But there is no doubt that many of us are copiers. We find it difficult (and unnecessary) to think, decide and act with total originality all the time. Most of the time we tend to be followers, rather than leaders. But other and younger feet are watching which way we will walk - we need to be careful who we choose to follow and the lead we are giving to others.
At the moment, much of our news is dominated by the conflict in the Middle East. There has been an attempt to negotiate peace. But already the Israeli government is saying that "the Palestinian Authority hasn’t fulfilled its part of the understandings which were achieved at Sharm el-Sheikh." And the chief Palestinian negotiator accuses Israel of provoking clashes by sending troops and Jewish settlers into Palestinian areas. He said, "The Israeli government is doing a good job at killing this peace process, in a very determined effort." Feelings run so deep on both sides. Can the leaders lead? Do they have a will for peace?
Who are our leaders? For those who reach the top, it is a rather lonely - and a somewhat uncertain - place to be.
At present in Queensland, we have a major investigation into electoral dishonesty. Premier Peter Beattie has said publicly that anyone who has done wrong has to go. In the party room, he has admitted, "This may cost us votes" - a nervous situation for a party which governs with a one-seat majority.
What makes a leader? Grover Andrews believes that, "of all of the essential characteristics of a good leader, perhaps vision is the most important. Combined with good planning and good followers, vision can result in positive action." Jim Crupi says that "today's and tomorrow's leaders need to be effective - not just efficient - empowered from within; flexible; visionary; value driven; and informed about the larger world." Joel Barker comments that "action without vision just passes the time, but vision with action can change the world!"
What makes a leader? Surely Jesus wants to change the world. Surely Jesus needs leaders of the Kingdom movement with the kinds of qualities described here - people with vision resulting in positive action, people with an inner empowerment, people driven by Kingdom values, people who understand the world around them. Yes, indeed, "vision with action can change the world".
Just before the ascension we hear Jesus saying to them all, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age" (Mt. 28.18-20).
You don't have to look far, Jesus. Here are James and John, ambitious to be leaders in the Kingdom - the rest of them shared that ambition, but did not come to Jesus so pointedly about it. James and John come to Jesus with their request, "When you sit on your throne in your glorious Kingdom, we want you to let us sit with you, one at your right and one at your left" (Mk 10.37).
But they haven't understood it at all and Jesus asks to them, "Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptised with the baptism I am baptised with?" "We can," they answer. Jesus goes on, "You will drink the cup I drink and be baptised with the baptism I am baptised with, but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared" (vv. 38-40).
They did not realize what was involved in their ambitious request. They were assuming that Jesus would rule over a restored nation of Israel (an assumption still on the minds of the disciples before the ascension in Acts 1.6). To have a place of honour in his glory would mean to share his suffering since the one depended on the other. Of course they may well have viewed the cup as a sign of God's blessing, as in the words in Psalm 23, "You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows" (v. 5b), rather than a symbol of divine judgment on sinners, as in Psalm 75, "In the hand of the Lord is a cup full of foaming wine mixed with spices; he pours it out, and all the wicked of the earth drink it down to its very dregs" (v. 8).
"Baptism" - being overwhelmed by water - was much more a sign of calamity (cf. Job 22.11; Ps. 69.2, 15; Is. 43.2). Although these two ambitious young men don't understand their own request, these things would in fact happen to them. James was the first apostle to be martyred (cf. Acts 12:2), whereas John, who endured many years of persecution and exile, was the last apostle to die (cf. John 21:20-23; Rev. 1:9).
Leadership in the Kingdom is to be completely different from the leadership they are experiencing either under Roman rule or in Jewish society. "You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all" (vv. 42-44).
In the late 1940s Whittaker Chambers was called to witness before a New York Grand Jury against Alger Hiss, a high US government official. Chambers, a one-time Communist, accused Hiss of attempting to transmit confidential government documents to the Soviet Union through him. When asked what it meant to be a Communist by one of the jurors, Chambers struggled to provide a clear answer. Finally he told them that when he was a Communist, he had three heroes.
His first hero was a Pole, a political prisoner in Warsaw. While there, he insisted on cleaning the latrines of the other prisoners because he felt that the most devoted member of any community should take upon himself the lowliest tasks as an example to those who were less devoted. "That," said Chambers, "is one thing it means to be a Communist."
His second hero was a German Jew who was captured and courtmartialed during a revolution in Bavaria. When told he now was under the sentence of death he replied, "We Communists are always under sentence of death." "That," said Chambers, "is another thing it means to be a Communist."
His third hero was a Russian exiled to a Siberian prison camp where political prisoners were flogged. He sought some means of protesting that inhumane persecution. Finally in desperation he drenched himself with kerosene, set himself on fire, and burned himself to death as a protest against what he considered a great indignity. "That," repeated Chambers, "is also what it means to be a communist."
Like the disciples, too often we hold ambitions that contrast strongly with the life of the one we profess to follow. "For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many" (v. 45). Jesus was the servant-leader. Finally he paid the ransom-price for sinful people.
Paul reminded the Corinthians, "You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honour God with your body" (1 Cor. 6.19b-20).
Yes, there needs to be leadership in the Kingdom of God. But it is servant-leadership - not only imitating Christ, but truly following him and responding to him, truly available for his will through us in this world.
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