When you hear me say the word, “power,” I’ll bet it can stir up all sorts of feelings inside. On one hand it may bring memories of a time when someone used power over you in a painful and destructive way and you cringe a bit inside. On the other hand it may stir up a hope of having power yourself and being able to bring some degree of control and order to your life by exerting that power. Most of us probably have very ambiguous feelings about power. Is it good? Is it bad? Should I seek it? Should I run away from it? Power is a factor in every human relationship we have. What about power?
Last week we looked at the first of three temptations that Jesus wrestled with as part of his preparation for the ministry his Father had sent him to earth to complete, the challenge of what he would do about himself and his own natural desires for comfort and pleasure. And he decided that he would not use his time on earth for his own comfort and pleasure, but put himself at the call of his Father in heaven, even when it hurt.
Today lets look at the second temptation. As Jesus launched out on his ministry, what role was the use of power to have in his life?
Let’s read it from the Bible together. Again I’ll take the part of the narrator. This time I’ll ask the northern side of the sanctuary to read the lines of Satan and this time you southerners get to be Jesus.
Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, 2 where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing at all during those days, and when they were over, he was famished. 3 The devil said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread." 4 Jesus answered him, "It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone.'"
5 Then the devil led him up and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. 6 And the devil said to him, "To you I will give their glory and all this authority; for it has been given over to me, and I give it to anyone I please. 7 If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours." 8 Jesus answered him, "It is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.'"
9 Then the devil took him to Jerusalem, and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, 10 for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you, to protect you,' 11 and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.'" 12 Jesus answered him, "It is said, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'" 13 When the devil had finished every test, he departed from him until an opportune time.”
Now, just like the devil’s temptation that we looked at last week, this was very reasonable. Why shouldn’t Jesus just accept political power over all the earth. He had created the earth. Nobody was smarter than he was or more knowledgeable or better intended. You know, the strategy that Jesus did decide on really looked pathetic at times. He only covered a very, very small part of the earth. His method of talking to one crowd here and another one there, of working so slowly to train just twelve assistants, and especially the incompetents that he chose seemed hopeless. And why should he mess with mixing with those dirty crowds, putting up with people who opposed him, risking death on a cross. That’s pathetic. Just think how much more efficient it would be to take the devil’s offer, become the dictator of the whole earth. He could send out edicts and soldiers and force anything he wanted on the people and have a very comfortable living for himself while he did it. Doesn’t that make sense?
But Jesus refused to approach power in that way. The century that has just finished demonstrates his wisdom very well. The 20th century was a time of great power movements with the highest ideals. Lenin was going to establish the classless society where there would be no more poverty, no more exploitation, no more war. Hitler was going to build an exalted master race with the very highest in culture and education and human accomplishment. Mao Tse Tung and Pol Pot were going to purify China and Cambodia of all the corruption of western decadence. I think we forget that these all started as very idealistic, very humanistic movements. In the end they slaughtered many millions of people who couldn’t move fast enough to keep up with the movements or just plain disagreed with their directions. And the more they used outward power to force outward conformity, the more people forgot what the revolutions had been about in the first place and society crumbled into a cynical rush for what’s in it for me. And Jesus saw right from the beginning that to do God’s work by sheer physical or political power would make him a servant of the devil. And he said no. And how thankful we need to be that he didn’t come at us in the way suggested by the devil.
And I wish I could say that the church has never made this mistake itself, but this is precisely the mistake of the Inquisition and the Calvinist dictatorship in Geneva and Cromwell’s dictatorship in England. It’s the strategy of the direction started by the moral majority a decade ago, but which has now been wisely abandoned. God’s kingdom is not advanced by coercion or the enforcement of outward conformity.
But, then, what do you do about power? Some people take the opposite route, which can also sound good. I won’t impose myself on anyone. I stay out of politics. I’ll just mind my own business. I’ll be tolerant and accepting of everyone the way they are. That’s sounds good.
But I don’t think these people really stick to their goals very well. They exert a lot of power, but they do it in underhanded ways. If they are concerned about something, instead of jumping in and working for a solution they are more likely to gossip or slander or cause factions, quickly turning a simple disagreement into a battle between ‘them’ and ‘us,’ and making a solution ten times harder.
These are the passive aggressives, like the French peasants who resisted the industrial revolution by quietly and ‘accidentally’ dropping their wooden shoes, their ‘sabots’ into the gears of the new machines, giving us the word ‘sabotage’. Anyone who has tried to bring about social change will meet with all sorts of opposition that is indirect, camouflaged, behind the scenes. Because they avoid the use of constructive power, the passive aggressives fall back on destructive power instead. They may complain of being powerless, but the reality is that they have great power and are using it in destructive ways. Everybody exerts power. The only question is how.
As you look at Jesus’ life and ministry, it was never a question of whether he would use power or not. He exerted great power. The people were amazed at his teaching, with the authority he took. The temple leaders confronted him very directly, ‘who do you think you are, taking the authority that you do?’
But Jesus was very careful and very wise in how he used his power. And he never wanted his disciples to feel like they were powerless. He gives us power, too. But he wants us to be very careful how we use it.
If Jesus refused the power offered by the devil, what power did he choose? What is ‘the power of the gospel’?
Well, a full answer to that would take several sermons, but let me give you the broad outlines today.
The power of the gospel includes the power of truth. Jesus didn’t call people to follow him because his teachings worked or because they felt good, but because they were true. And as people came together and started living out his message, the kingdom of God began to appear and people loving each other and honestly caring for each other and working together to lift up those who were hurting was just so beautiful that many people saw it and believed. It is our job to find and live out the truth together. When God’s people live out God’s truth together there is great power to turn others from the darkness to the light.
And so you see Jesus always talking theology, always talking about how to live. He often confused his disciples. It often took them a long time for things to sink in. They had to ask a lot of questions. Sometimes he had to correct them pretty forcefully. But they wrestled together to build a community that lived God’s truth.
Last week I attended the John Wesley Theological Institute, a seminar that meets each year in our conference to look again at some aspect of John Wesley’s ministry and teaching and see what we can learn from it for today. The Sunday evening session was on John Wesley’s understanding of Christian conference. We find God’s wisdom and direction for our lives together, not from having one authority to tell us all what to do, not for a once and for all doctrinal statement that has a like it or lump it position in our lives. Methodists find God’s will through Christian conferencing, talking together face to face and heart to heart. It’s a slow process. It’s a messy process.
When we disagree we are sorely tempted to cut off the process prematurely and just pretend we are in agreement when we are not. That feels more comfortable, but it prevents us from living out the truth of God with one heart and one mind. We need to trust that when we hang in there and search the scriptures together and pray together and listen to each other God will speak to us and unite us in one heart and one mind and one body so that the truth will shine through us. If you short-circuit the process you lose the power. Jesus worked very patiently to empower his disciples with the ability to live out the truth together. Many times he left the crowds, he walked away from people who were hurting so that he could invest in building even a few people who could live the truth together. That’s powerful. Jesus used the power of truth.
Jesus chose the power of servanthood. He washed his disciples’ feet. He healed the sick. He took the consequences of our sins upon himself. He was a servant. When his actions made it so clear that he was a threat to no one, that he wanted nothing but good for everyone, there was great power in that. Those who opposed him really had to have evil hearts to the power of the statement he made.
Jesus chose the power of love, to see each person as a precious child of God, no matter how far they may have fallen from that position. He saw prostitutes as precious daughters of God. He saw Zacchaeus the crooked tax collector as someone he would want to have dinner with and that love empowered them to grow into just what he saw them to be.
Well, this could go on for a long time. I encourage us all to look at Jesus, the choices that he made in the way that he used power. May we treat one another in the same way. May we worship him with all of our hearts as we thank him for the power of his love in our lives. AMEN
