
saints and sinners, men and women and children, rich and poor –
even Jews and non-Jews.
Jesus holds people together and creates community.
Where Jesus goes, none are missing, none are unseen, none are neglected.
Jesus seeks to bring out the very best that is within those whom he leads.
And Jesus does not lead through fear, but through love, through mercy.
Today, on the cross – which is a very strange and unlikely place to find a king –
we see Jesus, reigning.
Even from this place of difficulty and pain.
And what do we see?
Even here, we see him forgiving, gathering even his enemies into his embrace,
seeking to unify what has been broken – here is what a real leader does.
Even here, we see him reaching out in mercy, in love, to one who knows he has done wrong.
Even here, Jesus is gathering the unlikeliest of people into his kingdom community –
because that is what a good leader does.
Jesus leads from a heart of love; therefore, that is what good leaders do.
Good leaders lead from a heart of love.
Good leaders look to Jesus as their model, as their priest, as their shepherd, as their monarch.
Therefore:
Good leaders cannot lie to their people – because they love them,
and you cannot willfully deceive people you love.
Good leaders cannot be interested in promoting themselves – because the good of their people
and the good of the community they serve is their highest interest.
Good leaders do not seek to bring out the very worst in the people they serve but rather
seek to bring out the very best in the people they serve.
Good leaders do not model vindictiveness and belittling but on the contrary
good leaders model generosity and service and lovingkindness in action.
Good leaders do not divide people against one another but rather seek to gather and
create loving community out of diverse peoples,
as a little foretaste of what God has in store for all creation and all peoples.
Good leaders seek to bind their people together in love –
and in this way create healing, peace, harmony, and justice.
At this point, I have to say that this is not just about me pointing a finger at other leaders.
Rather, at this point, I have to say that on Christ the King Sunday I am very aware that
this is the standard to which I am held – and to which you should hold me.
And so I also have to say that on this day I am also painfully aware of the ways in which
I fall short of this standard.
Nevertheless, I am committed to it.
This is the standard to which I should be held,
and is the standard to which your elected leaders on council should be held.
May God forgive us when we fail.
May Jesus reign among us more and more and more.
And may the Spirit bind us together in love more and more and more.
May God bring us to the day when the promise will finally be fulfilled,
when God’s love will reign, peace will be complete, and there is justice for all.
Pray for your leaders, pray for me.
And in the words of the amazing Prayer of the Day, let us ask God to abide with us,
to reign in us, and to make this world a fit habitation for the divine majesty.
And together, let us say, “Amen.”
Pastor Michael Kurtz
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