LETTER | Learning about servant leadership from Christ

LETTER | Christmas is around the corner and Christians around the world await to commemorate the birth of Jesus Christ.

When one reflects on the historical dimension of the birth of Christ about 2,000 years ago, Palestine and the surrounding regions were under the occupation of the Roman Empire that exuded power, military domination and grandeur.

The prominent Jews who were under oppression at the time constituted a religious and legalistic class called Pharisees - who were concerned about purity of the Jewish faith.

The influential Sadducees were regarded as elites of the upper echelon, They were considered intellectuals.

Then we have the zealots - whose main goal was to liberate Israel from the Roman Empire, and the common people made up of farmers and fisherfolk.

The occupation and imperial taxes imposed on the common Jewish people brought immense suffering. This brought about a collective consciousness among the people for a saviour to liberate them from a common enemy, which was the Roman Empire.

Saviour arrives but…

Such a saviour was indicated in the ancient Jewish scriptures.

The saviour was perceived to be a great warrior of Israel who would finally take on the Romans.

In this context, the birth of Christ took place. However, his birth happened in a humble stable in Bethlehem – which was diametrically opposed to the “grand warrior” expected by Jewish people.

Anyway, the story of Christmas of a child born in a humble and uncomfortable stable, reflects much about the humility of the divine Christ who wants to be in solidarity with the common people.

It was a paradigm shift about what it means to be a leader in a real sense, which is derived from humility that constitutes servant leadership.

The nature of humility where one opens up to learning from the reality of living in real conditions of the people should be the hallmark of true servant leaders.

Humility helps

That attribute goes beyond the sentiments of religious purity, status and division which was the reality of the people during the birth of Christ.

During his lifetime, Christ, who embraced humility, was able to interact with all classes of society through his approach of mercy and reconciliation that healed divisions.

In the Malaysian context, it is time for our political leaders and elites to wake up to the reality of people's conditions by being with them and experiencing their lives.

This will make them effective servant leaders instead of being preoccupied with reductionist ethno-religious politics of creating religious and social-economic divisions, besides living far away from the realities of common people.

The Christmas story of love, humility and bottom-up understanding of reality should be a pathway of solidarity among Malaysians - the vital seeds of peace and stability for multi-ethnic Malaysia.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.

COMMENT | Put away the crown of thorns, embrace harmony

COMMENT | Stoking dissent against vernacular schools

COMMENT | How to 'halalise' dirty money?