Leading with real risk and real vulnerability

Scripture passage that caught my attention today: Numbers 14:10-19 But the whole congregation threatened to stone them.
Then the glory of the LORD appeared at the tent of meeting to all the Israelites. 11 And the LORD said to Moses, “How long will this people despise me? And how long will they refuse to believe in me, in spite of all the signs that I have done among them? 12 I will strike them with pestilence and disinherit them, and I will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they.” But Moses said to the LORD, “Then the Egyptians will hear of it, for in your might you brought up this people from among them, 14 and they will tell the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that you, O LORD, are in the midst of this people; for you, O LORD, are seen face to face, and your cloud stands over them and you go in front of them, in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night. 15 Now if you kill this people all at one time, then the nations who have heard about you will say, 16 ‘It is because the LORD was not able to bring this people into the land he swore to give them that he has slaughtered them in the wilderness.’ 17 And now, therefore, let the power of the LORD be great in the way that you promised when you spoke, saying,
18 ‘The LORD is slow to anger,
and abounding in steadfast love,
forgiving iniquity and transgression,
but by no means clearing the guilty,
visiting the iniquity of the parents
upon the children
to the third and the fourth generation.’
19 Forgive the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of your steadfast love, just as you have pardoned this people, from Egypt even until now.”

Observation: The above passage is just a glimpse of the story. Over and over again the people complain in one way or another against Moses. Over and over again the Lord gets angry and threatens to more or less remove them from the face of the earth or worse, as in this case, disinherit them! Indeed the whole promise to Abraham was that his descendants would receive a Godly inheritance. Now even this foundational promise was in jeopardy. Yet over and over again Moses pleaded for the people, though they hardly deserved such mercy, and endeavored to mellow the almighty’s wrath by calling God back to those original promises and back to the honor due to God’s name. It occurs to me that, contrary to popular opinion, the greatness of Moses was never really so much about him leading the people out of Egypt or even his giving the people the 10 commandments. Rather, Moses’ true greatness was the mercy he showed toward and on behalf of the people who appeared to have very little if any mercy toward him.

Application: Lot’s of people aspire to be great leaders. Yet the more I learn about leadership, both in practice and observation (Biblical and otherwise), I’m not sure it’s all it’s cracked up to be. Real leadership is often (and maybe always) closely related to real risk and real vulnerability. At some point or points it’s usually messy, complicated, and frustrating. It’s not all bad. If it were, no one would ever want to do it. But let’s not pretend it’s all peaches and cream either.

A big lesson from Moses is that leadership is not about aspiration but, rather, of call. It’s a stirring deep within one’s heart and at times against one’s common sense that sees beyond the perfunctory duties to the reason behind it all. Authentic leadership is less about self-preservation and more about care for the people who together form community—however wonderful or dysfunctional or both at the same time. What’s particularly striking about Moses’ leadership is that, for that reason, he was even willing to take the significant risk of calling God to account. Yikes! Talk about exposing one’s vulnerability! Yet he did it for the sake of the people who were even more vulnerable, and for the sake of a most holy promise that he held dear. Such are the some of the lessons from Moses that still have relevance today.

Prayer: Lord, enable all of us who feel called to lead to do so without hiding from risk or vulnerability. In the name of your Son who showed us the way. Amen.

(Readings today included: Numbers 14-16 and Mark 3)