Everyone Needs A Boss

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It’s not generally known, but in the center of the Vatican there is a tiny private garden used by the pope when he feels like refreshing his mind and being alone with his thoughts. There’s a gardener there named Guiseppe who has been taking care of that area for more than 40 years.

One day Guiseppe was working in the garden when he noticed on the far side a bush begin to shake and shimmer as the light hit it. The whole bush seemed to dance and move. Guiseppe became afraid and ran to a telephone to call the cardinal.

“Cardinalli, Cardinalli, God’s in the bushes!”

And the cardinal responded about the way you would expect. He thought Guiseppe had been standing in the sun a little too long, or maybe he was getting a little senile. So he said, “No, Guiseppe, that’s not so.”

But Guiseppe says, “Cardinalli, look outa your Window.”

So the cardinal says, ”All right.” He walks over and sees the bush shimmering and shaking boldly and brightly. And he comes back and tells him, “You’re right, Guiseppe. You’re right!”

Then Guiseppe says, “Cardinalli, what should I do? What should I do?”.

“Id better call the Papa,” says the cardinal. So he telephones the pope. Meanwhile, Guiseppe is cringing down in his telephone booth. Down in the comer, he can barely see the light shining through, blinding everything around. Finally his phone rings again, and the cardinal says, “Guiseppe, I justa talked to the Papa.”

And Guiseppe says, “Well, what did he say?”

“The Papa say,” came the reply, “looka busy.”

When the boss is around, everyone tries harder, everybody “looka busy.”

Everybody has a boss

But who needs a boss? Do you? Judging by the fact that everybody has a boss, evidently everybody must need a boss, right up to and including Jesus Christ Himself. He has a boss. The Father is clearly in charge and the Father is the only one in the entire universe who does not have a boss.

But how do you suppose the relationship between Christ and the Father is? Do you suppose the Father has ever had to say, “Now look, where’s that report I asked you for? It was supposed to be on my desk last Wednesday. It’s already Thursday. Where’s the report?”

Or does He ever have to say, “Now look, you’ll have to do that over again. That’s not right.”

Mutual trust

Do you suppose that’s the relationship? No, there’s a total trust, a total dependency, a total respect, really a total freedom for Christ. He’s totally free under the  Father’s direction because He knows what the Father wants, and it’s His will and His desire to do it as fully and completely as possible. The Father doesn’t have to worry at all because, unlike most of us, Christ isn’t plagued with pride and vanity, to make Him go off and do His own will, His own thing. He isn’t plagued with selfishness to seek His own advantage or laziness to need day-to-day supervision to make sure the job will be done. The two have a trust and a love and a mutual admiration that defies our understanding. Nevertheless, the Father is still the boss.

Who needs a boss?

So who needs a boss? The person that can’t boss himself (or herself). If man can’t make himself work, someone else most tell him to do it. The man or individual who can’t control his money: Someone else must hold the purse strings. The person that can’t control his tongue: Someone else must speak for him. A group that can’t work together in peace and harmony: Someone must oversee the group members to be sure they don’t fight and bicker.

‘Wrote Paul in I Corinthians 11:31 (Revised Standard Version): “… if we judged ourselves truly [if we would judge, decide and govern the right conduct for us in the light of God’s law with God’s Spirit], we should not be judged.” If we control ourselves, then we don’t need to be controlled by someone else.

Abraham a trusted servant

Abraham never heard of the old covenant. Yet he’ll be in the Kingdom of God, and God said of him: “I know him, that he’ll do just the way he’s supposed to do according to the law. I’ve tested him. I’ve seen him over a long period of time. I don’t have to spend time checking up on him to make sure” (see Genesis 18:19). The more we control ourselves, the more freedom we can be given.

When we prove that self-control to God, maybe over a long period of time, we can be trusted like Christ to have a throne in the world tomorrow.

Govern oneself

Turn to Psalm 32:8-9, where God says, ”I will instruct you and teach you the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you. Be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding, which must be curbed with bit and bridle…” Men control the big dumb things because they can’t control themselves. You have to put fences around them, or they’ll go stomping on your flower bed or whatever. God doesn’t want that for us. He wants us to be self-controlling — with His spirit, under His law.

So who needs a boss? The man Of woman who can’t govern himself, who when the boss is around is always trying to “looka busy.”

Source: The Good News, December 4, 1978