“They killed the boy.”
That was the explanation a Bible professor once gave me for why Jesus wasn’t a good model of leadership.
The Christian scholar had been describing how, many years before, a subordinate had proposed holding a pastor’s conference titled “Jesus: The Model Leader.” The senior professor nixed the proposal on the grounds that Jesus was not a model leader because he didn’t achieve the fundamental goal of staying alive. If you’re not alive, you can’t lead.
Brad Bull
On one hand, that’s sort of true — if we don’t consider sacrificial death a form of leadership. On the other hand, where is the line between prudence and selfish cowardice? Because which of the following sayings is true? “Only fools rush in where angels fear to tread” or “He who hesitates is lost.”
Maybe they both are true based on context, but it feels concerning when a Christian leader thinks Christ was a bad role model of leadership because speaking truth to power resulted in his death.
However, the difficulty arises in situations less dire than the threat of death. We might want to avoid just being ostracized in the employee cafeteria. And while we need income to survive, even if we can find a new job, silence helps us avoid the irritation of relocating.
“It feels concerning when a Christian leader thinks Christ was a bad role model of leadership.”
While serving as an associate pastor, I once attended a local presentation by a nationally recognized proponent of separation of church and state. The speaker was to specifically address reasons to oppose state funding to private Christian schools in the form of vouchers. To my great surprise, the large meeting room was packed.
When the floor was opened for questions, I asked the speaker: “Do I understand correctly that you’re saying if churches get on the government dole to support their Christian schools, we are in danger of losing our prophetic voice? Like: “We better not address such-and-such controversial issue, or we might lose our government funding.” The speaker said, “Yes.”
I went on: “Then here’s my question. How do pastors maintain a prophetic voice when they are dependent on their congregations for income?”
Awkward.
The speaker turned to the pastor of a large local church and asked for his reaction to that question. That pastor had performed the funeral of one of my close family members. He said, “I know a lot of unemployed pastors.”
At the time, I thought — perhaps unfairly — “Bull crap. The pastors you know who lost their jobs lost them due to personality conflicts, not for taking a stand on something of substance.”
The speaker then asked me my take. I said, “I’m glad you asked because I asked the question to set up a statement.”
A bit of context: In 2001, our local county commission considered a proposal to post the Ten Commandments in the lobbies of all government buildings. I had spoken against it to a committee, and my comments wound up on the cover of the paper and cited by one of the nation’s most-heard radio stations. A church member called and reamed me out. One local pastor called me “foolish” because “the Supreme Court will overturn it, so it’s a waste of political capital.”
“How do pastors maintain a prophetic voice when they are dependent on their congregations for income?”
I rebutted, “But don’t non-Christians need to see Christians — rather than just the Supreme Court — speaking up for their freedom?” When I later addressed the full commission, my wife was fired from her job teaching at a private Christian school. It was a nasty fight getting her reinstated rather than fired for something I said in a meeting designed for exchange of perspectives.
Now back to that anti-school-vouchers meeting. I glared around the room, making eye contact with a particular group of local pastors. “I came here tonight expecting a small turnout. I didn’t realize there were this many people in this community interested in separation of church and state. That was my perception because two years ago when separation of church and state was under threat in the community, I went out on a limb defending it. I don’t remember seeing any of you out on that limb. In fact, some of you were shaking the tree.”
After the meeting, the pastor who had made the “unemployed pastors” comment made a beeline for me. His face was red as he jabbed his index finger dangerously close to thumping me in the chest and said: “I know what it means to take a stand. The problem with that issue was that it became a Republican band wagon. Seventy-five percent of my congregation are Republicans. If I had taken a stand on that issue, they would have ridden me out on a rail.”
Shaking my head and smiling, I said: “You just made my point. You suppressed your prophetic voice out of fear of losing your job.”
It’s an agonizing dilemma.
You’ve likely heard the question “Cat got your tongue?” One suggested origin is that it refers to people being afraid to speak up for fear of being flogged with a whip known as the cat o’ nine tails.
Today, that whip takes many forms: The fear of not being granted tenure; a Christian university’s administrator pressures a professor that enforcing academic standards leads to lower enrollment; a pastor fears a call from the personnel committee; a stay-at-home parent fears being shunned by the neighborhood.
“Where is the line between prudence and shrinking from prophetic responsibility?”
Where is the line between prudence and shrinking from prophetic responsibility? I ask this in the context of my soul aching to see people being thuggishly arrested by ICE and deported without due process. I ask this in the context of the ongoing genocide in Gaza — of children being blown to bits and images of people hollow-jawed from starvation — including medical personnel bravely putting themselves in harm’s way. Meanwhile, many American Christians have the perverted notion that God blesses this despicable carnage. Others fear speaking against it will draw ire from … whom? Those complicit with gross injustice? Do we base our actions on them?
Scripture says our bodies are temples of God. What did Jesus do when the temple was being desecrated by economic self-promotion? He certainly didn’t seem worried about the reaction of the powerful when he spoke and acted for the exploited. Additionally, Jesus didn’t beg or make accommodations for the “rich young man” to stay; he let him walk away. Gideon sent away those who lapped like dogs — whittling his forces down to a few quality servants. What biblical evidence is there that God’s concern is maintaining large congregations of wealthy tithers at the expense of dedication to justice,?
Maybe, in the first place, the line between prudence and selfish cowardice is not to be found in a line. Maybe it’s found in the charge of the Golden Rule and answering “What would Jesus Do?” while looking into the circle of the eyes of “the least of these” suffering children and abused adults.
But should American Christians really focus on Jesus’ example and commands that so conflict with the American values of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness?
Surely, we should instead follow our great American leader Patrick Henry who said, “Give me liberty to keep padding enrollment and my 401(k).”
Brad Bull has served as a hospital chaplain, pastor and professor. He currently works as a licensed marriage and family therapist, free-lance writer and speaker. He may be reached at DrBradBull.com.