The Egocentric Leader

“The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them” (Isaiah 11:6).  I’ve always thought of this verse as a quaint and colloquial depiction of how peaceful life would be during the end times.  Complete enemies would sleep in the same place and adults and children alike live in such harmony that a little kid could lead everyone on earth.  Additionally, I had always thought that children could take on this leadership role because children trust God more and have better faith.  After all, Jesus says his followers ought to have faith like a little child and Christians are to learn this from them.  Who better to set an example of leadership than a small kid?  Well, have you ever seen a child actually lead?

During one of our events for preschool aged children at the church where I serve as children’s director, we asked the kids to lead one another.  The volunteers had created a path on the floor that the little ones could follow.  The directions for the three year old children were fairly simple.  Each child was to have a partner and each pair of children could choose who would be the leader.  The other child would get to be the follower.  The catch was the followers would have to close their eyes

We soon paired off the kids and they were all lined up and waiting to go down the long path with eager expectation.  Then each duo had to choose who would be the leader.  Here was our first mistake for the three-year-olds.  Nearly every group broke out into argument and some pushing of their friends over which one wanted to direct the other.  Tirades of “I want to be the one who goes first!” and “I’m the leader!” came from the lips of most of the kids.

At long last, we adults stepped in and chose leaders telling the partner could take a turn later.  This seemed to quell the egocentricity of most of the kids and they began leading their partners down the winding path.  At first it went really well.  Soon however, the preschoolers who were leading began to make their own agenda.  Some of them wanted to stop and look at things on the floor.  Others wanted to go a little faster than their partners were comfortable.  Some of them did not want to stay on the path.  One of the teams actually stopped to have another discussion about who should be the leader which caused the rest of the teams to come to a standstill while their closed-eyed partners wondered why and began fidgeting.  Needless to say, their leadership was not as perfect as we thought it might be.

“A little child will lead them?”  The scripture doesn’t say, “A fifth grade child will lead them,” or “a mature child will lead them.”  It says a little child.  What does this verse actually mean?  If children were to lead humanity they would most certainly be egocentric show-offs.  The entire earth would revolve around them and they would probably cry if they did not get their way.  To top that off their mantra would be, “That’s mine!”  The earth and everything that is in it would be used for their play and anyone following them might be directed off the beaten path for the accumulation of a fun toy.  Nobody else would get to be the leader.

There would just be one leader – one childlike leader.  There would be one leader who would rule with justice directed to please himself.  There would be one leader who would yearn for our affection when humans were not paying attention to him.  Everything would be his and he would show off in the most spectacular ways so that humans could look to him for protection and care and faithful guidance.  I believe this scripture is talking about our True Leader who already acts very much like a little kid.  

Maybe we really ought to look to kids as examples of our Leader.  Christians are following a jealous God.  He does not look kindly on his followers worshipping anything other than himself.  He does miraculous wonders and creates ever changing ways to get people to look at him and follow him.  Especially when he came as a baby, he made such wonders that people came from far away lands and from the midst of their jobs to see him.  Kings wanted to kill him and synagogue leaders asked him for advice when he was still a child.  Christians would do well to look to children as our example of the perfect leader:

“He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears; but with righteousness he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth.  He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; with the breath of his lives he will slay the wicked” (Isaiah 11:3b-5).

Jesus will lead with justice and righteousness which points only to himself because he truly is the rightful King of the earth.  He will and does rule just like a little child.