3 Holy Week Messages for Business Owners
This article was written by Jim Miley and published by Crossroads Professional Coaching.
The Easter season includes the most meaningful messages in all of Christian doctrine. Holy Week from Palm Sunday through Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday is arguably the story of Christianity condensed into its’ most bare and essential form.
How can Holy Week guide you to allow your Christian Faith to be more present in your leadership?
The following are three Holy Week Messages for Business Owners.
1. Your mission should be consistent with God’s will for your life.
“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what can a man give in return for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”
– Mark 8:34-38
Jesus’ mission was not clear to His disciples until after the resurrection. They thought in worldly terms and seemed to believe Jesus had come to defeat the Roman occupation and take Jerusalem back in rebellious conquest. It’s common for Bible study conversations to look upon the disciples as petty or small-minded with regard to Jesus in his final week of ministry on earth.
Expecting Jesus to rise in rebellion against the governing authorities, wincing at Jesus’ example of washing their feet, arguing over who would be the greatest, completely missing Jesus’ telling them outright that he would be killed, denying Jesus upon his arrest…
Ask yourself if you are being petty or small-minded with the mission of your business in contrast to Jesus in his final week of ministry on earth. Be sure to include components of eternal weight in the mission of your business and how you lead it.
2. Good leaders must first be good servants.
“You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. But it shall be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
– Mark 10:42-45
As a leader, you encounter a seemingly infinite number of opportunities to serve the people you lead; embrace those opportunities. Do not rule with an iron hand, but be generous with your time and compassion.
Your most important and eternally valuable role is how you care for the people under your leadership: work, friends, and family. You are built “not to be served, but to serve.”
Challenge yourself to be true to servant leadership and recognize where you can better serve your business and community as a witness to your Faith.
3. You may not be recognized, but you’ll be in good company.
“Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes and like greetings in the marketplaces and have the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts, who devour widows’ houses and for a pretense make long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.”
– Mark 12:38-40
Leading is a verb. We need to do the excellent work of leadership without regard to self-promotion. Humility in leadership has become counter-cultural in our current society, but Christianity should be counter-cultural.
It’s not that we should reject compliments or well-earned merit recognition. Building ourselves up with outward appearances or self-aggrandizement over pure servant-leadership contradicts Gospel teaching.
Holy Week contains the entirety of the Gospel story in both the Biblical text we read and the Christian traditions we honor. Be sure to think deeply and pray about how these traditions and teachings should inform your personal and professional lives.
As a business owner or manager of people, Holy Week has a lot to offer in terms of your leadership development.