GREAT THINGS ENTERPRISE
CLAUDE BLACK
Mark 5:23
Do it Yourself
An often-stated rule of leadership is: “Don’t ask someone to do something that you are not willing to do yourself.” For example, instructors train military officers to eat last, sleep last, and face danger with their troops—never send soldiers to do something they would avoid doing themselves. Reporters often referred to President Bill Clinton as the “Consoler in Chief” because he often visited and consoled citizens who faced tragedy; there were photographs of him shedding tears. He never asked someone to do something he was not willing to do himself.
I recently read a story about a restaurant manager who exemplified the self-giving example. If the employees were busy, he ran a vacuum cleaner. If the kitchen crew got behind, he’d begin to wash dishes. He never left before his employees. He never asked employees to do something he was not willing to do himself.
St. Mark, though it was likely not his intention, recorded a story about what some teachers often refer to as “servant leadership.” According to Mark, when Jesus and his party landed on the seashore near Capernaum, a large crowd gathered, apparently expecting Jesus’ return. Out of the crowd, a ruler of a synagogue came to Jesus, bowed before him, “And he earnestly implored him, saying, ‘My little daughter is at the point of death; come in order that you may place your hands on her so that she may be healed and live.’” (Mark 5:23) Matthew, writing long afterward, said the little girl had died (Matt. 9:18), and Luke said she was “about twelve” (Luke 8:42). All the following is based on speculation.
The first question: How did this man from the heart of Judaism, the ruler of a synagogue, overcome all the conspiracy theories about Jesus, the itinerant son of a craftsman, to dare to approach him in public? Conspiracy views were spreading about Jesus—he was John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets (Matt. 16:13-14). Sure, this father was driven to an extreme, his little daughter was dying, and he was searching for help wherever he could find it. But this scene is incongruent in the extreme—the ruler of a synagogue bowing with his head touching the ground in public before Jesus.
Second: Why would this man risk his standing in the community to bow before someone of such low birth? Perhaps it was because no one else in his circle would approach Jesus? There were many people at his house.
Third: Was he exemplifying “servant leadership” by not asking someone to do something he was not willing to do? When Jesus and a few of his followers reached Jairus’ house, the father’s friends ridiculed Jesus, and by extension, Jairus for inviting him.
However one answers these questions, the point remains—this man never asked someone to do what he was not willing to do himself, and by doing that he found Jesus—a lesson of great importance.
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