Was Jesus the Perfect Leader?

I am currently wrapping up a communication leadership course for my Masters.

In the course of this . . . course . . . I have read countless Christian authors saying Jesus was the "perfect" leader. They claim he had perfect timing, perfect presence with people, perfect attention, perfect delegation techniques, etc.

I am also completing a class in Communication Theory. Funny, apparently most Christian authors believe Jesus was the perfect communicator. Interpersonal. Group. Teaching. Problem solving.

Their claims leave me with a lot of questions.

Jesus is God and He lived a sinless life but does that mean he was perfect at everything?

I think we would really have to stretch scripture to say that.

Books I have read over the last few years have made these claims:

• Jesus was the perfect leader.
• Jesus had the first perfectly designed small group (his disciples) and small groups should have no more than 12 people because Jesus had 12 disciples
• Jesus was the perfect son
• Jesus was the perfect friend
• Jesus was the perfect cross-cultural communicator
• Jesus was the perfect communicator
• Jesus was the perfect teacher
• Jesus was perfect at priorities
  

Scripture teaches, "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." Jesus gave us the perfect example of the greatest measure of love. But, I don't think God intended us to see Jesus as the model of perfection in everything. That’s not what He came to do. He did not come to give us the perfect example of leadership. Though, I fear, that is what some believe—though they might not say it like that.

The perfect sized small group example really gets me. Makes me angry even. We might as well say Jesus was a carpenter so we should all become craftsmen. Or, Jesus had all male disciples so men should never have women in our small groups.

Jesus was human. Jesus had to learn things. He wasn’t born talking. He filled his diapers and he had to be taught how to tie his sandals.

Jesus must have had spiritual gifts like all of us. Jesus must have stunk at something or, at least have been mediocre at something. If this isn’t true, we should stop telling people the church body is made of different parts and they shouldn’t feel bad about not being good at one thing over another. We should tell people they should become good at everything as Jesus was. See how weird that is?

The absence of sin should not be equated with the ability to excel at everything.

We often refer to God as the Great Physician but does that mean Jesus could have performed the perfect appendectomy?

Did Jesus ever have to say, “I’m sorry?” Sure. Why not? Miscommunication happens all the time. It isn’t sin . . . it’s what happens with a fallen language—misunderstandings, misread non-verbal cues, etc. Saying “I’m sorry” is doing the hard business of getting along with one another.

If Jesus was good at everything, He wasn’t human. He was a robot. A perfectly programmed robot with an operating system that never failed or had to be rebooted.

Jesus certainly gave us a wonderful example of humanity surrendered to the Father. He surrendered His will to the Father to the point of death.

Was the earth-dweller Jesus a good leader? Heck, yeah. Can we learn a lot from His leadership? Yes. Is He the best leadership example I have ever seen? Absolutely. He was a wonderful, charismatic leader--committed to relationship, action, and sacrifice.

The perfect leader? Hmmm. Certainly not by nature of being God and certainly not as His defining highest achievement but, certainly the one I want to follow.