“There is no good or evil, just power and those too weak to use it.” If you have seen the movie or read the book of HP and the philosopher’s stone, then you will have heard that phrase. In a last ditch attempt to win Harry’s cooperation, the evil wizard Voldemort asserts “There is no good or evil, just power and those to weak to use it.” And when I heard it, I thought that probably many people in this day and age believe that is true. Certainly Israel’s response to the Palestinian suicide bomber attacks is one of power, military power: we have the power and we are not afraid to use it.
And when I read today’s reading from Isaiah, with its images of great glory: God’s people multiplying, great joy and victory, and freedom from oppression, it is easy to imagine why, in Jesus time, the Jews were expecting God to act with great power and force to free them from the Romans. After all none of us wish to be forced to live under the power of a foreign government.
Yet, in our New Testament reading Matthew quotes this very passage from Isaiah, making it clear that this light that came into the world was Jesus and Isaiah was referring to Jesus ministry. And certainly in our Matthew reading we see Jesus acting with power. He proclaims with a voice of authority “The kingdom of God is near.” He calls to Peter, Andrew, James and John, “Come follow me”. And thought they are busy working for their families, they down tools and leave immediately. Then we see him teaching with authority in the synagogues and using his power to heal every disease and sickness.
Surely if anyone had the power to rule and control people it was Jesus. Surely if anyone could use power to control people for good purposes, it was Jesus. Surely if anyone had the power to defeat tyranny and oppression it was Jesus. And in the minds of at least some of the people who followed Jesus around there must have been an expectation that one day he would act decisively, one day he would take control of their world, one day he would use his obvious authority to rule and bind, and they would be free of the Roman oppression at last.
Another movie I saw recently was the Fellowship of the Ring. It too is about the use of power, in particular a magic ring that gives its wearer the power to control all living things. “One ring to rule them all, one ring to find them, one ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them.” Godlike powers available to the user of the one ring. And a number of times in the story people ask questions like: ‘Can we not use the power of this ring to defeat evil?’ ‘Cannot those who are strong in wisdom and goodness use this ring to bring about peace for all?’ Indeed the ring-barer himself twice offers to give the ring away to beings who are powerful, wise and good and they are sorely tempted by its power. Yet recognizing that such absolute power corrupts even the most pure heart to evil, they refuse it.
In a different way, the same temptation was offered to Jesus, just prior to Him beginning His ministry. After 40 days of fasting and wandering in the wilderness, Jesus was offered the kingdoms of this world to rule, for that is Satan’s highest jurisdiction. And by such a trump card surely at least the humanity of Jesus was sorely tempted. To the one who was a simple carpenter from Nazareth, surely this would’ve seemed like an easier way than the cross. Yet Jesus too refuses this offer of power and control, the rule that would bring humanity into the darkness and bind them. This is not God’s way, says Jesus, and it is God alone I serve.
So if Jesus had power, as undoubtedly Matthew claims that He did, just what sort of power did He have and what did He do with it? How did He use it? What was this light in the darkness power that was present in Jesus?
Yet another film I have seen recently is called Pay It Forward, and in that story some year 7 students are set a social studies project in which they are to think of a way that one of them could do something which would change the world. No easy assignments for this class! Yet one of the students does think of something and tries it out. It is a scheme he calls Pay It Forward which this year 7 boy begins.
He looks for three opportunities to do something helpful for someone else that they could not do for themselves. Some way of helping three other people do things that by them selves they could not achieve. And instead of thanks or reward, he asks that they do the same for three other people. He gives of himself, his time and his property, only asking in return that these people do likewise to three other people. The idea being that if his three people helped another three people each, then there would be now be nine people looking to help another 27 people and so on; a chain reaction of giving which could change the world.
And though the outcome of his giving is not always what he hoped, yet the recipients are motivated to continue the idea and give to others too. So much so that a journalist in a completely separate city receives the gift of a brand new Mercedes when his car is smashed and a bystander takes this opportunity to Pay It Forward.
Jesus too entered this world as a child. Letting go of equality with God the Father, He became one of us. As a man, Jesus knew God completely and personally, and chose to live God’s way. His relationship with other people was the living image of God’s holiness, truth and love. In His very person was the power and presence of the kingdom of God, the light that would shine in the darkness and change the world forever. And what did Jesus do with that power?
To fisherman and priests, tax collectors and Samaritans, children and adulterers, lepers and women, he gave. He gave His time, His touch, His love and forgiveness. He used His power to make the sick well, the blind see, the lame walk, and give the demon-possessed freedom. With stories that people could relate to and understand he gave away his knowledge of God. He even gave His power to the seventy of His followers he sent out for ministry and they returned elated with having healed the sick and cast out demons just like Jesus did. Like the boy in Pay it Forward, Jesus used His power to give to everyone who would accept His help.
The first person the year 7 boy in Paid It Forward gave to was a man living in a garbage dump. He was given a shower, food, money to buy clothes and a place to sleep, all with the hope that he would get a job and live a better life. Well the man did get a job, but as he was a heroin addict, he soon lost it and all his cash to his habit. When the boy went looking for him he had left town and it seemed like this first effort was a failure.
But walking across a bridge in another city that same tramp saw a lady who was about to commit suicide. He tried to convince her that she was worth more than that but she disagreed and seemed certain to jump. So then he asked her not to jump because he was an addict and needed help, needed some reason to keep going, and she could be that reason. Though he was still a tramp, still an addict, he Paid It Forward in the only way he could, he asked someone who needed help to help him and saved her life.
Similarly not all the giving Jesus did had the outcome most people would want. Many of the people he healed did not even return to thank him. Not all of those who had heard Him teach and felt His touch became His disciples. And even one of His own disciples stole money from His community fund and then betrayed Him. Yet He continued to give, even at the last supper when He washed the disciples feet and then ate with them. He gave even when he knew that in His darkest hour, Judas would betray Him, Peter would deny knowing Him, and the others would fade into the background.
Though His giving would bring Him great suffering and death, He continued to use His power to give rather than rule. And when He died on the cross, He gave again and broke the power of sin and death to rule our lives. He used His power to die so that we might have life. He used the bondage and sorrow of the cross to bring us freedom and joy. He used His power to give us His life so that we might become the children of God. And be filled with God’s Holy Spirit like Him. This was the light in the darkness, Jesus power to give. And this is what He gives to you and me, the power to become the children of God, and the power to give like Jesus did. He gave and trusted that no matter what seemed to happen, God would use the outcome for good.
One day St. Francis was giving out money he had collected for the poor, to the poor. A wealthy man who had done some building work in a church for St. Francis saw this and was envious. He went up to St. Francis asking for money on the basis that he had been underpaid for his work. St. Francis simply filled the builder’s hands full to overflowing with coins and told him to come back if the money was insufficient. The builder left and did not return for some time. When he did return he had sold all he owned, gave the money to St. Francis to give away, and joined St. Francis’ order. Sometimes giving can seem like giving in, like loosing, even like madness, only God can give us the wisdom and power for this sort of giving.
Jesus power to give came from His intimacy with God and it is that same intimacy that Christians are offered through the Holy Spirit. With the Holy Spirit dwelling within us we can grow an inner knowing that God’s ways are not only right but good. Then, knowing by experience the goodness of rightness, we find we agree with the will of God. There is no order to obey but a divine yes to follow and it fills us with Jesus light: the power to give. We too can want to give, see the goodness and rightness in giving, and be empowered to give, if we ask Jesus to do that in our hearts and minds.
When Nelson Mandela was a political prisoner in South African jails for twenty odd years, he discovered even there he had something he could give to others: dignity and respect. The privileges he fought hardest for were things which would give the prisoner’s in general dignity and respect. And as a result he became their spokesman. And even when he was taunted, abused and beaten by his captors, he tried with all his might to treat even the abusers with dignity and respect and encouraged others to do the same. This spirit gave both prisoners and guards hope, and probably significantly reduced the violence that occurred. It also marked Mandela out as a man who could be respected and trusted, a man with whom the government could negotiate the hand over of political power with safety.
You see giving can be as simple as giving someone else your place in a queue, as challenging as visiting a psychiatric ward patient, or as dangerous as being a UN peace-keeper. But whatever God calls us to do He will empower us to give. The power to control other people does not change their hearts and minds; and it does not win the battle against evil. Only the undeserved giving of God, the grace of God, Jesus Christ, lights the way to freedom. The light in our darkness is Jesus power to give.
Yet for many of us, Christians included, giving can be hard, even seemingly impossible sometimes, particularly for those that have been hurt badly, in the past. Sometimes when people are hurting they put up defenses, harden their heart to the pain, and maybe even learn to control and manipulate others so that they will not be hurt again. But when we shut out the possibility of feeling pain we also shut other people out and that makes it extremely difficult to give. When we wall ourselves off for safety we can find we are bound in the heart of darkness. But even there Jesus light is shining and His power is reaching out to heal our hurts, to give us forgiveness for our enemies and to set us free to live and give. There is no darkness, no prison, that can overcome Jesus light, Jesus power to give.
So today I want to offer you a challenge, an experiment in using Jesus power to give. All I will suggest you do is to pray, out loud, three times a day for 4 weeks, “Holy Spirit empower me to give as Jesus did.” Just “Holy Spirit empower me to give as Jesus did”, nothing more. Three times a day, out loud, “Holy Spirit empower me to give as Jesus did.” For 4 weeks. And then at the end of that 4 weeks look back and see if you think it made a difference, see if you were able to give in ways you would not have done before. I am not asking you to work at giving, I am simply asking you to pray and see how God answers your prayer.
In the Lord of the Rings, it is the people who refuse to use the one ring’s controlling power that win freedom, both in their own heart and minds and for others.
Similarly, Harry Potter wins his battle against the power of Voldemort to control, not with magical powers, but by the gift of his mothers love when she gave her life to save him.
There is good and evil in this world, and there is power. And there are those who seek the power to control, the power to rule and bind other people into their darkness. But the power of the kingdom of God has also entered this world. And it is Jesus power to give that seeks to set us free to live and give, in joy, for eternity. Today, if you hear His voice, take up Jesus offer, live in His power, and use it to give. The light that shines in our darkness, the light that will turn the world upside down and set us free, is Jesus power to give.
