I recently read the interesting book Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin.  It’s about the Presidency of Abraham Lincoln, and the title refers to his cabinet.  Lincoln did not assemble a collection of sycophants, instead he chose strong-willed, energetic, independent men of high ability.  He had three main rivals at the Republican convention, and he appointed them all to his cabinet:  William Seward (Secretary of State), Salmon Chase (Treasury), and Edward Bates (Attorney General).  Before the convention Seward was expected to be the nominee, and he came within two votes of the nomination on the first ballot.  Edwin Stanton (Secretary of War), was a harsh, uncompromising man, who placed strong demands on those under him.  The rest of the men in the cabinet were equally strong:  Montgomery Blair (Postmaster General), Gideon Welles (Secretary of the Navy), and Caleb Smith (Secretary of the Interior).  Before taking office most of them were skeptical that Lincoln was up to the job, but by the end of the first year they all respected him.  They held divergent views and were not afraid to state them, but somehow Lincoln kept them working together towards their common war-time goals.  Seward and Stanton, who had a fiery personality, became friends and confidants of Lincoln, and Blair and Welles kept complimentary diaries recording their time working with the President.  Due to burning Presidential ambition, Chase kept some distance from Lincoln and eventually resigned from the cabinet.  Nevertheless, Lincoln appointed him to the Supreme Court. 

            While reading about Lincoln and his cabinet, I couldn’t help making an analogy to Jesus and his disciples.  None of them were rivals to Jesus, but they were strong-willed outspoken men having divergent views.  Simon the Zealot was a member of a group committed to active revolt against the hated Romans.  In 70 AD the Romans would destroy them by tearing down the Temple in Jerusalem and defeating them at the famed mountain top Zealot stronghold of Masada.  On the other hand, Matthew was the worse kind of collaborator – a Roman tax collector.  How were they ever able to work together?  While clearly a leader, Peter was also a brash, outspoken man; to me seems a little boastful.  We correctly associate John with a ministry of love, but when called, John and his brother James were intolerant and quick to anger, so much so that Jesus called them “sons of thunder.”  They even requested the special favor of sitting by his side, which did not please the other disciples.  Nathanael seems haughty; when Philip told him about Jesus, his first remark was, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”  Thomas is viewed as a doubter, but I prefer to think of him as having a modern, scientific mind.  Nevertheless, Jesus chose this unlikely group to accompany him on his journey and to continue his ministry after his death.

            We as modern-day disciples come to the church with different backgrounds, skills, gifts, weaknesses, and even prejudices.  Like James and John, we ask for a special place and don’t always support others with whom we serve.  We hold independent opinions, which are hard to reconcile with those of others.  How then are we, the church, to function?  We don’t have Lincoln or Jesus.  Since Pentecost, however, we have had the Holy Spirit to meld us together in our common ministry.   Part of this ministry is sharing God’s unconditional love.

Jim