Servants of What Is, or Servants of Christ?
"Your princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves; everyone loves bribes and followers rewards. They do not defend the fatherless, nor does the cause of the widow come before them." Isaiah 1:23 (New King James Version)
John Gardner admitted, "All too often, on the long road up, young leaders become 'servants of what is 'rather than 'shapers of what might be.' In the long process of learning how the system works, they are rewarded within the intricate structure of existing roles. By the time they reach the top, they are very likely to be trained prisoners of the structure."
The first 22 verses of Isaiah proclaim a vivid, disturbing indictment of the "what is" in Israel's culture. The problems don't start with the princes. Corruption begins in proud human hearts at every level of society. Wherever people’s offerings convince them all is well while their brothers and sisters suffer, the culture rots. The miasma flowing from this swamp is even murderous.
Royalty is nearly an afterthought. This is the culture in which princes have grown up, so we aren’t shocked. With the culture's influence embodied personally by friends like thieves, can we really expect human leaders to be far ahead of the culture they lead? Isaiah even gives them a partial pass because the cause of the widow doesn't even come before them.
Shaped by inherited assumptions, do we, expect too much from our culture’s “princes”? We can do better than complaining against the privilege to copy their fathers before them, and not so differently from people in our own strata, if not ourselves. For every glance at the gossip pages, the news, or the spectacles of wealth, take multiple, long looks at Christ our Prince.
He is as engaged as these are remote. Like them in being the friend of thieves, He is unlike them in that He exerts the stronger influence. Zacchaeus gave refunds. Matthew followed. Barabbas was pardoned and freed. The Kingdom Christ passes on to us as fellow heirs is not corrupted.
Adopted into His family but identifying by habit with our human heritage and all that blind spot and assumptions, each day is an exercise in prism correction. We would see what He sees, and often what we were rather not. We would see the hurts of the most needy and give as has been given to us. At the other end of the social scale, we would engage the princes who are so easy to deride or dismiss. We would encounter this world's great ones not to curry their favor, but to encourage and challenge them in the Lord and His everlasting rule.
John Gardner admitted, "All too often, on the long road up, young leaders become 'servants of what is 'rather than 'shapers of what might be.' In the long process of learning how the system works, they are rewarded within the intricate structure of existing roles. By the time they reach the top, they are very likely to be trained prisoners of the structure."
The first 22 verses of Isaiah proclaim a vivid, disturbing indictment of the "what is" in Israel's culture. The problems don't start with the princes. Corruption begins in proud human hearts at every level of society. Wherever people’s offerings convince them all is well while their brothers and sisters suffer, the culture rots. The miasma flowing from this swamp is even murderous.
Royalty is nearly an afterthought. This is the culture in which princes have grown up, so we aren’t shocked. With the culture's influence embodied personally by friends like thieves, can we really expect human leaders to be far ahead of the culture they lead? Isaiah even gives them a partial pass because the cause of the widow doesn't even come before them.
Shaped by inherited assumptions, do we, expect too much from our culture’s “princes”? We can do better than complaining against the privilege to copy their fathers before them, and not so differently from people in our own strata, if not ourselves. For every glance at the gossip pages, the news, or the spectacles of wealth, take multiple, long looks at Christ our Prince.
He is as engaged as these are remote. Like them in being the friend of thieves, He is unlike them in that He exerts the stronger influence. Zacchaeus gave refunds. Matthew followed. Barabbas was pardoned and freed. The Kingdom Christ passes on to us as fellow heirs is not corrupted.
Adopted into His family but identifying by habit with our human heritage and all that blind spot and assumptions, each day is an exercise in prism correction. We would see what He sees, and often what we were rather not. We would see the hurts of the most needy and give as has been given to us. At the other end of the social scale, we would engage the princes who are so easy to deride or dismiss. We would encounter this world's great ones not to curry their favor, but to encourage and challenge them in the Lord and His everlasting rule.
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