Servant Leadership

09-23-2018Weekly ReflectionFr. James Aboyi

If you asked me to use one word to summarize the three Scripture readings in our Liturgy today, I would say "ambition". The second closest would be "greed", then "jealousy", and "envy". In the Gospel today, Jesus told his disciples of his passion and death. Instead of being sympathetic, they engaged themselves in arguments about who was the greatest among them, in other words, who would succeed Jesus Christ after his death. Jesus then asked them about their argument and they remained silent. The big mistake they made was that they thought the leadership in the ministry would depend upon their personal intelligence or leadership skills, but they were wrong.

Jesus reminded them that leadership in his ministry would require a total trust in God, total reliance on His will, and submission of personal desires and ambition. Jesus cautioned them to reexamine three things: their understanding of his mission, their participation in his ministry, and how well they are modeling his Servant Leadership style. The disciples were focused on themselves instead of focusing on Jesus and his mission.

Looking at the leadership in the church today, do we see the church leaders following the instruction Jesus gave in the Gospel today? Do we see the Servant Leadership, total trust and reliance on God among church leaders? Personally, to a certain extent, I do see the Church following the instruction of Jesus Christ, trusting in God like a child trusts in a parent. We can see this in a clearer way when we compare leadership in the Church to that of the world. For instance, think about what it costs for someone to run for the offices of Mayor, Senator, Governor, or President? Compare this to what it costs to become a Bishop, Cardinal, or Pope. What about the destructive campaigns politicians engage in to get into those leadership positions of the world? How does that compare to getting into a leadership position within the Church?

One of the main reasons why Priests, Nuns, Bishops and Popes do not marry is to enable them to give themselves totally to God, and to rely completely on the generosity of the people of God whom they are called to serve. Although in principle, the Church has followed in the footsteps of Jesus Christ designing Servant Leadership models for all Church leaders. However, in practice, the leaders are not immune to temptation causing them to stray away onto wrong paths. The recent scandal in the Church is a clear example of church leaders being far from the Servant Leadership model that Jesus gave to the Church. To all of us who are in leadership within different ministries of the Church (including myself, the Bishops, Cardinals and Pope), Jesus asks us this morning to reflect on the motives from which we operate in our ministries. If we operate from any personal hidden agenda, consciously or unconsciously, we are doing our own will and not God's. Think about our Second Reading today, where St. James describes the destructive consequences that result when we try to get what we want by all means, even when it contradicts the will of God.

Thank You and Remain Blessed,
Fr. James