Does Jesus use the carrot or the stick? Yes.

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/111218.cfm
Titus 1:1-9
Luke 17:1-6

Jesus teaches two different purposes for avoiding sin in today’s readings. The first comes to Paul through Jesus in the first verses of his letter to Titus. The second comes from Jesus to his disciples, recorded by Luke in the first verses of Luke’s Gospel in chapter 17. Both of these teachings should convince us to refrain from sin— one by its logic and sweetness, and the other by it’s sheer horrifying consequence.

For a bishop as God's steward must be blameless, not arrogant,
not irritable, not a drunkard, not aggressive,
not greedy for sordid gain, but hospitable, a lover of goodness,
temperate, just, holy, and self-controlled,
holding fast to the true message as taught
so that he will be able both to exhort with sound doctrine
and to refute opponents. (Titus 1: 7-9)

Things that cause sin will inevitably occur,
but woe to the one through whom they occur.
It would be better for him if a millstone were put around his neck
and he be thrown into the sea
than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin. (Luke 17:1-2)

Before reviewing each approach I’d like to confirm that God is not just allowed the authority to apply pressure upon us in such radically different methods, but that such variety is necessary. These two exhortations aptly fit the proverbial message about the carrot and the stick. 

Wikipedia has a nice definition of the carrot and the stick: “The phrase ‘carrot and stick’ is a metaphor for the use of a combination of reward and punishment to induce a desired behavior. It is based on the idea that a cart driver might activate a reluctant horse by dangling a carrot in front of it and smacking it on the rear with a stick.”

Some argue that the carrot and the stick are not equal in their importance for exercising authority — one is lovely and one is awful. The argument pits a caring spiritual counselor worried about your self esteem against an army sergeant yelling in your face to enforce subservience. I disagree. The two methods are identically important, and have little to do with counseling or berating.

For instance, training a dog with the promise of treats (a bribe, if you will) nurtures a dog’s disciplined behavior over time. Eventually, the practiced training becomes ingrained and the reward of a treat is no longer necessary. The dog behaves as you have taught it. On the other hand, swatting a dog on the rump or the nose when he bites, or raising your voice sharply if he charges after a rabbit into the woods is important so the dog doesn’t harm another, or himself. Over time, the sharp sound of your voice can get quieter to accomplish the task. Just raising your hand gradually becomes all that is needed to remind the dog of your authority. The dog will learn to hesitate and check for his owner’s voice or hand before lurching into some wild-eyed attack. Both methods teach discipline for the long haul of life. One takes more time to apply and the other takes place with immediacy.

The best measurement for proper training can be calculated by the amount of time and attention provided by the one in authority. The one using the carrot and stick says everything about our formation. The success of either the carrot or the stick depends upon the person in authority who must spend an inordinate amount of time, plainly a dogged 24x7 commitment, to ensure a loving and disciplined training.

Training and teaching form the basics of all coaching tasks. The actual problem isn’t the carrot or the stick. They have their places. The problem is allowing for the authority — both from the one in authority and the one under authority. Our tendency toward distrust in authority, just like unfortunate personalities of most untrained dogs, harkens back to the presence or lack of love in our earliest formations by those who have been in charge of our training. The same with the parent, teacher or coach. They must also trust in the validity of authority figures to accept the formation of good children, good citizens, and good sports. While we speak mostly about the problem of respect for authority in the person who must submit to it, the larger issue is the failure of those in authoritative roles. We have all used both carrots and sticks for our own benefit rather than the loving formation of those in our charge. 

It takes a longer time to wean a dog from practiced fear. An abusive owner teaches a dog not to trust authority, but to avoid it. And, it remains with us forever when we lash out at one of our children, or twist our authority to get them to do something that simply was only for our personal benefit. It may have taken place only once, but the scar lives with both us and our charges.

Again, it’s not the stick that’s the problem, nor is the carrot really any better as a tool for teaching. It’s their proper application, isn’t it?

Our guilt is not the point of this reflection. Nor is the necessity to love those who are our charges. The point of this reflection is the premise that God’s authority never, not one time, ever took advantage of us, abused us, or improperly applied the use of the carrot or stick in our formation.

How many of us can say we believed that from the beginning of our understanding of who God is? In fact, how many of us fully trust that God is like that with us even now?

Behind the readings in both Titus and Luke sits the one at the source of all authority. God describes what an authoritative figure looks like, and affirms that sound doctrine and the ability to refute error comes from holding fast to the truth. He also explains how we are free to exercise almost any evil, yet we will be burdened by the scope of its ripple effect upon everyone else. Sin burdens us wit its ominous weight largely because it negatively affects everyone else.

Spiritual leadership requires holiness in us, and will subsequently exist in those we are charged with forming. The evidence of our holiness, and holiness in our charges, allows us to speak with divine authority -- evangelizing and refuting. I know folks who are like this. Their quiet example speaks loudly, and those who have been formed by them copy them. I listen to and measure my behavior after these people. Their holiness is not a burden, but a witness. 

When we act as purveyors of sin we do the opposite. We infect others with confusion. By propagating evil we populate sinful behaviors as a pattern of life for others. When we act unholy, we operate as failed authorities. We carry the weight of our sin as a visible warning to folks intent on holiness, and as a personal reminder prompting us to repent. 

We are not pure like God. Yet. Repentance doesn't come from handing off our authority in shame, but by turning it back under the guidance of God by admitting our guilt.  

God offers guidance to everyone responsible for authority. Everyone of us. Not one thing in the universe moves or makes noise without the constant monitoring and loving attention of God carefully applying the means and methods of training and formation. God’s handiwork, in essence, is the continual preparation and reparation of everyone and everything.

The remarkable thing, besides the downright awesomeness of God’s attention to every detail, is that God loves us in all of his monitoring and interventions. He does nothing without love. This one intense truth behind who God is and what God does is challenged by every intentional sin and its reverberation. Sin is the exercise of distrusting God’s goodness and authority. Sin denies that God draws us to him to be like him. When we are purveyors of sin, we disdain God’s love in everything he does by blaming him for our willful activities and casting their causes and effects upon him. God is at fault for the bad that we do? It’s dubious logic at best, and dastardly evil at its core.

So, when God tells us that only the best of us belong in the positions of spiritual authority he’s placing a delicious carrot in our hands, urging a formation of holiness. And, when God assures us that our sinful example will be paid with the burdensome guilt likened to a millstone around our neck, he confirms that he has allowed us to act as we will. God offers us holiness, purity, fruitful legacies, and lasting joy to teach us who he wants us to be. Likewise, God applies restraint and further formation even as we challenge or disobey him. In some divine orchestration, God must be restraining us, stopping us only when the damage we plan to execute cannot be repaired as he desires. In the wake of his grace and mercy he leaves us to carry the burden of our behavior for future purposes we don’t yet realize.

What part of the picture of our world do we not realize is in his grasp? Are there bigger problems than God can handle? Are there the smallest of details that he ignores?

The saints throughout the ages have understood that God’s discipline is lovely, and that our allowed failures have a place in the reparation of everything. 

Thank you God. Teach me. Don’t let up.