Fourth, Jesus forms his followers into a “moral community,” one where the ethic of love is to be its distinguishing moral characteristic and whose members support one another and hold each other accountable for their behaviour. It is this moral community that is to sustain and extend the ethical teachings of Jesus, and his last recorded prayer is a prayer for its unity and endurance.71
It should be noted that the size of the original community of disciples was small; that the relationships among them grew more personal and intimate as they lived and worked together; and that the moral tone of their community was definitely set by the high ethical standards of their leader. Where these three characteristics do not exist—as in large, impersonal organizations with distant or ethically challenged leadership—the inculcation and maintenance of high ethical standards are compromised.
Implications for Us
I must first of all readily admit that I have personally wrestled long and hard—often with limited success—with precisely how to internalize high standards of ethical behaviour among members of business and political organizations of which I have been a part and that I still have much to learn myself in this area.
But it would seem to me that the ethics of the political organizations and communities of which I have been a part, including the Parliament of Canada, would be strengthened by acknowledging the following:
• Codes of ethics and associated compliance and enforcement regimes are insufficient in themselves to achieve a high standard of ethical behaviour.
• The ethics of an organization will never rise higher than those of its leadership, and high ethical standards should therefore be an essential prerequisite in choosing and cultivating political leadership.
• Putting the interests of others—our fellow countrymen, our constituents, our colleagues, our families—ahead of our own selfish interests should constitute our highest ethical commitment. (Is not this the essence of self-sacrificial love as Jesus taught it?)
• The ethical life is not static; we should be growing in ethical sensitivity—increasingly seeing ethical and moral dimensions in issues and situations where we might not have seen them before, while avoiding the extreme of seeing moral issues where in fact none exist.
• We are in need of the fellowship of others who share our moral commitments and will hold us accountable to keep those commitments. We therefore should seek to be part of a moral community and contribute to its sustenance and activity.
If you are ever responsible for establishing the moral tone and standards of a group—a church, company, charity, political organization, or government—surely these lessons drawn from the teachings and example of Jesus constitute an excellent starting point.
Make self-sacrificial love the supreme ethic to be pursued and practised, encouraging and rewarding those who put the interests of others ahead of their own while constraining those who consistently put their own self-interest ahead of everything else. Commit yourself to following and learning from someone who personally practises that ethic, and seek to become that person yourself, recognizing that the ethical standards of an organization will never rise higher than those of its leadership. And form or join a moral community or fellowship—preferably a small and intimate one—where that highest of ethical standards will be practised and where you will be supported and held accountable by others for doing so.
50 Alexander Balmain Bruce, The Training of the Twelve, or Passages Out of the Gospels Exhibiting the Twelve Disciples of Jesus Under Discipline for the Apostleship (Edinburgh: T & T. Clark, 1871). Note that Bruce focused on the twelve male disciples; however Jesus also had many female disciples who were included in his inner circle and whom he trained.
51 John 1:46.
52 Bruce, The Training of the Twelve, 37, emphasis added. “They were the best that could be had” is Bruce’s summation of the twelve at the time of their recruitment. Jesus himself, however, viewed them from a different perspective, describing them to his Father toward the end of his ministry as “those whom you gave me” (John 17:6).
53 Bruce, The Training of the Twelve, 106.
54 “2015 Manning Barometer,” national public opinion survey carried out January 20 to 23, 2015.
55 “Public Perceptions of the Ethics of Political Leadership,” Jim Pattison Ethical Leadership Program at Ryerson University.
56 Federal Accountability Act: An Act Providing for Conflict of Interest Rules, Restrictions on Election Financing and Measures Respecting Administrative Transparency, Oversight and Accountability (S.C. 2006, c. 9).
57 See Preston Manning, Think Big: My Adventures in Life and Democracy (Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 2002), 117.
58 See Manning, Think Big, 118–120.
59 In this regard I am reminded of a study of political integrity by the historian D. C. Somervell that focused on the lives of two 19th century British statesmen. These were William Gladstone, the moralist, who if he didn’t see right and wrong in an issue was uninterested, and Benjamin Disraeli, the pragmatist, who rarely saw right or wrong in any issue, only differences of opinion. And what was Somervell’s conclusion? That while it is an error to discover moral issues when none are in fact at stake, it is a greater error to be blind to them when moral issues really arise (see D. C. Somervell, Gladstone and Disraeli [Garden City: Garden City Publishing Company, 1928], 66).
60 Deontological is derived from the Greek word for duty or “that which is binding.”
61 Matthew 22:37–40.
62 Bruce, The Training of the Twelve, 43.
63 1 Corinthians 13:4–7.
64 John 15:12.
65 Mark 10:17–18.
66 Matthew 5:17–19.
67 See Galatians 3:24.
68 Matthew 5:21–22, 27–28.
69 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give