The irony in all this is that if the general public actually knew what Jesus of Nazareth himself taught on this subject, if they knew of his own personal and categorical rejection of that option when it was presented to him at the outset of his own ministry, they would see him and genuine Christianity as the great guardians against the very thing that they fear. The further irony—a tragic irony—is that when well-meaning Christians advocate the use of the coercive power of the state to bring in the kingdom of heaven they are actually taking not Jesus’ side but the side of Satan when he advocated precisely that position in the wilderness temptation.
But what true believer, zealous for the cause of right and desirous of seeing the kingdom of heaven on earth, can resist the temptation to grasp the power and the authority of the state if it appears within reach?
Well, we know one who did resist—Jesus himself, the author and finisher of our faith. He called the one who offered him that power by his name: “Away from me, Satan!”48 He then quoted the Scripture that says, if a believer is going to bow down to authority or receive authority, there is only one authority to whom that believer should ultimately surrender himself or herself and only one purpose for that surrender. “Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.”49
Does this mean that Christian believers should not be involved in secular governments or the politics of the world or seek to advance the values and truths that proceed from the word of God in the secular, humanistic, and materialistic political and cultural arenas of our times? Not at all! But let us recognize that the Jesus way of advancing those values and truths—of advancing the kingdom of God, of securing public support for a spiritual agenda—is fundamentally different from the way urged upon him by Satan in the wilderness. More on this Jesus way in subsequent chapters.
44 Matthew 4:8–9. Luke also quotes Satan as saying “I will give you all their authority and splendor; it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. If you worship me, it will all be yours” (Luke 4:6–7).
45 John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11.
46 Matthew 4:10.
47 Dostoyevsky, The Brothers Karamazov, 250–251.
48 Matthew 4:10, emphasis added.
49 Matthew 4:10, emphasis added.
1.5 TRAINING: ETHICS
Introduction
Prior to my entry into federal politics in Canada I spent 20 years as a management consultant, mainly focused on long-range strategic, communication, and community relations planning for clients in the energy industry. In that context I tried to keep up on the various techniques and strategies published every year in a variety of journals and books on the subject of effective management, especially the management of people. Some of these were quite helpful and would eventually be of use to me in managing the executive and organization of a political party, including a parliamentary caucus. But of all the management texts I have read and studied, perhaps the most insightful and helpful from my perspective has been a book by a 19th century Scottish clergyman and theologian, A. B. Bruce, entitled The Training of the Twelve.50
The language of his book will strike the modern reader as quaint and out of another era, which it is. And Bruce occasionally digressed into giving his side of various theological disputes that were apparently important at the time but no longer resonate with us. But the depth and breadth of Bruce’s descriptions and insights into exactly how Jesus of Nazareth, in three short years, took a motley crew of twelve young men and moulded them into the founding members and leaders of an organization, the Christian church, which has lasted over twenty centuries and greatly affected the lives of hundreds of millions of people, are profound and instructive.
The disciples were not the smartest, the wealthiest, or the best educated of the many people Jesus encountered. They were not the best connected or the most religious. Far from it. Most were from a rural region, Galilee, of which one of its own is recorded as wondering “Can anything good come from there?”51 Bruce described them as follows:
In a worldly point of view they were a very insignificant company indeed,—a band of poor illiterate Galilean provincials, utterly devoid of social consequence, not likely to be chosen by one having supreme regard to prudential considerations. Why did Jesus choose such men? Was He guided by feelings of antagonism to those possessing social advantages, or of partiality for men of His own class? No; His choice was made in true wisdom. If He chose Galileans mainly, it was not from provincial prejudice against those of the south; if, as some think, He chose two or even four of His own kindred, it was not from nepotism; if He chose rude, unlearned, humble men, it was not because He was animated by any petty jealousy of knowledge, culture, or good birth. If any rabbi, rich man, or ruler had been willing to yield himself unreservedly to the service of the kingdom, no objection would have been taken to him on account of his acquirements, possessions, or titles … The truth is, that Jesus was obliged to be content with fishermen, and publicans, and quondam zealots, for apostles. They were the best that could be had.52
Nevertheless, now looking back over twenty centuries, it is truly astounding to see what this humble band became under his tutelage and what was accomplished through them. What might those of us responsible for forming, motivating, and managing small groups of people today—especially for religious or political purposes or for operating at the interface of faith and public life—learn from Jesus’ methods and example in this regard?
Lessons in Leadership
As Bruce observed, the record of the work of Jesus contained in the Gospels has two distinct dimensions—a public dimension in which he spoke, taught, and acted in public and dealt with public audiences and a more private and intimate dimension in which Jesus devoted himself specifically to the training and cultivation of the disciples. Be reminded, Bruce said,
There were two religious movements going on in the days of the Lord Jesus. One consisted in rousing the mass out of the stupor of indifference; the other consisted in the careful, exact training of men already in earnest, in the principles and truths of the divine kingdom. Of the one movement the disciples … were the agents; of the other movement they were the subjects. And the latter movement, though less noticeable, and much more limited in extent, was by far more important than the former; for it was destined to bring forth fruit that would remain—to tell not merely on the present time, but on the whole history of the world.53
It is this second dimension of Jesus’ work that Bruce examined and explained in great detail. Three aspects of the training of the disciples that I find particularly relevant to those of us with interests in public service, whether we are believers or not, pertain to the inculcation of high ethical standards, the management of ambition, and the reform of existing practices and institutions. In this chapter let us begin with Jesus’ approach to the inculcation of ethics and its contemporary relevance.
The Inculcation of Ethics