Morning Devotional

April 7, 2004

"Leading or Driving" 

by Don Emmitte

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Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, "The teachers of religious law and the Pharisees are the official interpreters of the Scriptures. So practice and obey whatever they say to you, but don't follow their example. For they don't practice what they teach. They crush you with impossible religious demands and never lift a finger to help ease the burden. Everything they do is for show. On their arms they wear extra wide prayer boxes with Scripture verses inside, and they wear extra long tassels on their robes. And how they love to sit at the head table at banquets and in the most prominent seats in the synagogue! They enjoy the attention they get on the streets, and they enjoy being called `Rabbi.' Don't ever let anyone call you `Rabbi,' for you have only one teacher, and all of you are on the same level as brothers and sisters.” (Matthew 23:1-8 NLT).

There is a story from World War II about Mussolini's car breaking down in a little town in Italy. While they were repairing the car, he decided to go to the movie theatre down the street. He sat down in the middle of the crowd. They brought up an image of Mussolini himself on the screen and everybody rose, except, of course, Mussolini. The theatre manager came down and tapped him on the shoulder and said firmly, "Sir, I know exactly how you feel. I feel the same way, but it's dangerous to sit there. You better stand."

When you stand or bow before any religious authority you demean yourself. And when your demeanor requires that others stand before you, you have violated the very essence of your faith. Religion leads to the placing of heavy burdens on the shoulders of others. Shepherds lead. Butchers drive. You can always tell the people of God and the leaders they have by whether they are driven or led.

I can't tell you the number of letters I've received from Christians who have left the church. They left because they were tired of building an empire for someone else. The philosophy seems to be “put a saddle on the back of a new Christian and ride him 'til he dies.” New Christians are given the rules and stuff to do; soon the leader finds that everyone stands in his presence.

Booker T. Washington has a great story in his autobiography. He has a wonderful reference to his older brother. The slaves were required to wear flax shirts. When they were new they were stiff and rough because it was inexpensive flax. And his Brother loved him. His brother would take the new shirts and wear them until they were soft and would then give the soft shirts to his little brother, Booker Washington. When I read that I thought, you know, that's what we're supposed to do as religious professionals. But, we give them the harsh shirts. We make them wear them until they are soft then we require them to present the soft shirts on the altar of our own self-aggrandizement. Whenever you build an empire, be very, very careful. We should be leaders not drivers! Jesus was a leader. Shouldn’t we follow his example?