{"id":199,"date":"2016-03-24T23:40:03","date_gmt":"2016-03-25T03:40:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/chartingchurchleadership\/?p=199"},"modified":"2016-03-25T12:35:00","modified_gmt":"2016-03-25T16:35:00","slug":"the-exemplary-restraint-of-the-ultimate-conservative-leader","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/chartingchurchleadership\/2016\/03\/the-exemplary-restraint-of-the-ultimate-conservative-leader\/","title":{"rendered":"The exemplary restraint of the ultimate conservative leader"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>
A great leader does not respond to provocation, retaliate to taunts with rage, threaten the opposition. The ultimate conservative does not destroy others to protect his honor or to express his patriotism.<\/p>\n
Our model for leadership, the One in Whom all things hold together<\/a>, suffered his own destruction to bring about His Kingdom.<\/p>\n
<\/a>
Pilate is at Jesus\u2019 mercy, but he doesn\u2019t know it
Antonio Ciseri [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
This evening\u2019s moving Maundy Thursday service at Shawnee Park Christian Reformed Church<\/a> included this text about the Crucifixion of Jesus, Luke 23:35-38<\/a>:<\/p>\n
The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him. They said, \u201cHe saved others; let him save himself if he is God\u2019s Messiah, the Chosen One.\u201d<\/p>\n
The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar and said, \u201cIf you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n
There was a written notice above him, which read: This is the King of the Jews.<\/p>\n
American Christians may\u00a0read this passage too thinly. Yes, we see a cruel injustice and an emotional tragedy. We don\u2019t recognize the cosmic politics of the crucifixion. When we do,\u00a0we focus on the rulers\u2019 and soldiers\u2019 blindness and meanness.<\/p>\n
But we rarely imagine the alternative history. Try it now: imagine\u00a0the apocalyptic moment when the crowd is confronted with the staggering power of the angry God on the cross. Don\u2019t imagine Hollywood special effects. Imagine the actual earth-shattering effect of His unmitigated wrath.<\/p>\n
He could have risen up as a thousand-foot giant with His head in the clouds and squashed them between His mighty toes. He could have melted them with fire from His eyes. He could have bloodily bisected them all with a single slash of his tongue. He could have deployed an angel army to crucify every one, a literally excruciating experience of well-deserved punishment.<\/p>\n
Even imagining God\u2019s revelation, it\u2019s easy for us to focus on the superhero movie drama of the moment when the bullies realize they\u2019ve been taunting a true God, someone who makes both hulking Bruce Banner and Norse villain Loki<\/a> look like puny lightweights.<\/p>\n
What was not done<\/h2>\n***
**
What we don\u2019t imagine often enough is the incredible restraint of Jesus. God Himself with human nerve endings, adrenaline, cortisol, and endorphines, was being fiercely provoked to show Himself. The eclipse and earthquake that followed Jesus\u2019 death was just a shadow of the power the Creator could unleash to vindicate Himself.\u00a0And yet He restrained Himself.<\/p>\n
**
You know you and I would have cracked, lashed out, asserted ourselves, given them what they deserved. I can\u2019t take a few flicks of my\u00a0ear without throwing an elbow. Ah, the deep gratification I\u2019d have felt, hanging\u00a0that high priest on a skyhook, giving that centurion a very generous taste of his own rusty nails.<\/p>\n
**
***But Jesus\u00a0forgave even as He suffered, and He commanded us to pursue justice by restraining ourselves:<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have heard that it was said, \u2018Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.\u2019 But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well. Matthew 5:38-40 (NIV)<\/a><\/p>\n
My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. James 1:19-20 (NIV)<\/a><\/p>\n
God\u2019s economy is not without justice. Restraint is the measure of the man and the means to achieve justice.<\/p>\n
Go and do likewise<\/h2>\n
Were Jesus here today, he would be rebuked, accused of turning a blind eye to evil. He\u2019d be \u201cweak on crime,\u201d have \u201cno head for the bottom line.\u201d When soft-spoken is\u00a0\u201clow energy\u201d and holding a complex\u00a0perspective is\u00a0\u201cwaffling,\u201d we will get high-energy leadership that makes more mistakes and then punishes others to protect personal reputation. We have to resist such bullies<\/a>, at church, at work, and in the nation\u2019s capital.<\/p>\n
Great, conservative leaders\u2014of families, churches, organizations, and nations\u2014conserve the peace and rejoice in the knowledge of the restraint they exercise. Great leaders take pride in what wasn\u2019t done, what the left hand doesn\u2019t know that the right hand did<\/a>. Great leaders celebrate vengeance that was left to God, value a reward to be received in heaven, and believe that mercy triumphs over judgment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
May your faith be reinvigorated this Easter.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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