We find a similar story in Genesis, with a slight, yet significant difference. Eve takes, eats, and shares with Adam, provoking grave consequences. In partaking this meal, Michelson says, Adam and Eve were not fulfilling God’s hope or communing with Him, but trying to become like Him, thus transgressing Him. In feeding the 5,000, Jesus undoes what Adam and Eve did, illustrating God’s original desire for humanity – to take, give, and eat (for, to, and with others). In doing so, He modeled leadership for his followers – leadership that serves and assists people in tangible ways.
Leaders need to take for others, care for and improve their quality of life, and stay close to, rather than removed from them. We may never perfectly exhibit leadership like Jesus, but this doesn’t change the fact that we are called to do so. Leaders often start with the intentions of taking, giving, and eating (figuratively and literally) with others in mind, but it is easy to get off course. Thus, we need to continually remind ourselves how Jesus led, and participate in the redemption and restoration of creation by embodying His ways.
I call this
ReplyDelete"Christian leaders both share communion and take for others, in order to give, in shared fellowship... The celebration of Eucharist is a call for us to see the difference between leadership in the world and leadership in the kingdom of God, to turn the failed patterns in Genesis to the formational patterns in the Gospels."
ReplyDeleteI love this juxtaposition of leadership in the world and leadership in the Kingdom of God. All of the leadership principles in the world are nothing in light of communion with one another. The concept of taking, giving and eating is remarkable. It is so divergent from any other form of leadership. It’s not a power play. It’s mutual need. None of us can make it through this without meeting Christ at the table.
So often, in leadership, we don’t think about taking and eating, often, I think, because we as leaders are afraid to be vulnerable enough to admit need. We must be willing to hunger and to be filled. It’s that staying close thing. Leaders separate themselves so that those they lead do not see our weakness. When we gather together, announcing our mutual need and partake, transformation (for the whole group) can occur.