Leading Like Jesus in a Cultural Quagmire

By Mark Moore

Destroying your church is easier than ever. In the “good old days” it took considerable effort—an affair, embezzlement, or adding an electric guitar to worship. Now, all it takes is a word: woke, equity, patriot, transphobic, eco-terrorist. Any of these can trigger a barrage of angry emails, cancellations on social media, or public protests. Satan is surely giddy with pride. Therefore, we had better be prouder of Jesus. 

It’s hard to imagine, but Jesus’ cultural context was no less triggering than ours. Granted, he did not have online algorithms running in the background to feed an ever-expanding echo chamber. Nonetheless, there is no divide we deal with today that he did not deal with in his day. In fact, he didn’t just deal with it; he invited it into his inner circle. 

Jesus’ Cultural Quagmire 

Political Schism. While we have a bipolar political system, Jesus had to contend with an even deeper divide. On the one hand, there were the Pharisees, who were every bit as right-wing as any fundamentalist. Our own January 6^th crowd could sing from the same hymnal as the Essenes in their “prepper” desert communities. They were vigilant and virulent against the establishment education system, the religious liberals, and the political sellouts. They were nationalists ready to risk life and limb to make Israel great again.  

Opposite the Essenes were the liberal Sadducees, who controlled the temple system. They didn’t even believe in the whole Bible, heaven and hell, or resurrection. They had money and power because of their cultural compromises and tenacious control of the systems of power. Then there were the hypocritical chameleons of Herod’s household who were Jewish when convenient but every bit as pagan as the Romans, imbibing in the corruptions of gambling, theater, drunkenness, and idolatry.  

Economic Disparity. One of the greatest drivers of our own social quagmire is economic disparity. It is one of the root causes of segregation, violence, and educational disparity. In 1983, upper-income families owned 60 percent of the aggregate wealth in America, according to a Pew Research Center report from January 2020. That increased to 79 percent by 2016. In contrast, the economic share held by middle-income families fell from 32 percent to 17 percent, and lower-income families saw their share of aggregate wealth drop from 7 percent in 1983 to just 4 percent in 2016​. This trend has led to the highest levels of income inequality since 1928, Pew reported. 

In Jesus’ day, the disparity was far greater. Approximately 2 percent of the population had a stranglehold on the entire economy. The rich and powerful built their fortunes on the backs of the suffering masses. Herod erected a temple that eclipsed Solomon’s. There were men like Zacchaeus whose seven-figure salary was the cause of immense collateral damage to his community. Two meals a day was a luxury beyond the reach of the common man. A simple change of clothes was considered so exorbitant that John the Baptist exhorted his listeners to share any extra clothing with people who had none. 

Social Pariahs. Everyone today has a category of persons they consider unclean. For vegans, it’s the meat-eaters. For nationalists, it could be the immigrants. For some, it’s those who consume Fox News vs. CNN; for others, it’s a sexual orientation, an allegiance to Black Lives Matter or the National Rifle Association. The list is long. The point is clear. We all are prone to label the “other” as unclean. 

In Jesus’ day the “other” included the “blind, deaf, and lame.” We read these words as a medical diagnosis. However, they were actually in the category of “unclean.” Anyone suffering from a physical ailment was assumed to be cursed by God for some secret sin. Even Jesus’ own disciples asked about the uterine transgression of a blind beggar at the temple. More obviously unclean were those who flaunted their infidelity, such as tax collectors, prostitutes, and Gentiles, whose lines of demarcation and social ostracization were clear-cut. 

Jesus’s Diverse Inclusion 

The diversity of Jesus’ disciples was incomparable in his culture. He welcomed rich and poor, righteous and unrighteous, male and female, Jews and Greeks. For example, no other rabbi allowed women into his orbit. Luke records this menagerie:  

Soon afterward he went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. And the twelve were with him, and also some women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, and Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod’s household manager, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for them out of their means (Luke 8:1-3, English Standard Version).  

It turns out that Jesus’ band of merry men included women. More than that, Mary represented the most ill-repute of the female species. Jesus gained a reputation for consorting with “tax collectors and sinners” (Luke 5:30). Joanna was wed to a Herodian CFO who was out of bounds to kosher Jews. Zacchaeus and Matthew were anathema to Zealots like Simon. (One can only imagine their political debates around Jesus’ campfire). Peter would likely side with Simon since Peter’s fishing business had suffered for years from Matthew’s greed and avarice. Now they are all “Team Jesus.” (Awkward). 

It wasn’t just his disciples who felt the tension. Jesus’ own family protested that he ate with ne’er-do-wells. He didn’t merely eat with them; he prioritized them over his biological family (Mark 3:31-35), who couldn’t gain access to the house! Jesus engaged a Samaritan woman at a well who had a scandalous marital record. He salvaged a woman caught in adultery, cast out demons from a Gentile streaker, touched lepers, praised a centurion, held children, and defended the poor. He welcomed the political left and right, rich and poor, power brokers and social outcasts. The “why” is easy: “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10). The “how” is more complicated; Jesus’ leadership strategy for diversity is the magic wand we need to wave over our churches. 

Jesus’ Leadership Strategy for Diversity 

Because Jesus was inclusive, he had to have a strategy for keeping his troops from killing each other. Don’t think for a minute that brutality was beyond them. James and John offered a holocaust against inhospitable Samaritans (Luke 9:54-55). Peter took a slice out of a Sadducean servant of the high priest (John 18:10). Violence was always a razor edge away. So how did Jesus avert an internal brawl with such hotheads surrounding him?  

His strategy was simple, workable, and transparent. Before the “big reveal,” however, let me ask a simple question. Where do we not see division amid diversity today? I would suggest these two places: The battlefield and the athletic field. On the battlefield, the only color that matters is your uniform. When we are in the throes of combat, all other differences are subsumed to the critical mission. Our squabbling in the church reveals an appalling subversion of the mission and an ignorance or ignoring of the imminent enemy. On the athletic field, the only name that matters is on the front of the jersey, not the back. When our name takes precedence over Christ’s, we fight for our own accolades and opinions rather than for his glory and ultimate victory. 

How did Jesus hold such diversity together? It was not by appreciating people’s differences and highlighting the value that each had to offer. Though that is noble, though it has some merit, it does not have the weight to overwhelm the divergence amid self-protecting diversity. Instead, Jesus put himself at the center and said, “Follow me.” It was his name that overshadowed all of their peculiarities. His agenda was the gravitational pull that bound them together, not their individual contributions, preferences, prejudices, or priorities. Where the church is divided, there is an idol that has co-opted the glory due only to the King of kings. Either Jesus is Lord of all or not Lord at all. Or in his own words, “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up” (John 3:14, ESV). If our eyes are on our own differences, then we have failed to lift Jesus above them. 

Our Master Leadership Mandate 

Jesus is not merely our Master; He is a master leader. His leadership model works not just in the church, but in business and nonprofits. My colleague, Jeff Osborne, has applied these principles in major corporations across America. He was the perfect partner for a new book about Jesus as leader: The Master Leader: 12 Ways to Lead Like Jesus. Two of the chapters in this book are center lane for leading well through cultural quagmire.  

1. Focus on common ground over common offenses. The kingdom of Jesus is transnational and supra-cultural. It is broader and higher than any one person, perspective, or ideology. In fact, Jesus’ priorities are on both sides of the aisle of Congress. When we align with a political or cultural ideology on earth, we will truncate his vision and abdicate our responsibility to exalt Jesus among the nations. 

2. Prioritize the disadvantaged. When the Grecian widows were overlooked in the daily distribution of bread (Acts 6), the apostles didn’t assign a task force for equality. They chose seven servants, all of whom had Greek names. They were looking for a way to ensure those overlooked were seen and known. Unity superseded equity.  

(Read more on these two points in chapters 5 and 7 in The Master Leader, which you can download free at TheMasterLeader.com/cs or by scanning this QR code.) 

3. Assume positive intent. When anyone acts “crazy,” there is a sane reason why. Our accusations of others are confessions of our own ignorance. If we assume others have valid reasons and logical explanations for their irrational actions or ideas, we can begin to ask questions to discover the gifts they have to offer the church.  

Part of what is striking about Jesus’ leadership is his unmitigated acceptance of people. It is so rare that those who feel uncomfortable with conservative Christians will still risk attending church because of Jesus’ unprecedented love. (It is incredibly brave for many new people to risk coming to church, given their experience of being judged, belittled, and debated.) This creates a conundrum for our congregations, given the cultural quagmire of our day. Only Jesus’ model of leadership can keep our flocks intact. Until we lift Jesus higher than our differences and above our preferences, we will not reach further than our own reflections.  

Mark Moore is teaching pastor with Christ’s Church of the Valley in Peoria, Arizona.