GOOD leaders model the behavior they expect from their subordinates. They themselves follow what they require their people to do, and abstain from doing the things that they prohibit them from doing. In the process, they help their direct reports comply with their instructions. They do not only issue rules and do nothing else, or worse, violate their own prescriptions. They lead, not to satisfy their selfish motives and reap people’s praises, but to promote the best interests of their people and the organizations they comprise.
In this Sunday’s gospel (Mt 23:1-12), Jesus rebuked the teachers of the law and the Pharisees for acting in the opposite. He said, “You must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them. Everything they do is done for people to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; they love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to be called ‘Rabbi’ by others.”
Don’t we see these teachers of the law and Pharisees even in our present days? Don’t we see leaders who seek their positions at all cost, only to fail the people who entrusted them with authority and power? Don’t we see leaders who bend the law just so they can live in unconscionable corruption while turning a blind eye to the misery of the people they are called to serve? Don’t we see many ‘false prophets’ in institutions of all sorts – churches, governments, businesses, schools, and service facilities – projecting themselves as messianic and heroic figures in media platforms but deep inside, are vile and rotten?
Nobody, except Jesus, is a perfect leader. Unlike the scribes and Pharisees, he taught as one having authority and power (Mt 7:29). He lived in perfect obedience to the Father, even to the point of dying on the cross (Phil 2:8).
By his sacrificial death, Jesus showed us that love is the true essence of leadership, for love is the fulfillment of the law (Rom 8:10). He loved us more than anybody else could ever do; as St. John wrote, “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (Jn 15:13).
Let us then place ourselves under the mantle of Jesus, so that like David we can sing, “The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever” (Ps 23).