3. The Classical Understanding of Leadership

Before exploring this theme further, we need to examine the classical understanding of leadership. How was leadership seen and how was the role of leaders defined in the ancient world?

In the Jewish-Christian tradition, a leader was called a shepherd. A shepherd has the responsibility to lead the sheep, the people. A responsible leader is a good shepherd, and an irresponsible one is a wolf in shepherd’s clothing. 

God is the only true shepherd. But God is invisible. The sheep need visible shepherds. That is why God appoints some people to represent Him as shepherds.

In the ancient world, there were three kinds of shepherds: kings, priests, and prophets. They led people in three distinctly different ways. A king served as a political leader, and a priest as a religious leader. A prophet often arose whenever a king or priest became irresponsible and failed to perform his/her duty. A prophet's role was a corrective one. A prophet was redundant when the kings and priests performed their jobs adequately.

An earthly king ruled the people representing God, the true heavenly King. A responsible king always remembered that his authority came from God, and that he needed to take care of the people as God always did. In return, the people respected the king as they would respect God. The respect of the people was a privilege the king received for being responsible enough to care and protect his people. An irresponsible king could not expect the people to respect him. Responsibility and privileges went together.

Similarly, a priest is a visible representative of the invisible God, leading the people in a way different from that of the king. A priest has to be a guide, a role-model, a counselor -- someone who takes the over-all responsibility of the cultural and spiritual well-being and growth of a community. In return, people will see God in such a priest. The respect thus begotten from people is the priest’s privilege or authority. A priest who forgets that he is representing God does not deserve the respect of the people and thus his authority over his people gets challenged.

A leader (political or religious) who forgets his/her responsibility is not a shepherd, but a wolf disguised as a shepherd. When David, the king, forgot this, he became a wolf and murdered his own faithful servant. When Pilate forgot this, although he was reminded by Jesus that his authority was from God, he sentenced to crucify Jesus, an innocent person. When Hitler forgot this, his misguided acts ended up in the massacre of six million innocent people. As a political leader he failed the German people and wrecked havoc and mayhem on millions of Jews.

A prophet was also a leader, representing God. But a prophet's job was not an ongoing one, but an as-needed one. Whenever a king or priest forgot his/her responsibility, a prophet was called to correct the situation. Assuming the role of a prophet, Jesus asked the priests of his community to be responsible. Earlier, assuming the role of a prophet, John, the Baptist, exposed the immorality of a king.

A prophet’s task was not an easy one. It involved a lot of risk. Imagine how risky it was for Prophet Nathan to climb the steps of the palace to expose the irresponsibility of King David. John, the Baptist, lost his head for criticizing a king. Criticizing any leader is risky, even in modern times. The poor man who got sight from Jesus (John 9) was excommunicated for criticizing the religious leaders.

Jesus was crucified for criticizing the religious leaders of His time.  Matthew has devoted one full chapter to summarize Jesus’ criticism. (ch.23). Jesus gave his followers a strong warning against making them their role models. Do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach (2-3). The main problem with them was that everything they did was done for men to see (5) and they sought the honor by people (6-7). God was practically nonexistent for them; otherwise, they would have sought God’s honor, and they would have done everything for God to see.  

Then Matthew lists the seven woes Jesus pronounced against them. A “woe” expresses horror of a sin and punishment for those who commit it. By using the word “woe” in this situation Jesus meant that irresponsibility and ungodliness on the part of the religious leaders was such a horrible thing. Here are the woes:

1. You do not enter the Kingdom of God, nor do you let others enter. (13)

2. You convert people to your religion, and once they get converted, you make them worse sons of hell than yourselves. (15)

3. You are blind guides. (16-22)

4. You do not identify what is important and unimportant. (23-24)

5. You give more importance to your appearance than what you really are. (25-26)

6. You give more importance to external purity than to internal purity. (27-28)

7. You murder prophets, and once they die you build their monuments. (29-32)

In John’s Gospel, Jesus contrasts himself with the religious leaders of his time.   He claims that he is a good shepherd, who lays down his life for the sheep. A hired man, who is not a shepherd and whose sheep are not his own, sees a wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away, and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them. This is because he works for pay and has no concern for the sheep. (John 10:11-13).   

Jesus felt one with the people, and he cared for their well-being. He was even willing to die for them. But for the religious leaders of his time, their job was a means of earning a livelihood. They cared only for the monetary income and the honor they received from the people. This comment of Jesus occurred immediately after the incident in Ch.9 of John’s Gospel, in which Jesus gave sight to a man who was born blind. Anybody with an iota of care for human beings should have been joyful and excited to hear this great news. However, the religious leaders of that place were extremely upset at what happened. They excommunicated that poor man for telling the truth of how he got sight from Jesus. How ironic!

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