What Are You Arguing About? (Part 2 of 4)

Scripture — Mark 9:14-16 (NRSV)

When they came to the disciples, they saw a great crowd around them and some scribes arguing with them. When the whole crowd saw him, they were immediately overcome with awe, and they ran forward to greet him. He asked them, “What are you arguing about with them?”  Someone from the crowd answered him, “Teacher, I brought you my son; he has a spirit that makes him unable to speak, and whenever it seizes him, it dashes him down, and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid, and I asked your disciples to cast it out, but they could not do so.”

Devotion

In the previous part of this series, we were reminded that leaders have to remember two truths. In success and setback, we are not smarter than Jesus. He is in the room asking questions, and he knows the answer. And second, even as leaders, we need to be formed by his leadership.

Some questions are difficult because the answer will reveal our frailties. As I sat in my boss’s office, recounting the field errors caused by the architect’s design changes, I was forced to address steps I had missed. It was not a fun conversation, but because my boss did not tell me what I did wrong, I was able to walk the path and learn for myself. In the Mark 9 text, Jesus did the same thing with the disciples, but it was the father who became their object lesson.

Jesus asked one question, and it unfolded a story that got to the root cause. A father was frustrated by his son’s condition. He had clearly heard about what Jesus could do. He believed that at least if he could get his son to the disciples because of their connection to Jesus, it could get him healed. And they could not do it. He was sharing his own story, but the disciples were also involved in it.

Leaders who are open to mentoring must recount the stories of where they are and how they got there. Our secular framework permits us to posit the formal mentoring structure as the primary way we learn to develop, and it offers incredible benefits. But disciples know Jesus is the Lord of every leadership development program. If he wants to put you under the sea and let the ribs of a fish guide your development plan, he will. If he promotes you to senior staff and puts you in the mail room with a cupbearer and chief baker, then sends you back to senior staff, he’ll mentor you there as well. The disciple should seek intentional mentorship because God is a rewarder of those who seek God. But she also understands that every circumstance is part of God’s developmental plan.

The father in this story reminds leaders that we are more closely related than we often remember. And just in case the father’s story was misunderstood, Jesus clarifies the issue. The problem is not fundamentally a strategy or metric (they hadn’t reached their healing quota for the day). It was not mission slippage or a Peter, James, and John Department responsibility. The father is the object lesson for leaders who are disciples that there is a grand narrative issue: “He answered them, ‘You faithless generation, How much longer must I be with you? How much longer must I put up with you? Bring him to me.’”

They couldn’t do it. And sometimes we just can’t do it. But Jesus addressed the whole crowd and guided the disciples. They were disciples, but in that moment, you couldn’t tell the disciples from the crowd. The first question is about symptoms. Why were they arguing? It is a symptom of an essential question. Leaders embrace guidance because it gets us to the core question for every action. Who is it that you trust?

Find all Life for Leaders devotions here. Explore what the Bible has to say about work at the High Calling archive, hosted by the unique website of our partners, the Theology of Work Project. Reflection on today’s Life for Leaders theme can be found here: Mountaintop Experiences Don’t Last.