Christianity is the largest religion in the world with approximately 2.3 billion followers according to Britannica.1
As we enter the season of Easter we are reminded of its meaning to Christians. Within the celebrations of Palm Sunday to Good Friday are found basic principles of the Christian faith. God’s Son, Jesus Christ, was born in human frailty, lived a perfect life serving others, and then suffered one of the most painful deaths invented by man.
How could the world’s largest religion be founded and led by one who would become known as a “suffering servant” (Isaiah 53:3-4)?2
It is certainly one of the paradoxes of life in this world where the strong are honored and weak despised. Jesus chose to be “weak” in the eyes of His creation, yet is the Creator and Ruler of all the universe.
Weak
But, this “weakness” is not just what Christians believe but what they are called to emulate.
This is what Jesus told His followers to be. They were to be servants—slaves—to those whom they led. This was the meaning of his response to his disciples when they were seeking a place of power beside Him. They thought He would overcome the Romans in conquest (Matthew 18:1-6).3 But rather he was “despised and rejected by men.”
The humility He exhibited throughout His life on earth was intended as an example. Jesus made this evident when He modeled servanthood to His disciples at the Last Supper, washing their feet as a common household slave.
It is this humility that leaders in this world—whether corporate, church, organizational, or military—are called to. It is their vocation. It is their status.
And make no mistake, this Servant-Leader rose from the dead, victorious over death, sin, hell, and all suffering in this world. So, Easter comes with acclamation and we know our leadership could never come close to the One true leader of the universe.
Notes
- ‘What Is the Most Widely Practiced Religion in the World? | Britannica’ <https://www.britannica.com/story/what-is-the-most-widely-practiced-religion-in-the-world> [accessed 12 April 2025]
↩︎ - Isaiah 53:3-4 (NIV) He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. ↩︎
- Matthew 18:1-6 (ESV) At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, 6 but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea. ↩︎