Transformation

Now the tax collectors and "sinners" were all gathering around to hear him. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, "This man welcomes sinners and eats with them." (Luke 15:1-2)

Yesterday in the morning message I made a quick comparison of “transactional” leadership and “transformational” leadership. Admittedly, it’s a broad subject for such a quick comment. However, the context of Luke 15 stirred me to make the comparison. Jesus shared three parables of grace and redemption in order to reveal something to the grumbling Pharisees who were disturbed by the sinners who gathered to hear Jesus. The Pharisees appear to be deeply threatened by such grace and redemption. The elder brother in the third parable exemplifies their offense. Redemption cannot be reduced to a mere transactional exchange. We can never offer anything that equals what we receive. God’s gift is greater than our offering. Instead God’s leadership (lordship) in our lives is always transformational. In exchange for our surrender, we are re-born and continually molded into the image of Christ. Transactional leadership maintains a healthy impersonal distance between participants. It also implies an ability to measure the exchange. In contrast, leadership that transforms stirs an image in my mind of a Father running toward a wayward son who is hungry, tired and empty-handed. The transformation begins thet moment he Father embraces him and it continues as leads him down the path home.