ARE WE TRULY CHRISTIAN? #2
Reflections by the Rev’d. Allison K. Dean
Listen to this reflection here.
Read to the previous reflection on this topic here.
Follow the leader………
Once again, my plan did not work out. I really had planned to write another installment in this series much sooner. But life was life-ing, as the saying goes.
Anyway, I offer you this reflection on leadership, considering what it means to lead and be led. And asking again, “Are We Truly Christian?”
To begin, I draw our attention to an account of the people of Israel in Exodus 32.
In this passage we are told that after Moses went up the mountain to meet God, he took a long while to come back down. The people, tired of waiting on him, maybe anxious – we don’t know – go to Aaron, Moses’ deputy and tell him to make gods for them because they don’t know what happened to Moses. Aaron responds by collecting their gold, melting it down, and making a golden calf, which everyone proceeds to worship. If we fast forward a little, we see that when Moses comes back to the camp he is angry at what he sees. So angry that he breaks the tablets he had just received from God and then destroyed the golden calf. Then, picking up in v. 21, we hear:
21 Moses said to Aaron, “What did this people do to you that you have brought so great a sin upon them?” 22 And Aaron said, “Do not let the anger of my lord burn hot; you know the people, that they are bent on evil. 23 They said to me, ‘Make us gods, who shall go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ 24 So I said to them, ‘Whoever has gold, take it off’; so they gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf!” 25 Moses saw that the people were running wild (for Aaron had let them run wild, to the derision of their enemies)…
There are two things I want to highlight in this account.
Firstly, Aaron is a weak leader. There’s really no other way to characterize him, though maybe we need a stronger word. Not only did he make no effort to check their behaviour, and no effort to redirect them, he actually helped them! He didn’t just throw up his hands and say, “y’all do what y’all want”. Aaron was the one who collected and melted the gold. Aaron was the one who made the golden calf. And it was Aaron who set up an altar in front of the calf and declared, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!” (32:4).
When Moses challenged Aaron, he wanted to know why he had brought so great a sin on the people. This is because, as the leader, Aaron had to bear at least some responsibility for their failure; he let them run wild.
Sadly, we have some leaders like that at every level of our society: in our families, in our churches, in our workplaces, in our schools, in our civic groups, in business, in government. People who are leaders in name only. They have no vision, no skill, no ability or desire to motivate and inspire others to grow and to be and do better. Or even worse, there are some who actively take people down the path of wrongdoing and immorality. And let me emphasize again, this does not only apply to the politicians; it doesn’t only apply to the priests and pastors. It applies to everyone who is in any sort of leadership capacity.
In a November 12th article in the Nassau Guardian the Chairman of the National Development Plan Secretariat, Mr. Felix Stubbs, said that the permanent secretaries have proven to be a bigger obstacle and challenge than the politicians when it comes to actioning the National Development Plan. Those of us who work with children and young people have long been sounding the alarm about the effects of parents who are not fulfilling their responsibilities toward their children. There have been many instances where people have had NIB contributions deducted from their salaries, but those contributions never get sent to NIB. The terrible fire on Arawak Cay, which has deprived many people of their employment, has once again raised questions about the monitoring and oversight of the area.
All of that, and more, is a failure of leadership. And yes, we all make mistakes. But James 3:1 reminds us that those who teach (i.e., those who are supposed to be wise in their instruction and guidance) will be judged with greater strictness. In Matthew 18:6 Jesus says, “If any of you put a stumbling block before one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for you if a great millstone were fastened around your neck and you were drowned in the depth of the sea.”
Too many people want the accolades and personal benefits that come with leadership while neglecting their duties and responsibilities. And in the end, we all suffer for it.
But before we put all the blame on the leaders of our society, the second thing I want to highlight from the Exodus 32 passage is that the people themselves were wayward. Yes, Aaron fell down on the job, but it was the people who initiated the business of creating gods to be worshipped. Aaron was right when he said that the people were “bent on evil” (v. 22).
The truth of the matter is that people have to want to be led. People have to want better and be committed to doing better. When we read the book of the prophet Jeremiah we see a man who faithfully delivered the Word of the Lord to the people but the people would not listen. Hardly anybody heeded his warnings and the call to greater faithfulness. When we consider the life of Jesus we come to realise that the leaders of the day didn’t want Jesus to die because he said the wrong thing. They wanted him dead because he spoke what was right to people who were determined to continue being wrong.
We complain that the police aren’t doing their jobs, but when we get a ticket for our unlicenced vehicle we’re upset. We see nothing wrong with calling our friend at the airline to bump someone off their flight so we can get a seat; until it happens to us, and then we’re mad. And don’t even get me started about the outright theft that occurred on the barge that recently ran aground in Abaco. The fact that some people are trying to justify that by referencing the chaos after Dorian (an unprecedented and devastating hurricane) just proves my point that when people are determined to be contrary and live immorally, they will do so regardless of what any leader says.
In Daniel 3 we are given the account of King Nebuchadnezzar attempting to force Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego to worship his gods under threat of torture and death in a fiery furnace. But they refused. They said, “If our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire and out of your hand, O king, let him deliver us. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods and we will not worship the golden statue that you have set up” (vv. 17-18).
Where are those sorts of people in Bahamian society?
I get it. It’s easier to go with the flow and follow the crowd. Sometimes it’s safer to blend in. But as Christians, as people of God, we ought to be standing for righteousness and holiness. We ought to be people who are prepared to stand up for truth and justice, even if we stand alone, even if it costs us something.
Leading and being led are two sides of the same coin, sides which both make demands on us. It’s not leaders vs. people. It’s leaders and people together.
N.T. Wright says, “The line between justice and injustice, between things being right and things not being right, can’t be drawn between ‘us’ and them.’ It runs right down through the middle of each one of us.”1
I leave you with a quote from a sermon by the late Drexel Gomez, which I also quoted in the first installment of this series: “If we wish to make our country the greatest little country in the world, we need to make it a place where Christian values are not just preached about, but are lived and practiced on a daily basis.”2
1. Wright, N. T., Simply Christian.
2. 13th April 2007 | Installation of Fr. I. Ranfurly Brown as Rector of St. Agnes, Grant’s Town, New Providence.