Kingdom Leaders are Tender & Fierce

Consider the tenderness of Jesus He when cared for the lepers, healed the sick, invited prostitutes into his fellowship, whispered to the little girl, “Talitha Kum,” and forgave the woman caught in adultery.

Consider, also, His fierce demeanor when He addressed the hypocrisy of the Pharisees, “Woe to you, Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are. You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and self-indulgence. You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean. You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell?”

Waaaaaay too many people see Jesus as a passivist, a deified Mr. Rogers when in actuality he is more like William Wallace or Maximus Decimus Meridius.

If you aren’t familiar with the character Maximus from the movie Gladiator, watch the opening scene here, Gladiator Opening.

I love this opening scene because it shows that both tenderness and fierceness can co-exist within the same soul. The scene begins with Maximus the farmer, caring for the crops, anticipating the harvest. Then we see him captivated by the sparrow visiting him on the battlefield, almost playful in his eyes. Later he exchanges warm, if not tender, gazes with the men of his army and they with him.

This scene reveals the tenderness of Maximus but it also shows him to be fierce. He sharply corrects his colonel, not once, not twice but three times. He invited men to take up arms and he ended the scene with the words, “On my signal, unleash hell.” Maximus was incredibly fierce. The scene that follows this one in the movie, demonstrated even more fierceness.

As Maximus was walking within his army, what did you see in the eyes of his men? Certainly, you noticed a profound respect for Maximus the warrior, the one who could tear you limb from limb if you crossed him. But, deeper than that, you see devotion, reverence and esteem. These come from an experience of profound personal interaction when your vulnerability as a soldier is met with the tender compassion of a giant in your eyes.

Think of it, how many of those men did Maximus visit in the infirmary? How many of these men cried in his arms after losing their best friend on the battlefield?

How many wept for lesser difficulties – like an extended period of cold weather or foodless days? How many were healed of guilt, embarrassment and shame with just a re-assuring glance from Maximus, “You got this. I’m with you. Together we will get through.”

Maximus was fierce, a warrior unmatched in every category. But he was also tender and loving. His life is a fitting illustration of the call for kingdom leaders to be tender and fierce.

As we consider the recently reported sexual abuse scandals that are rocking the Church, I might suggest that in cases that were mishandled, they were mishandled in this way: leaders got it backwards. They were tender with perpetrators when they should have been fierce and fiercely defending the Church when they should have been tender with victims.  As kingdom leaders we can never get this wrong.

We are called to both tenderness and fierceness.  This may involve standing up for the innocent while challenging those in power. This may involve tenderly loving a returning prodigal while fiercely challenging the spiritual pride of the Pharisees of our day, especially the Pharisee inside us. Jesus was tender. He was also fierce. Go and do likewise.