Self-preservation
Gospel: Jn 11:45-56
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/032324.cfm
We consider it a great leadership quality to provide security and safety to the group you lead. When a person has a sense of security and safety they thrive. Leaders, at times, need to make hard decisions to protect their team. At times, they can harm others, intentionally and unintentionally, to protect their own.
We also have a drive towards this individually. We have an innate desire to protect ourselves, our families, our loved ones, our groups, our community, and our country. This desire is a good thing and is instinctual, but when not kept in check, it can drive us to poor actions. When we see the world as filled with threats, we are prone to be brash and treat others defensively. There are situations where this could be the correct response, but it is also easy for us to let it get out of hand. In the corporate world, you can see people worried about losing their jobs so they focus more on their appearance than doing the right thing. When in this type of defensive mode, people can default to the guidance and direction of their leader without questioning it, even though they may have a moral objection to it. It is easy to excuse one’s behavior when it is addressing a perceived threat.
It is hard to speak truth to power because it has the potential to threaten your way of life. The need for safety and security can impede us from doing the right thing. These behavioral changes don’t happen overnight, but start in little ways and can grow into us doing things that we would otherwise not do. Over time we can start seeing friends, neighbors, and co-workers as threats. In the name of self-preservation, we can shift from an inclusive mindset to an “us versus them” mindset. The longer we are in a toxic environment, an environment where we don’t have a strong sense of security and safety, the more we are prone to seeing others as enemies.
Today’s gospel shows that religious leaders during Jesus’s time had this type of mindset. They saw the world as threatening. There was the threat of the Roman Empire and the internal threat of new ideologies usurping their power. They also had the belief that their power, safety, and security would increase if their people kept the law better and improved on their covenant with God. For these leaders, Jesus was a threat in all of these ways. He showed signs of his connection to God through his miracles while he preached a new ideology that decreased the authority of their religious institution. They perceived his ideology as going against God’s covenant. His preaching also concerned them that it could lead to the Romans exuding additional authority over them and their people. These leaders were stressed and in a very defensive mode. They saw Jesus as expendable for the protection of themselves and their people.
How do we keep our need for self-preservation in check? We need to ask ourselves what the consequences of our actions are. Who is expendable in our decisions? Who are we overlooking or disregarding? Who do we see as our enemies? Jesus calls us to love our enemy and to listen to and be present to those overlooked by society. This is not something that comes easily but requires work. Let’s put in the work.
