Every leader is leading people; whether that’s a staff team, a group of followers acting in support of your cause, or as often the case in Christian ministry, a team of volunteers.
As the incarnate of the all-powerful God, Jesus, our model leader, did not need people to accomplish His earthly work. If we think about his task of redemption, it is perfectly feasible to think that Jesus could have come to earth, preached a gospel of repentance for sin without any disciples, taken the punishment upon himself, rose from the dead, and enabled His grace to be freely available to all. He could have been a lone ranger.
But our God is a relational God and used his disciples actively in his ministry. Luke 10 provides us with some helpful messages as we seek to model Christ-like relational, leadership.
- Jesus sent out the 72 ahead of him (v1). His leadership wasn’t from the front with a team following behind, he sent his team out first. Jesus brought the world the best news it would ever hear. Yet he sent others, people who had no part in bringing about the forgiveness and grace he brought, to be the first ones to announce it. How humbling this is!
- Jesus ensured everyone had mutual support by sending them in pairs (v2). There was likely an element of physical safety at play for the 72 at the time, but I wonder how many times the 72 were glad they had company on their mission! They had support amongst fellow team members, rather than primarily from the team leader. As leaders it is often easy to think we ought to be the one that our team can rely on for support. Jesus here models something different – he used a leadership model where there was mutual support between team members, underpinned by their reliance on God in prayer (v2).
- He delegated and empowered them. Jesus gave them clear guidance on what he wanted his team to do (v4-10). In v19 we also read he gave them His authority over the enemy. We don’t know what the 72 thought of Jesus instructions. I suspect one or two were doubting their ability to carry them out, inwardly at least. They might have preferred if Jesus could indicate which towns would welcome them so they could go there and avoid any unwelcome hostilities. Some might have thought they misheard v4 – Lord, do you really mean take no provisions at all? Jesus’ instructions pushed boundaries – He asked for more than what would have been expected in the circumstances. When leaders appropriately empower their team, the team members achieve things they didn’t think possible of themselves, and God can use them in ways nobody will expect. We see in v17 that was the case for the 72 – they returned in wonder at what they had done in Jesus’ name.
- In v3 we read Jesus sent them, and in v17 they return. Jesus released them, and waited for them to do what he had delegated to them. There is no record that he sent messengers to get regular updates on progress, or that he asked around to hear how they were getting on. Of course, as the all-knowing God he didn’t need to. Nonetheless, I believe there is a leadership lesson here around letting our team get on with their job. It is so easy in any leadership role to try to take back control, particularly tempting where the workers seem few (v2), or the task is urgent. Often we might be able to justify this to ourselves – its quicker if I do it, I don’t want to burden the team, it needs to be done differently, I like doing it even though it isn’t my job. This sort of pride, or any desire to maintain control, is not what Jesus models for us in Luke 10. He released his team, and waited, letting them get on with the job. We read in 1 Corinthains 12 that everyone in the church body has role to play. I believe there is a message in this passage for church leaders that can be overlooked in traditional interpretations. It is our role to identify and empower those in the body of Christ that have been given the spiritual gifts for their roles, and to let them get on with them. If the church suffers when the foot doesn’t play its part, surely it suffers similarly when the head tries to be the foot instead.
- Finally, Jesus celebrated with his team when they returned. The disciples ‘returned with joy’ (v17) and Jesus was ‘full of joy through the Holy Spirit’ (v21). Celebration involved praising the father for his work through the team, and it gave the disciples space to process and recognise the role they played and the impact they had. Although we read nothing further of the work of the 72, I suspect this celebration and recognition motivated them to remain involved in Jesus’ mission and paved the way for the ministry of the early church.
As Christian leaders Jesus’ example calls us to send a mutually supported team ahead of us empowered for their delegated task, to release them and wait, and to celebrate their achievements with them. Underneath all of this lies God’s desire for relationship. I pray as leaders we will avoid the tendency to try to be lone rangers, and instead reflect God’s relational heart as we lead our teams, in whatever sphere of leadership we find ourselves.
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