students of jesus

In my Clark Kent life I do some work as a consultant, sharing with small groups the meanings of leadership and teamwork. I discover more about leadership and teamwork each time I work with a group; I also discover more about myself, and more about the wisdom of Jesus. 

Jesus is God’s wisdom lived out in human life. He is the Master of Life—not just eternal life—but life here and now. Whether I am working with businesses, governments or non-profits, I discover again and again how the words of Jesus find application in very practical settings. I also repeatedly discover the powerful human tendency to twist his wisdom to our own purposes.

For example, I recently shared with a group of leaders a powerful tip from Colin Powell regarding how we see the world. Powell’s example is a reworking of the Lord’s wisdom. “Remove the beam from your own eye, then you can see to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” (Matthew 7: 2-5) Powell used this metaphor: when things go wrong we can examine the results by using a piece of glass. One type of glass is a window. We look through the glass at others and examine their actions. Another type of glass is a mirror, which shows us ourselves. The wise leader reaches first for the mirror—“What have I done in this situation?” asks the leader. “How did I contribute to the problem?” The unwise leader reaches for the window-glass and looks at others. “What did they do? How could they have failed so badly?”

The mirror/window example is useful and true, and not particularly novel in leadership circles. Like the earlier saying of Jesus, it requires humility of heart and courage to face the truth. It benefits all who embrace its wisdom. But we are a frail lot, us sons of Adam and Daughters of Eve. We can take the wisdom of God and twist it to our own devices. Here’s what happened next with this group of leaders.

After sharing the Colin Powell version of this principle with a leadership team, I gave the team an exercise: use 15 minutes and take a recent problem at your workplace. Apply the mirror, and report back what you learned. This team was a group of old-school leaders, the kind who believe leadership is about command and control, about telling others what to do. When they returned from their exercise, the spokesman suggested this use of the mirror: “We think it would be effective to use the mirror by turning it toward our employees. We would hold the mirror up to them and say, ‘Look at what you’ve done! It’s not very professional, is it?’” These leaders, in effect, recommended using the mirror as a tool of discipline instead of self-reflection. They came to a conclusion 180-degrees from the purpose of the exercise. Their conclusion reinforced their way of doing things and asserted their right as leaders to be the judge of others! (And yes, at that moment I quickly grabbed my own mirror and asked myself, “How could I have screwed up this concept so completely?!?”)

The lesson for Students of Jesus is a warning: it is not enough to know his principles. We must have his heart as well. We—all of us—have a powerful tendency to think his words are meant for someone else, and we are the chosen vessels to deliver his words. We are bent toward self-preservation and defensiveness, even when we hear words of life. If Jesus teaches us to first remove the beam from our own eye, we rush off to deliver his message to others before we have tried the remedy ourselves.

The world-changing power of Christ starts small and works outward, like ripples on a pond. Most of us are surprised, however, to discover the center of the circle looks like us.