Greatness in "Tsinelas Leadership" (25th Sunday Ordinary B)

I recall how the untimely death of the then DILG Sec. Jesse Robredo, 2000 Ramon Magsaysay Awardee for Government Service, (May 27, 1958 – August 18, 2012), sent the whole nation to a spontaneous mourning for the loss of a great Filipino leader. But not for long the mourning turned into a celebration of a life well-lived, a life whose greatness edified thousands.

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The greatness of this man was aptly depicted by the eulogies delivered by friends and co-workers.  One in particular described metaphorically his brand of leadership as “Tsinelas Leadership” A Pilipino word for slippers, tsinelas, as descriptive of Robredo’s leadership, captures the memories we all have of him as he served the people without frills and superfluities joining the neighbourhood in cleaning street canals, for instance, after the floods.  The greatness of Robredo’s leadership is not in being at the top of public office and position of authority but in his consistent humble identification, despite his esteemed public status, with the people below and their needs.  He was one of the few who actually lived out Jesus’ formula of greatness—servant-leadership.

In today’s gospel reading (Mk 9:30-37), Jesus instructs his disciples about servant-leadership as the road to the true greatness in the Kingdom of God. Jesus’ message is one of reproach for those who are just too happy to assume power for personal glory. As the gospel reading goes, Jesus, for the second time, predicts his eventual suffering and humiliation on the cross—a reversal of the expected power and glory of the Messiah. But still the whole point seems to escape his disciples’ understanding. Jesus finds them still preoccupied with the debate about who is the greatest among them! So Jesus, in plain and simple language, teaches them saying: “If anyone wishes to be first, he shall be the last of all and the servant of all” (v. 35). Jesus then presents a child for illustration to make the point crystal clear: In God’s reign, the tallest is the one who stoops down to serve the least, the most honorable is one who takes off the well-polished signature shoes and dons a pair of slippers to work with the poor.

Again, we discern very clearly here that Jesus’ vision of the Kingdom of God is diametrically opposed to the value system of this world. While on the one hand the secular values nudge each one of us to work tooth and nail for upward mobility going up the ladder of social hierarchy for greater power, honor, and wealth, on the other hand, the values of God’s Kingdom invite us to a free decision to take the route of downward mobility finding true greatness in humility and service of the poor.

Two related things that directly emerge from the gospel may help us deepen our discernment: Servant-leadership and preferential option for the poor.

Servant-leadership. For the most part of our life as a people, leadership has been associated with power—The power that has colonized us for centuries, the power to govern with a strong hand, the power to manipulate democratic processes to maintain one’s position “on the top of the world,” the power to control resources and wealth in the hands of the few, the power to conceal the truth. So we have come to believe as a matter of course that leadership means power to lord it over.

The lesson that Jesus teaches is simple and clear: Servant-leadership. But like the early disciples, people choose not to understand. To be great is to embrace the humble stance of a servant. A great leader, in the eyes of God, is not one who maintains at all cost one’s glory and power for one’s own sake but one who harnesses whatever influence is under his disposal for the common good. A great leader is one who serves.

Preferential Option for the Poor. Whom are we serving? We really don’t mind serving people of great stature, do we? We take pride in having served in one way or another someone we deem significant. Or we think we are serving when we attend to someone who would most likely serve us in return or pay us back in whatever form. We don’t mind going out of our way, for instance, to accommodate with great hospitality our VIP guests. But do we have the same heart toward a homeless child in the street? The child that Jesus presents in the gospel may well represent anyone or any sector in society who is helpless, powerless, nameless, dependent, insignificant, incapable of paying back—the poor.

The type of leadership we, Filipinos, have habitually embraced is one that easily indulges the needs, or more to the point, the whims of the influential and the big shots. It’s a leadership that hardly transforms the ills of society as it is slow to listen to the cry of the poor and quick to conform to the design of the powerful. Again, let us heed the wisdom of God in Jesus—if you want to be the greatest, serve the least of all! This will surely make a difference.

Hopefully, the gospel message today spurs us on to a continuing critical discernment about the brand of leaders we truly need today. May we be blest with a thousand and more leaders who subscribe to Jesus’ spirituality of downward mobility or to our pinoy version, “tsinelas leadership.”