Jesus: A Failure at Leadership

When I think of Jesus and leadership, I am more than a little mystified. By any standard, modern or historical, Jesus was just awful.

For the first 30 years he was just a good, oldest son. No one knew of his remarkable qualities. It seems that the only thing on his resume was that he was well liked.

When he finally did get around to doing something, he went and hid in the desert for 40 days.

He gathered up the most common of men to hang out with. He was supported by a group of women.

His followers loved him and hated him, often within minutes of these two opposites.

He didn’t have anyone write anything down. His closest friends didn’t think to write anything about him for at least 20 years after he was gone.

He talked a lot about his relationship with his father.

They only thing that really seemed to matter to him was building friendships with some very unlikely men and women. Even then, his most ridiculous teaching came in the form of washing their feet.

Even today, people don’t put much thought into his model of building friendships.

When he died his closest friends abandoned him. He was such a poor leader that if he hadn’t risen from the dead those closest to him would simply have gone fishing for the rest of their lives.

People seem to really miss the point when they talk more about his miracles and teachings rather than the startling fact that his entire plan for mankind hinged on the friendships that he had developed over the course of three years.

Would you have entrusted the destiny of the world to the likes of a Thomas or a Peter or a Martha?