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Deep Discipleship

“Do you understand what I have done for you?” John 13:12

The humility of Jesus is best interpreted by Jesus himself. We resist the temptation to read into his action motives of our own. Jesus stripped down to wash the disciples’ feet but we cannot strip the text of its theological meaning. He removed his outer clothes, but we must not remove the inner meaning of his actions. Well-intentioned interpreters congratulate Jesus for being “the best manager and developer of human resources the world has ever seen.” They like what they see on the surface. They leverage the life of Jesus to make a practical point that has nothing to do with the atonement or the practice of discipleship.

Laurie Beth Jones in Jesus, CEO, presents Jesus as a leader who knew how to manage people. She claims that when Jesus washed the disciples’ feet, he set an example for his staff. He was creating a top-down corporate culture that showed the value of people. He showed them he cared. He believed in his team and he modeled success. When Jones claims Jesus is the epitome of the Omega management style, she conjures up images of Fortune 500 executives who are winsome and savvy.7 She ignores the meaning of the cross.

Cynics see humility as a clever ploy to get their way, just another strategy for manipulating people, a weapon in the Machiavellian arsenal of domination. In House of Cards, Kevin Spacey plays Francis Underwood, a ruthless congressman who stops at nothing to conquer anything and everyone. In a scene back in his home district, Congressman Underwood fakes humble contrition before parents grieving the loss of their daughter. Underwood turns to the camera and says, “What you have to understand about my people is that they are a noble people. Humility is their form of pride. It is their strength. It is their weakness. And if you humble yourself before them they will do anything you ask.” Humility, like virtue, can be perverted and used for evil purposes.

More than 500 years ago, Thomas à Kempis wrote The Imitation of Christ. His spiritual direction stressed the rigors of discipleship, the deceptiveness of self, and the lusts of the world. He challenged believers to cultivate an in-depth personal awareness of Christ. “Our chief pursuit,” wrote Thomas, “is to meditate upon the life of Jesus Christ.” Whoever “would fully and feelingly understand the words of Christ must endeavor to conform his whole life to Him.”8