In my previous post I talked about a Christian response to bullying in the workplace. I recommended that the person being bullied make a diary and appeal to higher authorities if the bullying does not stop.
In this post, I caution Christians against the temptation to play office politics to get the upper hand even though they may feel justified because they are being treated unfairly.
For what I mean by office politics check out this article posted at InterVarsity’s resource site for Ministry in Daily Life. It was originally published in The Complete Book of Everyday Christianity.
Office politics can degenerate into petty power plays that encourage bullying behavior among employees. This is something Christians cannot afford to indulge in if they are to embody the gospel. Christians are in the world but they are not OF the world. (1 John 4:5-6) If they are going to overcome office politics by playing office politics then they have succumbed to the world’s way of doing things. Instead Christ challenges them to overcome office politics by following the pathway of the cross.
Jesus counseled his disciples "You know that those who are supposed to rule over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. But it shall not 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. (Mark 10:42-44)
This counsel came in response to a question about power. John and James had asked Jesus to give them positions of power when he was enthroned King in
As they were on their way into
And they said to him, "Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory." But Jesus said to them, "You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?" And they said to him, "We are able." And Jesus said to them, "The cup that I drink you will drink; and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized; but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared." -- Mark 10:37-40
Now most of us have in mind when we read this passage some coronation event in which a King is established and he appoints his cabinet to sit at his right and his left. This may be what Mark has in mind, but he turns the coronation, the crown, the inauguration event and the cabinet positions completely upside down.
The disciples understood that the pathway to Jesus’ kingdom would be difficult. Perhaps they thought that just as things were about to get really bad, Jesus would display his power. This was the power that stilled the water, that fed the multitudes and that cast demons out of the possessed. This power would amaze the Romans. They would cower at his feet and declare him king and the disciples would share in this power by being in his cabinet.
Instead, what Mark has in mind is the display of a different kind of power. The power of love and forgiveness. It is seen in a crucifixion instead of a coronation, a crown of thorns instead of a crown of jewels, a crude wooden cross instead of a golden throne, a mocking sign announcing Jesus as King of the Jews instead of a royal banner and two thieves at his right and his left instead of cabinet positions!
This is the “glory” that Mark has in mind. It is the cup that Jesus drinks from. It was to be the cup James and John were to drink from. It is the cup Christians drink from when they willingly follow the pathway of the cross at work.
This is the way to overcome the powers of this world, in particular, the powers of office politics that bully and intimidate. It is the pathway of ‘not resisting an evil person’, ‘turning the other cheek’ and of ‘carrying the load two miles instead of one’.(Matthew 5:39-41).
This pathway of the cross is our privilege and the means to subvert the powers of office politics and workplace bullies. In it we can demonstrate the same love and forgiveness that Christ modeled when he cried, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." (Luke 23:34) It is this love that embodies the gospel, proving it true by demonstrating it so that it can be recommended with integrity!
For a much fuller exposition on the Mark 10 passage and the subject of Power, the
