Jesus had some pretty harsh words for the scribes (lawyers) of His day. When teaching one day, some lawyers objected to Jesus’ accusation of wrongdoing and said they were offended. Jesus did not pull any punches with them. He corrected them as well.
Jesus had been teaching the disciples about prayer and then a Pharisee asked him to come and eat with him. Jesus went to eat with the Pharisee. As they were sitting down to dinner, the Pharisee noticed that Jesus did not wash His hands the ceremonial way the Pharisees insisted on to be considered clean. Jesus told the Pharisee that the Pharisees were so worried about what was clean on the outside, but their hearts were full of uncleanness and that they should be more concerned about clean hearts than clean hands.
When a lawyer objected to Jesus’ correction, Jesus told the lawyer:
“But He said, “Woe to you lawyers as well! For you weigh men down with burdens hard to bear, while you yourselves will not even touch the burdens with one of your fingers.”
(Luke 11:46, NASB95)
Jesus was telling the man that they were so careful about making sure everyone else toed the line when it came to scrupulous observance of the minutiae of detail in the law while they just did whatever they wanted. He said that they were careful to observe things so people would think them holy, but God knew they were not.
What impressed me the most about this passage is that this has been my leadership style my whole life. Not the way the Pharisees did it, but the way Jesus wanted them to. I have managed restaurants in Cushing, Edmond, and Seminole, Oklahoma, and Sioux Falls, South Dakota and Topeka, Kansas. I have managed a theater in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, a Career Learning Center Computer Lab in Huron, South Dakota, and a Christian radio station in Topeka, Kansas. I was an auditor for the State of Kansas, a Chief Petty Officer in the United States Navy, and have pastored churches in Huron, South Dakota, Topeka, Kansas (2), Liberal, Kansas, and now in Walters, as well as having planted a church in Woonsocket, South Dakota. In all of those settings, my leadership style has been to never ask anyone to do anything I am not willing to do myself.
When I have asked people to share their faith, it is because I have first been sharing mine. When I have asked them to make prayer a priority, it is because I have been working on my own prayer life. When I have asked them to tithe, it is because my family has tithed since shortly after becoming believers in 1992. When I have asked people to work in the nursery, or missions, or serve on a committee, it has been because I take time to do those things as well.
Before you think that I am merely patting myself on the back, there are many things that I have failed at doing that I have asked others to do as well and I find way too much of myself in Jesus’ description of the lawyers. For instance, over the years, there have been some people who have hurt me particularly deeply in ministry. Try as I might, I struggle to pray for them and wish them well. I sometimes have trouble wishing them well. I find my mind mulling over what would happen if they were to be as hurt as they have made me feel. God has to reel me back in and convict my heart about forgiveness all over again. It is also easy for me to tell others to trust God with their finances, but when faced with a need, it is way too easy to pull put a credit card or put something on credit until I can afford it. I can tell people to make God a priority and then turn around and skip prayer time. I guess it is not as easy as I thought and I ought to give people the benefit of the doubt like as ask them to give me.
How about you? Are you asking others to lift loads you won’t help with?