Second Sunday After Easter
True Spiritual Leadership
Bishop Ray R. Sutton

The lion was proud of his mastery of the animal kingdom. One day he decided to make sure all the other animals knew he was the king of the jungle. He was so confident that he bypassed the smaller animals and went straight to the bear. “Who is the king of the jungle?” the lion asked. The bear replied, “Why, you are, of course.” The lion gave a mighty roar of approval.

Next he asked the tiger, “Who is the king of the jungle?” The tiger quickly responded, “Everyone knows that you are, O mighty lion.”

Next on the list was the elephant. The lion faced the elephant and addressed his question: “Who is the king of the jungle?” The elephant immediately grabbed the lion with his trunk, whirled him around in the air five or six times, and slammed him into a tree. Then he pounded him onto the ground several times, dunked him under the water in a nearby lake, and finally threw him up on the shore.

The lion – beaten, bruised, and battered – struggled to his feet. He looked at the elephant through sad and bloody eyes and concluded, “Look, just because you don’t know the answer is no reason for you to get mean about it!”

Some leaders don’t realize they’re not a true leader. They’re self-deceived about their own leadership. And no matter what happens to them, they live in denial about their leadership. We’ve recently seen such a case in the civil realm in the near east. And we’re all too aware of the need for true spiritual leadership in the Church and especially in the Anglican branches of it.

The Gospel for this Good Shepherd Sunday turns to the subject of shepherds and sheep in the 10th chapter of the Gospel according to St. John. But the real subject matter is spiritual leadership. Prior to the pastoral discussion of John 10, we read of an appalling situation in John 9. Jesus miraculously healed a blind man. Immediately, the religious leaders launched peripheral theological discussions such as whether or not the cause of the man’s blindness was some kind of ancestral curse. After Jesus denounced such a preposterous supposition, the clergy of that day challenged whether indeed the man had been blind, whether he was actually healed and whether or not it was Jesus who did it.

True sight and total blindness reach an incredibly sharp contrast. The man who was blind had achieved true sight. He had gone from spiritual sight with physical blindness to physical sight and even greater spiritual perception. The alleged spiritual leaders on the other hand had fallen from spiritual blindness and physical sight into total spiritual darkness. Not only could they not accept an obvious miracle when it had occurred right in front of them, they could not even recognize who Jesus was. They had greater spiritual blindness than the healed man ever physically had. The irony of who sees, and who is really blind, arrives at a breaking point by the end of the passage.

Jesus clearly has the blind leaders of Israel in mind when He appeals to the imagery of sheep and shepherds in the 10th chapter. He carries the discussion even further by explaining true spiritual leadership.

First, true spiritual leadership leads God’s people to the true point of entrance into the kingdom of God, the door. Jesus begins His lesson with the words, “He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber” (10:1). The identification of the door, therefore, says it all. Christ declares Himself to be the door. In verse 7 He says, “I am the door,” and in verses 9-10 He adds, “I am the door: by me if any man enter in he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy.” True spiritual leadership leads to Christ and salvation. False leadership leads away from Christ and spiritual death. If the path doesn’t lead to Christ and salvation by Him then it’s not the doorway into the kingdom of God. It’s a doorway to somewhere else. It’s religious thievery and murder of the soul.

Second, true spiritual leadership is recognized by the true sheep. Christ speaks what every shepherd knows to be true, “When he [the shepherd] putteth forth his own sheep . . . the sheep follow him: for they know his voice. And a stranger they will not follow, but will flee from him” (10:4-5). When we lived in a rural area of Pennsylvania, north of Philadelphia where I was president of the seminary, our ten-year-old son surprised us by asking for sheep for his birthday. We had reached a point in our large family of firsts, but this one was a true first. Immediately we learned that sheep quickly became attached to his voice. Our son was the only one who could get them to do anything. I caught them trying to eat the bricks off of the house; only my son could lead them away. We learned, however, that the greatest and only defense of a sheep is the recognition of the voice of the shepherd. For, only the shepherd can protect the sheep.

Therefore, if a spiritual leader lifts up Christ, the true sheep will respond to the recognizable voice of the Lord. Or, they will scatter if they hear a strange voice. This has been happening in the western Church for decades. God’s people have left established churches to go elsewhere. Most of the time they try to go where Christ and the Scriptures are taught. Or they tragically just try to hear the Lord at home alone.

Finally, true spiritual leadership is sacrificial not self-serving. Christ Himself is the chief example. He is the Good Shepherd because of His ultimate sacrifice. His words cannot be bettered: “I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. But he that is an hireling, . . . seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth” (10:12). Too many clergy have done nothing and been silent. The result has been that the wolves have come in among the sheep to devour them. True spiritual leadership makes the sacrifice. It gives up the best salaries and choice positions of this world to take care of the sheep. Maybe this is why Dr. Nicholas Murray Butler, former president of Columbia University, was fond of dividing the world into three parts: those who make things happen, those who watch what’s happening and those who don’t know what’s happening.

The lessons of true spiritual leadership haven’t changed in two thousand years. An ancient Persian proverb summarizes: “He who knows not, and knows not that he knows not is a fool – shun him. He who knows not, and knows that he knows not is a child – teach him. He who knows, and knows not that he knows is asleep – wake him. He who knows, and knows that he knows is wise – follow him.” And I would add to that final line: “He who knows Christ and His teachings, and knows that He knows Christ and His teachings, is truly wise – be a sheep to that true shepherd. Amen.