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Share everything, and then do it again tomorrowSunday, April 18, 2010
John 21:15-17 He then said to Simon Peter a second time, "Simon, son of John, do you love me?" Simon Peter answered him, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you." Jesus said to him, "Tend my sheep."
Jesus said to him the third time, "Simon, son of John, do you love me?" Peter was distressed that Jesus had said to him a third time, "Do you love me?" and he said to him, "Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you." Jesus said to him, "Feed my sheep."
In three short exchanges with Peter, Jesus drives home this point. It's one of the Bible's main themes, beginning in Genesis with the tragic competition between Cain and Abel, and following with the promise God gave Abraham: "I will bless you ... and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you" (Genesis 12:2-3). I get into big trouble when I miss this. A few times in my life I've felt indispensable. Of course it was more just a feeling than reality, but... I felt some responsibility to do the right thing, to share what I knew. At the same time there was this pull on my ego to keep it all to myself. "There's something unique about you, David. No one else can do this quite like you can. You are important. You are more important. You are most important. You. You! You!!" And when I listened very long to these insinuated lies I thought maybe I'd just keep quiet. Keep the blessing. Save it for a rainy day. Make them all bow down. When I write this out it sounds pretty ridiculous. So maybe I'd better not write it, not say too much to myself. Let the discussion go on between me and that dubious advisor Screwtape, but don't say much to myself. I imagine Peter's state of mind in the days following Jesus crucifixion, his alternate thrusts into mania and depression: recalling Jesus' explicit prediction of his betrayal while at the same time being called upon for leadership. The disciples knew Jesus had changed his name to Peter, the "Rock upon which I will build my church." Peter knew nothing of following any man but Jesus; he had always been a leader. Now this "rock" was crumbling. But Jesus turned Peter's remorse into a gift. Peter could never again be a know-it-all. He could not feel indispensable. He could not keep Jesus' praise for himself. Whatever he was given belonged to all. Lead with compassion. Lead with empathy. Lead by giving, and giving, and giving. Feed my sheep. "Silver and gold have I none, but such as I have ... I give thee." Jesus, you protected Peter from inevitable swings of the pendulum between grandiosity and self-abasement. Please do the same for me. Let me get this one principle: Pass It On. |
Until recently Douglas Merrill was Google's Chief Information Officer. In his book Getting Organized in the Google Era, Merrill describes his "sixth principle of organization: Knowledge is not power. The sharing of knowledge is power."