Leading or Driving

Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat, so do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works they do. For they preach, but do not practice. They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger. They do all their deeds to be seen by others. For they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long, and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi by others. But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers. (Matthew 23:1-8 ESV). There is a story from World War II about Mussolini's car breaking down in a little town in Italy. While they were repairing the car, he decided to go to the movie theatre down the street. He sat down in the middle of the crowd. They brought up an image of Mussolini himself on the screen and everybody rose, except, of course, Mussolini. The theatre manager came down and tapped him on the shoulder and said firmly, "Sir, I know exactly how you feel. I feel the same way, but it's dangerous to sit there. You better stand." When you stand or bow before any religious authority you demean yourself. And when your demeanor requires that others stand before you, you have violated the very essence of your faith. Religion leads to the placing of heavy burdens on the shoulders of others. Shepherds lead. Butchers drive. You can always tell the people of God and the leaders they have by whether they are driven or led. I can't tell you the number of letters I've received from Christians who have left the church. They left because they were tired of building an empire for someone else. The philosophy seems to be “put a saddle on the back of a new Christian and ride him 'til he dies.” New Christians are given the rules and stuff to do; soon the leader finds that everyone stands in his presence. Booker T. Washington has a great story in his autobiography. He has a wonderful reference to his older brother. The slaves were required to wear flax shirts. When they were new they were stiff and rough because it was inexpensive flax. And his Brother loved him. His brother would take the new shirts and wear them until they were soft and would then give the soft shirts to his little brother, Booker Washington. When I read that I thought, you know, that's what we're supposed to do as religious professionals. But, we give them the harsh shirts. We make them wear them until they are soft then we require them to present the soft shirts on the altar of our own self-aggrandizement. Whenever you build an empire, be very, very careful. We should be leaders not drivers! Jesus was a leader. Shouldn’t we follow his example?