Power

The scriptures referred to are 1 Samuel 8:4-20, 2 Corinthians 4:13-5:1, and Mark 3:20-35.

“With great power comes great responsibility.” You don't have to be a geek like me to have heard that maxim. You might even know that it is what Peter Parker's Uncle Ben says to him, which inspires him to use his powers as Spiderman to help people. What you might not realize is that it may ultimately be derived from something Jesus said: “From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.” (Luke 12:48) The context leading up to this is Jesus talking about his return. It will be unexpected and so some people in charge will be tempted by his delay to take advantage of the power granted them, neglect the needs of others and even abuse them. Jesus commends those who instead use their power and authority to take care of others. “It will be good for that servant whom the master finds doing so when he returns.” (Luke 12:43)

Power is one of the oldest issues human beings have struggled with. When humans lived in nomadic tribes of roughly 150 people, power resided with the patriarch, the oldest living male ancestor. He functioned as ruler, judge and priest. But he also had to be a good military commander because you would have to go up against other tribes over resources like good pasture land and water, not to mention women and slaves. A weak patriarch would not last. In such cases persons with physical power were given or seized power. (The Cherokee had both a war chief and a peace chief, who headed up the red government and white government respectively. They recognized that a good warrior might not be a good leader in peace time. They also had a Medicine Chief to break ties between the two councils.)

But most tribes put both the defense of the people and the day to day governance of them in the hands of one man. And in today's reading from the Hebrew Bible that's what the Israelites want: a king “like other nations.” Samuel, the Spirit-anointed judge who lead the people, is upset but God points out that they people are really rejecting God as their king. He tells Samuel to do what the people want but to warn them that giving one person that much power will inevitably lead to abuse of that power. “You shall be his slaves,” says Samuel of such a king. In this he is anticipating Catholic historian Lord Acton's observation that, “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

The problem wasn't in the Israelites wanting a king but in wanting one like their neighbors. In the Near East, in places like Egypt, the king was a god or a demi-god at least. As the NIV Cultural Background Study Bible puts it, the Israelites “...want a king who would successfully bring the deity into play so they could carry out their national agendas instead of waiting on the actions of the deity alone (as when he appointed judges over them). They wanted God's power, but not his control.”

In Israel the king was not divine but was supposed to rule as a regent for God, the true King. God actually made provision for a king back in the law of Moses when the Hebrews were just 12 tribes. In Deuteronomy it says, “The king...must not acquire great numbers of horses for himself...He must not take many wives or his heart will be led astray. He must not accumulate for himself large amounts of silver and gold. When he takes the throne of his kingdom, he is to write for himself on a scroll a copy of this law, taken from that of the priests, who are Levites. It is to be with him, and he is to read it all the days of his life so that he may learn to revere the Lord his God and follow carefully all the words of this law and these decrees and not consider himself better than his brothers and turn from the law to the right or to the left.” (Deuteronomy 17:16-20) Of course, the things prohibited here were exactly what the kings of God's people did. Because they could.

As much as the kings of Israel and eventually Judah wanted to play God, they were reminded by the prophets that they weren't really in control of events. People like Nathan, Elijah, Elisha, Micaiah, Amos, Micah, and Jeremiah spoke up for God's standards even when opposed by kings. God had granted their rulers power to do his will, not to do their own will. When the leaders sinned and when the nation followed their example, the prophets pronounced God's judgment on them.

Power is like fire. It is good when fire is used to cook your food and warm your home and light your way. It is bad when you misuse fire to damage and destroy the lives of others. Inevitably when it gets out of control it destroys even the one who lit the match.

A lot of people fail to make the distinction between the  proper use and the misuse of power. They also fail to understand the source of different kinds of power. That's the problem in our gospel today. Jesus is healing people. Back then folks attributed disease to beings invisible to the eye called demons. Today we attribute disease to beings invisible to the naked eye called germs. Anyway, Jesus is, in the language of the day, casting out demons and curing folks. That is undeniably good. Yet his religious rivals, trying to dispel Jesus' popularity, resort to saying that he is casting out demons by the power of the prince of demons, Beelzebub, literally, the “lord of the flies.” It was another name for Satan. So they were asserting that Jesus was doing good by using the power of the Evil One.

Jesus points out the absurdity of the power of Satan being used to fight Satan and then talks about blaspheming the Holy Spirit. A lot of people get this wrong. The Greek word from which we get the word “blaspheme” basically means “to vilify.” Jesus is not talking about a mere slip of the tongue but a frame of mind in which a person calls good evil. How messed up do you have to be to say that healing people is a bad thing coming from a bad place? And if you do see what is clearly the act of a good God as evil, how can you possibly come to him to be healed of your sin? That's why the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is the one unforgivable sin. It is refusing to recognize the source of forgiveness. It is the Holy Spirit who enables us to repent and be saved. (Titus 3:5) It is the Spirit who remakes us and enables us to live as followers of Christ. (Romans 8:5; Galatians 5:22, 23) As Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit.” (John 3:5-6) So if you see God's Spirit as evil you won't let him forgive you and thereby you render yourself unforgivable.

As a nurse I have seen patients who obviously needed medical help refuse it, sign out AMA (Against Medical Advice) and go away untreated. A doctor can't heal someone who doesn't trust him and let him heal them and neither can God. He will not force us; he is the God of love. As C.S. Lewis points out, either we say to God, “Your will be done” or eventually God will have to say to us, “Very well, your will be done. You don't want any part of me. So be it. But by separating yourself from me you are separating yourself from the source of all goodness.” It would be like wanting the light and warmth of the sun without the sun itself. Remove yourself as far as you can from the sun and you will find only darkness and cold.

We see this today. People who prefer lies to truth, who twist themselves into pretzels trying to construe that good things are evil and that evil actions are good. One way to look at evil is as a narrow definition of good. If you see goodness as what is good for you and yours only and not as what is good for everyone, then it is easy to do evil to people and feel that you are doing good. As Dr. Paul Farmer said, “The idea that some lives matter less is the root of all that is wrong with the world.” If you exclude from the beneficiaries of your actions Jews, or women, or people of color, or people from another country, or people who speak a different language than yours, or people whose sexuality is different, or people whose religion is different, or people who disagree with you on major issues, then you can do a great deal of evil and think you are doing good. Good for those who matter anyway. That's the way the Nazis thought. That's the way ISIS thinks. That's the way incels think. That's the way racists think. And if they do not wake up and change their minds and seek God, they won't find themselves in his kingdom.

As C.S. Lewis said, the gates of hell are locked from the inside. They are locking out the people they can't bring themselves to love. As it says in 1 John, “Whoever does not love does not know God for God is love.” (1 John 4:8) The power of God is the power of love.

Unfortunately we are in love with raw power and with people powerful enough to impose their will on others. That's why people worshiped their kings and emperors. That's why people worship leaders today despite what the Bible says about not putting your trust in human rulers. (Psalm 146:3-5) But we live vicariously through those who have power, whether it is physical strength, as with athletes, or wealth, as with billionaires, or brain power, as with pundits, or the power of persuasion, as with charismatic preachers and speakers, or even magical powers, as with superheroes. And we give those people millions of dollars, even the ones who pretend to fly and shoot webs or beams from their hands. And we wish we could be one of them. If you were offered the power to make people do whatever you wanted, would you refuse it?

Jesus did. His adversary offered him all the kingdoms of this world if only he would worship Satan. It would be an easier way of becoming King of kings and Lord of lords than the cross. But Jesus wouldn't make a deal with the devil. The ends do not justify the means. Jesus also would not misuse his power to leap off the top of the temple to sway the crowds nor alter the nature of rocks to feed himself. It's not about power. It's about love. The love of God that leads him to give up absolute power and put himself into the hands of those who love power. The love that lets them do their worst to him. The love that is more powerful than the principalities of this world, more powerful than our stubborn human natures, more powerful than death.

In our New Testament reading, Paul speaks of the persistent illusion that the things of this world have any kind of staying power. “For what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal.” The monuments of past civilizations don't endure. Of the 7 wonders of the ancient world, only the pyramid of Giza has not yet disappeared. That's why we prize the few relics that have escaped the ravages of time. Great literature can't be counted on to survive. Literally hundreds of ancient works by classical authors are lost except for references to the them in other works. Kings and kingdoms do not last. The pharaohs reigned over Egypt for 3000 years. There are no pharaohs today. The Roman Empire lasted 1500 years, if you include its successor, the Byzantine Empire. There is no Roman emperor today. Hitler in his arrogance proclaimed a 1000 year Reich. Hitler only ruled 12 years before he shot himself and had his body burned so it wouldn't suffer the same fate as Mussolini's. Similarly Putin is haunted by the ignominious death of Muammar Gaddafi, who led Libya for 42 years, and died at the hands of a mob. He knows his regime will not last forever.

Political power, wealth, fame, talent, intelligence, and these bodies will not last. Why do we put our trust in them? Why do we not put our trust in the God who is love? As Paul says, “...we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus, and will bring us with you into his presence. Yes, everything is for your sake, so that grace, as it extends to more and more people, may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God. So we do not lose heart. Even though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. For this slight momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure....”

Everything around you is temporary. God's love is eternal and will outlast all kingdoms, all monuments, the mountains and the seas. You know what else will outlast this earth? You. Every one of you. We are created to live forever. As C.S. Lewis put it, “It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree, helping each other to one or other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilization—these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit—immortal horrors or everlasting splendours....Next to the Blessed Sacrament itself, your neighbour is the holiest object presented to your senses.”

That means how we use the power given us and from where we draw our power is of eternal significance. Will we let that power corrupt us? Will we use it to corrupt others? Or will we use the power of God's love poured out in our hearts by his Spirit to encourage and elevate the persons we encounter towards the image of God in whom we were all made, the image we see perfectly in Jesus, who died for all out of his great love. It is in our power to nudge others upward or to try and drive them downward. And what power is offered us! We have the gospel; we have access to God's Spirit; we are members of the body of Christ on earth, God's people, variously equipped with the gifts of the Spirit. That's a lot of power. And with great power comes great responsibility. 

What are you going to do with it?