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Whether words like these should be taken as forbidding Christian believers to hunt positions of political authority, or whether Jesus was just trying to stay the spiritual and political sphere's distinct is hospitable debate. what's less ambiguous is that Jesus had an idea Clarion Today of leadership that was distinct from the model displayed by the political leaders of his day.
"You know that those that are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. it's to not be so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you want to be your servant" (Mark 10:42-43)
This command of Jesus is recorded altogether three of the synoptic Gospels and is especially significant for our purposes because it explicitly distinguishes between the accustomed way during which political power is exercised - where rulers 'lord it over' their people - and therefore the sort of authority that Jesus Himself modelled, which was an authority embodied in commission to others.
The language Jesus uses seems to be deliberately extreme. Clarion Today Literally, He says that we are alleged to be the slaves of these who are under our authority, instead of the opposite way around! rather than manipulating those under our authority, we are alleged to serve them.
Countries like mine still display the legacy of this teaching within the titles we bestow upon our political leaders. We ask our governmental leaders as 'ministers', which suggests 'servants', and that we ask our most powerful politician because the 'Prime Minister', meaning the primary amongst servants. Even so, we do not see tons of servile behavior amongst the political leadership in my country. no matter the language, we lord it over one another even as well as 'the gentiles' of old ever did!
My reading of the New Testament , and of Jesus' life also as His teachings, is that institutional power was something that Jesus Himself deliberately avoided, and whether or not He would have explicitly discouraged his followers from seeking political office, i feel it's undoubtedly that Jesus expected His followers to not use positions of authority, if that they had them, to control and exploit others.
This is obvious, and therefore the other thing that's equally obvious is that the church throughout its history has paid scant attention to Jesus' teaching on this subject! On the contrary, the church over the centuries has shown itself time and time again to be as power-hungry and as manipulative as any of its secular counter-parts.
My feeling is that Constantine's victory at the Battle of Milvian Bridge within the year 312 was the start of the top for the church! This was the wade through which the Christianity was elevated from being an illegal sect , undergoing regular persecution from the authorities, to being the official religion of the empire.
Prior to Milvian Bridge, if you were a Christian and you received a visit from the local authorities, it'd are to possess you arrested and fed to the lions. If you received that visit after the victory of Constantine, it had been probably because you were being offered a privileged position within the new government!