When I was going up
before the board to be commissioned, I remember one of the questions they
really asked a lot was what is servant leadership? Now the answer to the question seems pretty
self-explanatory, it’s a leader that leads through service, and yet and they
kept pushing me to explain it deeper, I realized that not only describing what
is a servant leader is difficult; I also realized that being a servant leader
is difficult. Out of all of their
questions, which I assure you there were many, and despite the nerves and the
sweat and the tears of those interviews, I still remember one question that I
really struggled to answer. What person
in the Bible best describes your understanding of a servant leader? Of course
there is a wealth of great leaders in the Bible, from Noah to Moses, David and
Deborah, John the Baptist and of course Jesus; and yet it was so hard for me to
pick one as the shining example of a servant leader. And then I read this
scripture for today, it is quite a gem that we have from the book of Luke, a
short ten verse story that many may not be familiar with, and when I read it I
almost shouted out loud, aha! There’s your servant leader, the centurion is the
example of a great servant leader.
So what makes the centurion such a great servant
leader? Well first a foremost the
centurion recognizes the power of the role that he is in. A centurion was a military leader in charge
of a company of a hundred men. In fact that’s where the title centurion comes
from, a hundred just like century means a hundred years. The centurion was also
powerful enough at that time to have his own servants, or slaves. This is not
the time to discuss this as an ethical issue, as we must remember the
historical context of this story. As I said earlier however, is that the first
great strength of the centurion is the recognition of the power he has. He
says, “For I
also am a man set under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to one,
'Go,' and he goes, and to another, 'Come,' and he comes, and to my slave, 'Do
this,' and the slave does it." The
centurion does not cower from the power that he, but instead embraces it; he
knows the ways in which he can lead others.
Recognition of power for
many leaders however, can become a problem. A sense of entitlement can develop,
and as we see so often in our society today, that power can be abused. The
centurion still is different; while it is true that authority is given to him
by his commanding officers; his power as leader was earned through his
compassion, care and service to those he lead. We of course see this in our
story, we have a servant, somebody viewed as a nobody in that society, and yet
when the centurion finds out that the this slave is close to death, he does all
that he can in his power to help him. That includes reaching out to a complete
stranger. We must remember that the centurion is a Gentile, not a Jew, he reaches out Jesus, someone who he has no
business associating with, because it provided hope that his servant may be
saved. We can assess that this is type
of action is not out of the ordinary for the centurion, that he has always lead
with great compassion and respect. We hear the words of the Jewish elders whom
he sent to Jesus telling Jesus about the centurion saying, “He is worthy of having
you do this for him,
for he loves our people, and it is he who built our synagogue for us.” Once again we hear about the centurion’s great respect for those he leads. Although he is not Jew he helped to build the synagogue for them. All of these examples go to show that the centurion truly did serve those who was leading, in effect became an even stronger leader because his power was not just simply given to him, but earned by the ways in which he served.
for he loves our people, and it is he who built our synagogue for us.” Once again we hear about the centurion’s great respect for those he leads. Although he is not Jew he helped to build the synagogue for them. All of these examples go to show that the centurion truly did serve those who was leading, in effect became an even stronger leader because his power was not just simply given to him, but earned by the ways in which he served.
Finally, we come to the
last great sign of a servant leader. So far we have noted that a great leader
serves those whom they are leading, and we have also noted that a great leader
recognizes and appreciates the power that they hold. And yet in our story we
find a point of tension. The centurion
realizes that in the midst of his compassion for his servant, he had not truly
respected who Jesus is. On the one hand this is a practical statement. Jesus is a Jew, and for him to come into the
house of a Gentile and heal the servant, he would become deemed unclean by the
Jewish laws. The centurion realizes that he has asked to put this guest in a
difficult position, and so he sends messengers again deferring to Jesus saying,
“Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to
have you come under my roof; therefore I did not presume to come to you. But
only speak the word, and let my servant be healed.” While the
centurion’s respect for Jesus was one hand because of the practices of the
Jewish law, on the other hand we can see that the centurion recognizes Jesus
for who he is, the Son of God.” We can
see this in the previous statement, he tells Jesus that he himself, a centurion
mind you, is unworthy to have Jesus come under his roof and implores him to
speak and let the servant be healed. Speak the word and let my servant be
healed!” What an amazing statement of faith! The centurion recognizes the power
of Jesus, that with a word the slave can be healed. And then in the greatest
form of recognition the centurion says, “For I also am
a man set under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to one, 'Go,' and
he goes, and to another, 'Come,' and he comes, and to my slave, 'Do this,' and
the slave does it.” The centurion
is saying, look at the power that I have, a command people and they listen, and
yet do not have the authority that you do.
This creates a tension that is the last characteristic of a great
servant leader. That although a servant leader recognizes the power they have,
they first a foremost recognize that all authority belongs to God. Secondly,
though a great servant leader serves the needs of those they lead, the also
recognize that service to Christ comes first. And yet we see through this story
that the two things are not mutually exclusive. That though the in the power
and glory of Jesus the centurion deferred his request, that Christ is also
filled with the same compassion for the servant and heals them. And though the
centurion claims to not be worthy in the presence of Jesus, Jesus affirms the
centurion saying, “I tell you, not even in Israel have
I found such faith."
Servant leaders are called
to live in that tension of serving those they lead and serving the will of God;
the tension of recognizing the power they have, and that at the same time they
have no power. Brothers and sisters, today I tell you that we are all called in
some way to be servant leaders. To recognize the power that we have in our
lives to serve others and at the same be completely obedient to the will of
God. And yet, like the centurion discovered, when we submit to the will of God,
we can do far more than what we could alone.
