Learning from Jesus’ Leadership
August 4, 2021
Fr. John Riccardo
“Your adversary, the devil, prowls like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. Resist him” (1 Peter 5:8-9). So warns Peter, our older brother and intimate friend of Jesus. This short little passage is loaded with news and exhortations of immense importance, including, but not limited to, a clear reminder of who the real enemy is, his desire for our lives, and the need to resist him. That resistance, however, isn’t limited to standing strong in times of temptation. It includes actively opposing him. Jesus’ life and ministry demonstrates both of these resistance tactics. The Word of God reminds us that He was “tempted in all things but never sinned” (Hebrews 4:15), and that He actively assailed the strong man, thereby freeing all his possessions—i.e., us (cf. Luke 11:21-22). Jesus came, we must remind ourselves again and again, to rescue us from the clutches of Satan, Sin and Death. And until He gloriously returns to definitively make all things new, He calls us to carry the “resistance movement” He began against the real enemy.
It seems, by many accounts, that four things are necessary for resistance movements to be effective: leadership, a vision, a plan and organization. Jesus embodies and models all four of these things for us. He is the leader parexcellence. He repeatedly speaks of being sent by the Father, and this being sent implies a clear vision of His mission. He has a plan, one that makes no sense to His disciples, for it involves the cross and resurrection - though they have no idea what that could mean. And, finally, He was a brilliant organizer. This last piece is often missed in our understanding of the Lord, but this week’s excerpt from The Christian Cosmic Narrative is a helpful reminder that Jesus was no dreamy, wandering prophet who met an untimely end. Jesus came with a clear purpose in mind. And He sends us out to continue His own mission. Let us beg Him in prayer to raise up heroic and wise leaders in our day, to give us clarity on the vision and the plan He is entrusting to us, and to help us effectively organize so that more and more of our neighbors may experience the healing, freedom, liberation and fullness of life that only He can bring.
“The duration of Jesus’ public mission was something like two or three years. He spent the majority of that brief time preaching in the northerly region of Galilee and in territories nearby. Occasionally he visited Jerusalem and its surroundings, especially for the Jewish pilgrim feasts. But opposition from the authorities meant that it was dangerous for him to spend much time in Judea or Jerusalem.
“There has developed in some quarters a romantic picture of Jesus as a wandering rabbi traveling from town to town in haphazard fashion, preaching an idealistic message, stirring hearts and minds and then moving on, eventually somehow finding himself in Jerusalem where he ran into serious trouble and was put to death. But the reality was quite different. Jesus was following a careful plan of action. He was purposeful and strategic in all that he did. Among the many human talents he displayed, Jesus was an excellent organizer who knew what was required to establish a society that would be effective for his messianic mission and that would endure through time.
“The Gospel accounts do not give much space to what might be called the organizational and strategic side of Jesus’ activity, probably because it was evident and taken for granted by the early believers who wrote and passed on the accounts. But they do give us certain details that allow us a glimpse of the significant level of planning and organization that lay behind Jesus’ mission. A few examples of that gift in action can help fill in the picture.
• As Jesus went from place to place preaching, he typically brought with him a substantial company. The Twelve Apostles were present, along with other disciples; a group of women handled food preparation and other material needs, among them, notably, the wife of King Herod’s steward. The exact number of this ordered traveling company is not given, but it was at least a few dozen, and seems often to have been many more. Its members would all need to have been fed, clothed, and housed as they went along. There were no signs of vague disorder in their life together. All was well planned and well managed.
• Jesus set up his base of operations in Galilee, apparently in the town of Capernaum, the village called in the Gospels his ‘home.’ He and the members of his company regularly set out and returned again to this base camp as the campaign unfolded.
• The Twelve Apostles were given specific tasks for the common effort. Peter occupied a position of leadership among them. Along with him, James and John seemed to have special roles, and they accompanied Jesus at important times. We are told that Judas was the treasurer of the company. At one point, Philip and Andrew were approached by some men who wanted to speak with Jesus, the two Apostles acting as attendants upon a king dealing with those seeking an audience.
• At a certain stage in the campaign, we are told that seventy men were tasked with preaching the Gospel, two by two, in the towns Jesus was planning to visit. These men would have had to be identified, initiated into the company, and trained. Each of the thirty-five pairs would have had specific marching orders. It was evident that Jesus had a predetermined strategy for his preaching mission. Anyone who has ever been responsible for this kind of coordinated activity knows how much planning had to go into the effort.
• When Jesus performed the wilderness miracle of feeding the five thousand, the account notes that he had all the men seated in groups of fifty before feeding them. This was Israelite battle array and bringing a crowd of thousands into that kind of order would have been no simple task; it would have demanded careful coordination and management.
“Part of the stiff opposition Jesus provoked arose from the realization that he was putting together an effective movement imbued with clarity of purpose and a plan of action. Solitary and dreamy figures are easily dealt with and easily defeated, but well-connected and well-organized bodies under the leadership of a dynamic personality can pose a serious threat. The followers of Jesus—and his enemies—knew that all this planning and preparation in a messianic key portended something significant, probably a coming march on Jerusalem when the messianic Kingdom would be definitively proclaimed. What might happen then was anyone’s guess, but it would certainly mean something dramatic…
“Finally, the anticipated event was announced to the company: Jesus was to march on Jerusalem…The Passover feast was coming, and tens of thousands of pilgrims were streaming into the holy city. The Romans, always fearing unrest at these pilgrim feasts when the city was filled to overflowing with zealous men, had stationed an extra cohort of soldiers at their fortress adjoining the Jewish Temple. All eyes were on Jesus. Everywhere people were wondering: Is he really the Messiah? Will he come to the feast? If he does come, will he attempt to take the city and establish himself as king? The crowds were restless and wandering; the temple authorities were troubled and fearful; the Romans were watchful and wary; the disciples were filled with conflicting presentiments, knowing that they had arrived at the crisis point for their beloved Master and the success or failure of the movement upon which they had staked their lives.
“Into this maelstrom of hope, anxiety, fear, calculations of power, and dreams of glory, among a seething and incendiary pilgrim crowd, Jesus came, riding into Jerusalem on a royal mount like a returning monarch, with some among the populace doing him homage, shouting his praise, and proclaiming him the son of David, the long-desired King now coming into his inheritance. The city was stirred to its depths. All wondered what the next few days might bring.”