20210802 THE VULNERABILITY OF A LEADER
02 August, 2021, Monday, 18th Week, Ordinary Time
First reading | Numbers 11:4-15 © |
The sons of Israel complain in the desert
The sons of Israel began to wail, ‘Who will give us meat to eat?’ they said. ‘Think of the fish we used to eat free in Egypt, the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic! Here we are wasting away, stripped of everything; there is nothing but manna for us to look at!’
The manna was like coriander seed, and had the appearance of bdellium. The people went round gathering it, and ground it in a mill or crushed it with a pestle; it was then cooked in a pot and made into pancakes. It tasted like cake made with oil. When the dew fell on the camp at night-time, the manna fell with it.
Moses heard the people wailing, every family at the door of its tent. The anger of the Lord flared out, and Moses greatly worried over this. And he spoke to the Lord:
‘Why do you treat your servant so badly? Why have I not found favour with you, so that you load on me the weight of all this nation? Was it I who conceived all this people, was it I who gave them birth, that you should say to me, “Carry them in your bosom, like a nurse with a baby at the breast, to the land that I swore to give their fathers”? Where am I to find meat to give to all this people, when they come worrying me so tearfully and say, “Give us meat to eat”? I am not able to carry this nation by myself alone; the weight is too much for me. If this is how you want to deal with me, I would rather you killed me! If only I had found favour in your eyes, and not lived to see such misery as this!’
Responsorial Psalm |
Psalm 80(81):12-17 © |
Ring out your joy to God our strength.
My people did not heed my voice
and Israel would not obey,
so I left them in their stubbornness of heart
to follow their own designs.
Ring out your joy to God our strength.
O that my people would heed me,
that Israel would walk in my ways!
At once I would subdue their foes,
turn my hand against their enemies.
Ring out your joy to God our strength.
The Lord’s enemies would cringe at their feet
and their subjection would last for ever.
But Israel I would feed with finest wheat
and fill them with honey from the rock.
Ring out your joy to God our strength.
Gospel Acclamation | Jn14:6 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
I am the Way, the Truth and the Life, says the Lord;
No one can come to the Father except through me.
Alleluia!
Or: | Mt4:4 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
Man does not live on bread alone,
but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.
Alleluia!
Gospel |
Matthew 14:13-21 © |
The feeding of the five thousand
When Jesus received the news of John the Baptist’s death he withdrew by boat to a lonely place where they could be by themselves. But the people heard of this and, leaving the towns, went after him on foot. So as he stepped ashore he saw a large crowd; and he took pity on them and healed their sick.
When evening came, the disciples went to him and said, ‘This is a lonely place, and the time has slipped by; so send the people away, and they can go to the villages to buy themselves some food.’ Jesus replied, ‘There is no need for them to go: give them something to eat yourselves.’ But they answered ‘All we have with us is five loaves and two fish.’ ‘Bring them here to me’ he said. He gave orders that the people were to sit down on the grass; then he took the five loaves and the two fish, raised his eyes to heaven and said the blessing. And breaking the loaves handed them to his disciples who gave them to the crowds. They all ate as much as they wanted, and they collected the scraps remaining; twelve baskets full. Those who ate numbered about five thousand men, to say nothing of women and children.
THE VULNERABILITY OF A LEADER
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [NUM 11:4-15; Ps 81:12-17; Mt 14:13-21]
Leadership is a great honour and a privilege. But it is also a heavy responsibility and burden unfortunately. Leaders have to carry the weight of the entire organization or nation on their shoulders. He is not answerable just to himself but to the people under his charge, and to God. And it is increasingly difficult to be a leader in the world today where people are individualistic and inward-looking. To command respect and alignment with all parties is a most challenging task, not to mention the issues that the leader has to handle each day, and also to be proactive in considering the future of the organization.
Moses is presented to us as a very vulnerable leader. This is the beauty of the Old Testament. The stories of Israel’s leaders were never portrayed as flawless or sinless. We are consoled to think that we are just like them as leaders. Indeed, Abraham was deceitful, Sarah doubted, Isaac lied, Jacob was a cheat, Samson was a womanizer, David an adulterer. Moses, like them too, was imperfect. He was given many gifts by God, more than the people. He had a face-to-face encounter with His glory. God spoke to him as one to a friend. He was chosen to lead the people out of slavery. Even then, he was frustrated and exasperated at the weight he was carrying. He was overwhelmed by their complaints.
“Moses heard the people wailing, every family at the door of its tent.” Just like all leaders, we can never satisfy the needs of our people but their desires as well. The people were always lamenting about one thing to another. They complained there was no water, no bread, and then no meat. The truth is that man is never satisfied. He does not understand the virtue of contentment. When basic needs are fulfilled, he seeks luxuries. He likes to compare with what others have, forgetting what he already have. Just like the Israelites, we have poor memory of what God has done for us. We have selective memory only of the good days but not the suffering. So they compared themselves to those days when they were in Egypt, when they had all the food they wanted, but they forgot their miseries and suffering under the slavery of the Egyptians. Indeed, a leader receives complaints day in and day out, against this or that policy or persons.
The burden that Moses carried was simply too overwhelming for him. Not only did he have to bear the unceasing complaints of the Israelites, but he also had to bear the anger of the Lord against the people. He felt sandwiched between the rebellious Israelites and the wrath of God at the people’s ingratitude. Truly, as leaders we always feel this way as well. Quite often, leaders spend much time trying to appease groups of people, uniting them when in conflict, and often no one is happy with the leader’s decision. In such moments, we are also not only frustrated but we become resentful at their unreasonable demands.
Trapped by the constraints we face and the opposition against us, some leaders like Moses would say, “This is enough! Why should I carry this baby anymore? Why should I suffer ingratitude for all the sacrifices I have made? I don’t want this burden. So Lord, take this responsibility away from me.” That was what Moses told the Lord. “Why do you treat your servant so badly? Why have I not found favour with you, so that you load on me the weight of all this nation? Was it I who conceived all this people, was it I who gave them birth. Where am I to find meat to give to all this people, when they come worrying me so tearfully. I am not able to carry this nation by myself alone; the weight is too much for me. If this is how you want to deal with me, I would rather you killed me! If only I had found favour in your eyes, and not lived to see such misery as this!” Indeed, Moses had enough of all these burdens that he suffered for the people as the servant of God.
Like Moses too, knowing that we are not able to fulfil the tasks the Lord has appointed for us, we want to resign and give up. When Moses asked that the Lord take away his life, it was simply because he was too tired and exhausted and felt he could not fulfil the role the Lord had given to him. Rather than risk failure and disappoint God and His people, it would be better for God to appoint someone else who could succeed where he had failed. Is not this how we feel when we are overcome by our responsibilities? Even Job, who was going through such torture in his body and rejection by his friends, Elijah who fled from Queen Jezebel, and Jonah who could not see his enemies triumph over his people, wanted to give up and pleaded with God to end their lives. (Job 3:11; 6:9; 1 Kgs 19:4; Jonah 4:3) Indeed, why do we want to continue to man a sinking ship? It is better that someone who can do a better job take over.
This is where we fail to understand God’s plan. We think that success is measured according to human standards. This was how Peter retorted when the Lord prophesied His imminent passion. He said, “God forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you.” But Jesus turned to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.” (Mt 16:22f) What God asks of us is submission to His holy will and to surrender our lives to Him and all our problems. Jesus ended His mission by handing over His mission to the Spirit to complete what He could not accomplish. “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.” (Lk 23:46) His mission was a failure in the eyes of His enemies, but God had other plans.
So the lesson we can learn from today’s scripture readings is that leaders must hand over their burden and challenges to the Lord, instead of just relying on themselves. The Lord told us in the gospel, “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Mt 11:28-30) God is compassionate and ever ready to assist us. This is shown in Jesus’ tireless ministry to the people even when He was tired and needed time for Himself. “As he stepped ashore he saw a large crowd; and he took pity on them and healed their sick.” He would not shirk His responsibility to feed the people when His disciples asked that He dismissed them. Instead, He asked His disciples to feed them. Again, like Moses and us all, we also react saying, “All we have with us is five loaves and two fish.” In other words, we cannot do it. It is impossible.
Yet the marvel of God’s intervention is that He makes use of what had already been given to us. In other words, miracles need not be spectacular divine intervention, creating havoc to nature, but making use of nature to serve us. This was what the Lord did in Exodus. When Moses asked for a sign, God told him to make use of the rod in his hand to perform miracles. The plagues could have been due to natural disasters, but they happened at a time when Moses needed some signs. So too, God works miracles in our lives by sending us help through an email, a phone call, words of encouragement from a friend or someone who offers help. Our God is a God of surprises. When we feel helpless, He makes it possible.
All we need to do is to be like the Lord. Instead of complaining how little we have or how discouraging our results, we should be content and surrender everything to the Lord. That was what the Lord did, taking the five loaves and two fish, He gave thanks. He did not say, “why so little, how to share with the crowd”. In giving thanks, it shows Jesus’ gratitude for what He already had, and by sharing with others, God multiplied the bread, whether miraculously or whether He inspired the crowd to share what they brought along with them. It is immaterial how it happened. The point is that when we give whatever little we have to the Lord, He will make use of them. The generosity of the Lord cannot be outdone. He will help us, just as the Lord said to St Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Cor 12:9) So let us ring out our joy to God our strength.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
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