Canter Bridge

When Stephen, on behalf of the early Jesus movement, delivers the speech that would cost him his life, he reaches back twelve centuries or so to the experience of Israel’s undisputed lawgiver.

And Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was mighty in his words and deeds. When he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brothers, the children of Israel. And seeing one of them being wronged, he defended the oppressed man and avenged him by striking down the Egyptian. (Acts 7:22–24 ESV)

Because the New Testament Book of Acts necessarily abbreviates such speeches, it is curious which details of Stephen’s summarized grand narrative survive the cut.

He supposed that his brothers would understand that God was giving them salvation by his hand, but they did not understand. (Acts 7:25 ESV)

The biblical witness demonstrates great affection for selfless and principled leadership. Indeed, one of the strongest commendations that the biblical literature allows a person is that he has shepherded YHWH’s flock. One of its severest condemnations is that he has been a ‘bad shepherd’.

Our business literature may dismiss heroic leadership. The Bible does not, having come to grips with the rarity of the thing and the enduring consequences of this blessing, which occurs so rarely in nature.

Yet nowhere does the Bible address the matter of leadership through a romantic fog. On the contrary, it knows that the genuine leader will certainly be misunderstood. Authentic shepherding is almost by definition a thankless task. That is not to say that one will not find oneself surrounded by many grateful people. It does mean that almost no one, except one’s closest intimates in the best of circumstances, will fully understand the cost.

Moses ‘supposed that his brothers would understand that God was giving salvation by his hand’. Then, with almost taciturn abbreviation, these words:

But they did not understand.

The weeding out process that falls to those who would lead comes quite quickly to the matter of motive. If one must be understood, then the career of a leader ends early, or badly, or both.

On the other hand, here and there a man or woman will step up to lead—a rare enough feat in any crowd—and find the grit to soldier through the calumny, the indifference, the assaults, and the long nights that will necessary ensue.

In time, though not always and with no guarantee that time will bring vindication, someone may just recognize that a Moses has been among us, a good shepherd has left his footprints on this way, a servant has led us at a cost we never knew.

These things come in retrospect.

Quick rewards and full commendation are not to be found here. We reserve those for the more lightly burdened.