Ritröð Guðfræðistofnunar - 01.09.2008, Page 36

Locri in Italy. He was thus one of those “among the Gentiles whom they
recognize as their rulers . . . and their great ones.” Here, however, far from
perceiving the mysteries of the cosmos and ruling over the peoples, his son
has been reduced to blindness and begging. In Jesus Christ he comes again
to sight and follows him into the story of the cross. He stands as a model
for James and John and for us all. Tyrannical leadership and the theory that
serves the interests of the great ones together make up a kind of blindness.
When the gospel gives sight, leaders will follow Jesus, together with the rest
of the community, into life-giving service.
The leaders of the community, then, are to lead like Jesus leads from
the cross. To use the imagery of another New Testament book, they are
to rule like a slain lamb rules (Rev. 5:12). Of course, this is impossible.
Taken literally, this counsel seems to propose a kind of suicide. Still, what
the great ones and first ones of the community are actually given to do is
the sharing of that cup and that baptism in the community, with the whole
assembly. They are given those tables to serve. They are indeed going to
be seen as important among us. They do indeed preside — but as servers
at the communal table and as baptizers in the water. And then they need
to follow where that cup and baptism both lead — into the serving and
life-giving death of Christ. Like the cup and the baptism, they need to
love and build up his community, not their own power. They are not to
be simply servile. False modesty, feigned weakness, and fawning ways can
often be, after all, yet another means to build up one’s own power. Rather,
they will still openly be those who would be “great” and “first.” They will
be leaders. But the cross of Christ will always be the impossible standard
of criticism for their leadership. Even more, in the midst of the life of the
community, in the words of the gospel and in the cup and the baptism, the
very Crucified Risen One himself will be serving table and giving himself
for the life of the many. In such a community, the leaders are rulers who
are not rulers.
Scribes who are not like the scribes, rulers who are not like rulers — such
is the leadership of the Christian community in the reforming image of
Mark. These leaders will exercise an astonishing authority that is not frnally
their own authority. With the open secret of the gospel on their tongues
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