August 6^th of this year the New York Times published an editorial that caused quite a stir. Howard Shultz, the Chairman and CEO of Starbucks, wrote an opinion piece for the New York Times entitled, “America Deserves a Servant Leader.” [1] I recommend the entire article, but just want to read a quote from the beginning:

“From the earliest days of Starbucks, I’ve been captivated by the art of leadership. I was mentored over three decades by Warren Bennis, the eminent professor and scholar on leadership. I’ve gathered insights from peers, and I’ve drawn inspiration from our 300,000 employees. But nothing I’ve read or heard in the past few years has rivaled the power of the image I viewed on my cellphone a few years ago: Pope Francis, shortly after his election, kneeling and washing the feet of a dozen prisoners in Rome, one of them a young Muslim woman, in a pre-Easter ritual.”

Shultz went on to reflect on the poor current state of leadership in America, and especially on the poor political leadership we are receiving from both parties. People immediately thought Shultz would run for President, but he did not feel the call to do that. He felt called to lead Starbucks.

One negative force impacting America is the loss of confidence in leaders. In fact, there is an overwhelming sense that the majority of our political leadership of each party is in some way incompetent or corrupt. Our business leaders are not held in any better esteem. The well-known events of the collapse of the mortgage back security industry and the lack of accountability in the banking community has left a generation of young people alienated from business. Even the church is suspect, primarily because of a few well-known incidents involving celebrity preachers. The result is a lack of confidence in almost all sources of leadership for our nation: Congress, the President, the Supreme Court, government, academia, business, the media, and even non profits and the church. [2]

Jesus Washes the Disciples’ Feet

What are we do do? First and foremost, we should look to Jesus and to the leadership of the People of God. Our text this morning is from the Gospel of John, chapter 13, beginning with verse 1:

It was just before the Passover Feast. Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love. The evening meal was being served, and the devil had already prompted Judas Iscariot, son of Simon, to betray Jesus. Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.    He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.” “No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.” “Then, Lord,” Simon Peter replied, “not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!” Jesus answered, “A person who has had a bath needs only to wash his feet; his whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you.” For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not every one was clean. When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them” (John 13:1-17).

 Let us pray: God of Love, who served us at our greatest point of need, our need for your grace, come and illumine our darkened hearts  so that we may be transformed into the form of the one who came to save us and show us the Way everlasting. Amen.

Jesus: Our Ultimate Leadership Role Model

Our text is from the end of Jesus’ active ministry. In the Upper Room, Jesus came to the end of his last week of life on this earth. His public ministry of teaching and healing was complete.  Jesus would now do the one, last great work for which he came. Knowing that his time with the disciples was short, Jesus arranged to have one last meal with them before the Passover Celebration during which he was to die. During this meal, he demonstrated to them what true leadership will be like in his church by washing everyone’s feet.

In the ancient world, men and women wore sandals, and roads were primarily dirt paths. As a person walked, and especially as a traveler completed a journey, there was dirt on his or her ankles and feet. It was the custom for homeowners to keep a large pot of water at the front door of a home for the washing of feet. Normally, if available, a servant would do the foot washing. Jesus had no servants. Therefore, it might be expected that one of the Twelve, perhaps John, the youngest, would wash the feet of the disciples on this night of the Passover Meal. But, not one of the disciples, not even the youngest, was willing to undertake the menial task. [3]

Seeing that no one else was willing wash his feet and the feet of the other disciples, Jesus striped off his outer clothing, bound his loins like a common servant, and began to wash their feet. The disciples could not have missed the meaning of this event: Of all those present, Jesus was the last person who should have performed the task. He was an adult male – not a child. He was a Rabbi – and Rabbi’s were hesitant to be seen less than fully clothed. He was the leader of the group, and as the leader one would expect that he should have had his feet washed, not be the one to wash the feet of the others. Nevertheless, Jesus washed the feet of his disciples.

Peter, who had probably not undertaken the task himself because he was the “leader of the Twelve” and “the Rock” upon which Jesus was to build the Church, attempted to stop Jesus, but it was too late (see, Matthew 16:18; John 13:6-9). Jesus had already determined to wash the feet of the disciples and teach them a lesson in humility. It is as if Jesus was saying, “If you want to be one of my followers, you must be willing to serve one another just like this.” Just to be sure that the disciples got the point, he taught them saying:

You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them (John 13:12-17).

In Jesus’ new paradigm of leadership, servanthood is primary, for it is in serving one another that we fulfill the commandment to “Love one another as I have loved you” (John 15:12). [4]

The Perennial Lack of Servant Leaders

We often talk about the lack of servant leaders today, as if there were a time in human history when people were naturally inclined to serve one another. The Gospels argue against such an interpretation. In Matthew and Mark, a story is told of the ambition of James and John to sit on the right and left of Jesus (Matt, 20:17-19; Mark 10:32-34). In Luke, the story is of the jockeying of the disciples for preeminence. [5] Jesus warned his disciples that among the Gentiles (that is us) leaders are to be known by their position, power, and right to use the executive jet and have the best offices. In the Kingdom of Heaven, leaders are known by humble service.

The world has always lacked humble servant leaders. In the West and in the East, leaders have usurped power and served their own ambition. [6] That is human nature. In our own day and time, we have seen the great need that exists for leaders that put the interests of others above themselves. But, we cannot expect our leaders to put our interests above theirs if we are unwilling to serve the needs of our friends and neighbors. That is why, as Jesus knew, the solution to the deep problem of human pride and ambition is humble service.

This is why the Christians and the Church are so crucial: Without the example of Jesus and the Church, there is little basis in our society for anyone to engage in servant leadership. Jesus invented Servant Leadership. Before Jesus and the growth of the Christian religion, the world had not almost no idea of servant leadership. There was no example of what servant leadership might look like. It is not surprising that in Post-Christian America our leaders are seldom, if ever, servant leaders. If power is all there is, servant leadership makes little sense. [7]

Requirements for True Servanthood

How can we develop servant leaders at Advent, in our community, and in our nation?

1. First, Servant Leadership begins with Caring Deeply for People. Scripture tell us that we should “serve one another in love” (Galatians 5:13). No one will ever serve another person until they unconditionally care about them. We will never serve another person; really serve them, until their needs are just as important to us as are our own. Love is sacrificing what I want for the benefit of another person because that other person is important to me. Servanthood begins with love, because love is what draws me out of my selfish self-centeredness.
2. Second, Servant Leadership requires the Humility to Serve Others. Jesus says, “a servant is not greater than his or her master” (John 13:16). We will never serve one another until we have the servant “mind of Christ” (Philippians 2:5). The reason no disciple washed the feet of the others was because each felt that someone else should undertake this menial task. Hey all lacked humility. It is humility that teaches us that we are all human, all made of the dust of the earth, and in the eyes of God, no one of us is better than another.
3. Third, Servant Leadership requires Commitment. Jesus was willing to pay the cost of loving his disciples and us. He was willing to serve, to do menial tasks, ultimately to go to the Cross. We won’t be humble servants of one another until we are so committed to another person, to our children, our spouse, our friends, our co-workers, our neighbors, our fellow Christians, our community and nation, that we are willing to pay the cost in time, in energy, in self-denial in order to meet their needs. [8]

The Church as a Source of Servant Leadership

More than thirty years ago, Robert K. Greenleaf published the most important book in leadership written in the 20^th Century, Servant Leadership: A Journey into the Nature of Legitimate Power and Greatness. [9] Greenleaf anticipated our current crisis and understood that people are starved for a deeper sense of relationship and community, and that a servant-oriented leaders are essential. [10] Greenleaf also emphasized the importance of the church and religious institutions in creating servant leaders. If the Church does not engage our culture and train up the next generation of servant leaders, it is hard to believe that any other institution or group will.

Earlier this year, our church had a “leadership summit”. No institution, not even a church, can grow and prosper beyond their servant leadership capacity. This is, at root, the problem our nation faces. What we want to do over the next few years is to train more leaders—and not just any kind of leader. We want to train servant leaders. As our church and other churches train servant leaders for our homes and congregations, everywhere our members work, play, or serve will be inevitably changed.

There is no quick fix for the lack of servant leaders in our society. In fact, the problem may well grow worse if there is no spiritual and moral renewal of our culture. A culture mad about power, influence, affluence, and the search for personal pleasure is not fertile ground for the growth of servant leaders. Nor is such a culture likely to take seriously concern for the poor, the middle class, or those who have little political or economic power. Only those who follow the God who loves the poor, cares for families, lifts up the powerless, and gives grace to the humble, only the kind of God who would die on a cross, can create the kind of servant leaders we need.

The exclusion of Christianity and faith from business, politics, government, and the rest of the “public square,” and the relentless attempt to exclude Christian values from public debate, is a great mistake. It cuts our culture off from one of the most potent sources of respect for truth, of respect for people, of a love of beauty and goodness. A culture that cuts itself off from the spiritual values that give rise to servant leaders cannot expect them to grow in the dry and arid spiritual soil such a culture inevitably creates.

Copyright 2015, G. Christopher Scruggs, All Rights Reserved

[1] Howard Schultz, America Deserves a Servant Leader” in New Your Times, August 6, 2015.

[2] See Gallup Pole, “Lack of Confidence in System” (June 2-7, 2015).

[3] See, Charles Barclay, “The Gospel of John” in The Daily Bible Study Series Vol. 2. Rev. Ed. (Philadelphia, PA: Westminster, 1975):138-139.

[4] See also, John 13:34; 14:15; 15:17.

[5] The story is told in approximately the same way in Mark 10:35-45 and in Matthew 20:20-28. In Luke, the story is told in form of a dispute among the disciples. Luke puts the point in these words: “Also a dispute arose among them as to which of them was considered to be greatest. Jesus said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who exercise authority over them call themselves Benefactors. But you are not to be like that. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves.” (Luke 22:24-26).

[6] Exhortations to servant leadership and avoiding selfish, self-centered, power centered leadership occur in the Tao Te Ching and in the Bible, in the East and in the West, among wise leaders in differing cultures, because all cultures have their Napoleon’s and their Attila the Huns.

[7] It is interesting that Howard Shultz was impacted by the example of Pope Francis. It is only a Christian leader that would have had a foot washing ceremony. Our culture seems to want something it cannot have without Christianity and Christ.

[8] In a book entitled, Centered Living/Centered Leading: The Way of Light and Love Rev. Ed. (Memphis, TN: BookSurge, 2014), I have looked at the commitment of a servant leader through the lens of the Tao.

[9] Greenleaf, Robert K., Servant Leadership: A Journey into the Nature of Legitimate Power and Greatness Mahwah, NY: Paulist Press, 1977.

[10] See, Greenleaf, “Community: The Lost Knowledge of these Times,” 37-39 and “Servant Leadership in Churches,” 218-248.