LEADERSHIP ENTAILS AUTHORITY AND HUMILITY

As seen in today’s readings, God gives authority to those He chooses and, in return, expects us to serve His people in humility. 

In the first reading, Isaiah presents God to us as one who humbles the proud and exalts the lowly by removing Shebna from his position of a leader and replacing him with Eliakim. Shebna is one of Hezekiah’s chief assistants. God sent a message to him through the prophet Isaiah, saying, “I will thrust you from your office, and you will be cast down from your station” (Is. 22:19). Shebna was a leader who had a high and honourable office. Yet, he used it to glorify himself; God promised to dethrone him for this, as well as for his pride, wickedness and lack of obedience to God’s precepts, and God raised a lowly servant, Eliakim, to His throne.

Eliakim was elevated instead of Shebna, as the Lord symbolically clothed him with Shebna’s robe and sash, thereby conferring authority on him. The humility of Eliakim brought him exaltation, as he became a father and a figure of leadership in the house of Judah, representing guidance and care. The keys placed upon his shoulder symbolizes the role of gatekeeper and his responsibility for the house of David: opening the house in the morning, closing it at night, and controlling access to the royal presence. 

In the Gospel, Christ asked two important questions to His disciples: “Who do men say that the Son of man is and who do you say that I am?” While the other Apostles remained silent, it was Peter who spoke up, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (v.16). This knowledge of Peter about Christ singled him out among other disciples, which led to his role as leader. 

From this moment, the promise of God to Eliakim that He will put on his shoulder the keys of the house of David and when he shall open, none shall shut and vice versa, this same promise is reenacted in the life of Peter when Christ said, “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth, shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loosed on earth, shall be loosed in heaven” (v.19). In this role of leadership and authority, Peter opened the gate for three thousand people at Pentecost (Acts 2). 

The authority and leadership of Eliakim and Peter continue in different degrees in the church. It is a reminder of our duty as doorkeepers or gatemen to allow people to have access to God. Importantly, God rewards those who serve in humility and use their authority for the good of others. Like Eliakim and Peter, we should always strike a balance between authority as a leader and humility. We should hold positions of honour while we remain grounded in humility, guiding and caring for others entrusted to us. 

Fr. Ken Dogbo, OSJ