"A Tale of Two Leaders"

Sermon by Rev. Caela Simmons Wood
First Congregational UCC, Manhattan, KS
August 21, 2016
Sermon Text - Luke 13:10-17

Not asking for a show of hands, but here’s a question: have you ever had a bad boss?

A bad boss can ruin the best job,right? We can have a job that we really love in an organization we like with people we enjoy working with….but then if we end up with a supervisor who is really hard to work with….well, it can kind of ruin the whole thing.

Of course, a good boss can have a similar effect. Okay, this part is audience participation. Who has had a good boss? You can raise your hands.

A good boss can make the most boring, monotonous, pointless, difficult job somehow manageable. A really excellent boss can impact organizational culture. Good leaders can affirm gifts and talents, encouraging us to excel at things we didn't even know we could do. A good boss is a gift.

Leaders matter. And leaders aren’t just bosses, of course. Leaders are everywhere. Earlier today we blessed teachers and recognized that teaching happens everywhere….at kitchen tables and in classrooms; on grassy lawns and in cubicles. Some are paid to teach and some receive no monetary compensation. Leadership is the same way.

We all look to leaders each and every day….we see famous people we want to emulate. We look to those in our workplace or network of friends and family to shine a light and show us the type of people we would like to be.

Earlier this week I sat with some of the rest of you in the City Commission meeting room as we wrapped up almost a year of organizing with the Flint Hills Human Rights Project to bring about real and lasting change in our community. You know, it sometimes feels like real, tangible victories are few and far between. We really need to celebrate them when they happen.

Tuesday night was a huge victory. Our city became the third in Kansas to make it illegal to discriminate on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation. Yes, there are some exemptions. No, the ordinance isn’t perfect. But if you had told me a year ago that it would pass unanimously? I would have laughed.

Thanks to the real leadership of some of our City Commissioners, it passed unanimously. One of the things that several of the commissioners said over the past year was that we know we can’t legislate people’s beliefs. We can’t make it illegal for people to dislike one another. But we can make it clear that the City of Manhattan is a place that values diversity and desires for all its citizens to feel welcomed and affirmed. And that’s what we’ve done.

Of course, the City Commissioners aren't the only leaders who have been working hard. The board of the Flint Hills Human Rights Project has been tireless. Wow. All of these folks are doing this on their own time. None of them are being paid. They all have day jobs and families and other commitments...and yet, somehow, have made this work a priority. I can't even begin to tell you how many hours upon hours the leaders from FHHRP have spent in meetings….with each other, with commissioners and city staff, with other key shareholders. They have been relentless and smart. Some of them are here this morning. And they deserve a round of applause. (Insert giant applause, general whooping and hollering and a standing ovation here.)

Leaders matter. Good leadership can move us forward. Bad leadership can send us spiraling downward. You don't have to look any further than the daily news cycle right now to see what can happen when a leader who preaches hate, intolerance, and fear gets a bully pulpit. It brings out the worst in people. We need good leaders to bring out the best in us.

In today’s gospel lesson from Luke, we have a tale of two leaders. The setting is a synagogue, where Jesus was teaching to some folks who had gathered to listen. It was the sabbath day. A woman showed up. She was bent over, unable to stand upright. Jesus noticed her in the crowd and pronounced her “set free.” Then he laid hands on her and she immediately stood upright for the first time in 18 years.

I always feel the need, which preaching on these miraculous healing stories to say that I have found healing to be a bit more nuanced in my own life. I mean, the number of people I know who have begged Jesus to have some kind of ailment taken away….only to feel like they’ve received no response. It doesn’t seem to be as simple as just asking and receiving, does it? But then I have to hold that side-by-side with reports that Jesus was known as a healer. And I think of the people I know who have absolutely experienced healing after prayer. And I remember that healing doesn’t always necessarily mean you are freed from an ailment or pain or a disease. Sometimes the ailment wins and you are still freed in other ways.

The author of Luke tells us that Jesus sets this woman free from her ailment and she is amazed and begins jumping around, praising God. But there is another leader present, too. The leader of the synagogue. And he’s not jumping around. Instead, he criticizes Jesus, saying, “There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be cured, and not on the sabbath day."

Every week that I preach on the gospel, I read the work of D. Mark Davis online because he breaks down the Greek in helpful ways. This week, he translated the words of the synagogue’s leader and said the following as commentary: “don't you just want to smack this guy?” (Source)

I mean, no. We’re not condoning violence here, of course. But I would like to pull the guy aside and maybe ask him some pointed questions. Which is exactly what Jesus does.

How do you get this obsessed with the trees that you fail to see the forest entirely? Yes, keeping Sabbath is important, but the spirit of the law is more important than the letter of the law. God has given the Sabbath to us as a gift - a gift that frees us, one day each week, to experience time differently and to really focus on what truly matters. Anyone who is keeping Sabbath in that way would certainly come to the same conclusion as Jesus: if a person is in front of you and they need your help and you can help them, you help them. Even if it’s the Sabbath. Perhaps especially if it’s the Sabbath.

Here we have two types of leaders: one who leads by compassion; has a big, open heart; isn't afraid to break the rules in the name of love; and who is willing to risk his own reputation and doesn't shy away from conflict because he knows sometimes you've got to take risks if you're going to love loudly.

And then we’ve got another leader who, frankly, seems to be a bit miffed that he’s being upstaged on his home turf. He knows the rules, yes, and he doesn't shy away from conflict. But he's using the rules and his well-honed knowledge of them to tear others down, not build them up.

Please note that I’m not pitting Jesus against the Jewish authorities or making this into a Christianity vs. Judaism thing. Jesus was Jewish. He was a Jewish leader. First-century Judaism was diverse, just like 21st century Judaism. There were differing opinions about how to interpret the law. Jesus interpreted the law here in a very Jewish way. He was choosing the larger story of love and compassion over the details and technicalities. And this is completely consistent with Judaism as he and many others understood it.

In this story, Jesus provides a very real and relatable image of what a good leader looks like. The good news for us, as people living in the 21st century with no shortage of leaders to choose from - good, bad, and in-between - the good news for us is that we always have Jesus as a potential role-model. Even though we don't get to hang out with him in his walking-around-skin, we have these stories and we continue to hear the voice of our Stillspeaking God from our holy text and from our experiences in the world. Jesus is still a leader, even now. And in a world where leaders clamor for our attention and loyalty, Jesus is always there, showing us the better path.

My friend and colleague, the Rev. Justin Jamis, inadvertently wrote part of my sermon earlier this week. Some of you know Justin. He’s preached here before and is the campus pastor for K-State Wesley. Well, on Thursday, Justin said this on Facebook:
Today I am trying something new. Instead of the old "I think I can" motto. My motto will be "I know God is..." 

No more, "I think I can be more loving." Instead I will say, "I know God is love, therefore God grant me your love to share with all." 

I know God is joy. I know God is patience. I know God is compassion. I know God is kind. "So today God grant us your Spirit, which transforms us into people capable of your love, joy, patience, compassion and kindness. And when our capacity for containing your Spirit, is to small, expand in us. Fill us, every crack and crevice,  with your grace, that we might be the people you intend for us to be, not by our efforts, but wholly through your work in us. Amen"

And that’s just it. When we know who God is we are called into a different way of living. We are freed for new life.

We see Jesus’s leadership and we know that a different way is possible. Yes, we still turn on the TV and shake our heads in disappointment at some of the models for leadership that exist in our world today. But we also look around us and see everyday leaders like the folks from the Flint Hills Human Rights Project, or our teachers, or our parents, or our friends, or the people that sit next to us at church….we see them and we see the way of Jesus in them and we give thanks.

We give thanks for leadership that is grounded in love and compassion. Leadership that is bold enough to walk right into controversy for the sake of justice. Leadership that forsakes self-interest for the common good. Leadership that watches out carefully for those who are ignored and oppressed. Leadership that painstakingly reaches out in hope and love again and again  and again.

This is the type of leadership that we bear witness to as followers of Jesus. This is what we are called to emulate in the world around us. Good leaders, bad leaders, and everything in between….they’ll keep coming our way. And we, we who lead in so many different places, we will keep showing up day after day. Sometimes we will get it right and often we will get it wrong.

And no matter what, Jesus is still there. Leading us. Encouraging us to try again. Thanks be to God.

NOTE: A big thank you to Karoline Lewis, whose piece at The Working Preacher this week helped me find my approach this week. She has great things to say about this passage and leadership. You should check it out.