Luke 6:17-19
There was a farmer who had three sons: Jim, John, and Sam. No one in the family ever attended church or had time for God. The pastor and members of the church had tried for years to interest the family in the things of God, but with no success. Then one day Sam was bitten by a rattlesnake. They sent for the doctor, and he did all that he could, but things didn’t look good for Sam. So they called the pastor and told him about the situation. The pastor came right over, and when he got there, he offered this prayer:
“O wise and righteous Father, we thank you that in your wisdom you sent this rattlesnake to bite Sam. He has never been inside the church and it is doubtful that he has ever prayed or even acknowledged your existence. Now we trust that this experience will be a valuable lesson to him and will lead to his genuine repentance. And now, O God, will you send another rattlesnake to bite Jim, and another to bite John, and another really big one to bite the old man? For years we have done everything we know to get them to turn to you, but it was all in vain. It seems, therefore, that what all our combined efforts could not do, this rattlesnake has done. We thus conclude that the only thing that will do this family any real good is rattlesnakes; so, Lord, send us bigger and better rattlesnakes. Amen.”
Of course, that story isn’t true. But it makes me think about a few verses in the gospels that talk about snakes. One passage is from Mark 16, when Jesus speaks to his disciples after his resurrection. He said, “And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.” And in Luke 10, Jesus is talking to the seventy-two of his followers who had been sent out after they returned and reported how even the demons had submitted in Jesus’s name. Jesus said, “I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you.” In both instances, Jesus is talking about power that he has given to his followers. They are not able to do any of these things without the power that comes from Jesus.
Sometimes we get stuck in our thinking about Jesus. We like the stories that show his compassion and his mercy. It is comforting to think of Jesus as our Good Shepherd, who leads us as his sheep and takes care of us. We are all too happy to imagine Jesus welcoming women and outcasts into his circle of friends. We love the picture of Jesus holding the little children on his lap and blessing them. And when we get stuck with these images of Jesus, we are missing another dimension of who Jesus is: a source and a demonstrator of power.
There are several kinds of stories that reveal the power of Jesus. There are the stories that reveal Jesus’s power over nature, such as the story of Jesus walking on water and the story of Jesus calming the storm. There are the miracle stories like the turning of water into wine or the amazing catch of fish by the disciples. And what about the feeding of a crowd of over 5,000 people with just 5 loaves of bread and two fish: the lunch of one small boy? And there are the stories of Jesus healing the sick and casting out demons from those who were possessed.
There are not many places, however, where the word “power” is explicitly used to describe the power of Jesus or the power that Jesus conveys to his disciples. There is this story at the beginning of the sermon on the plain, where people came to Jesus and tried to touch him because power was coming from him and healing them all. There is the account of the woman with the bleeding who came up to Jesus in the crowd and touched the hem of his cloak because she believed if she just touched his clothes, she would be healed. And when she touched it, her bleeding immediately stopped and she felt that her suffering had come to an end. And at once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. And in another story of healing, when a paralytic was brought and lowered through the roof of a house for Jesus to make well, Jesus was teaching Pharisees and teachers of the law who had come from every village of Galilee, from Judea and from Jerusalem, and the power of the Lord was present for him to heal the sick.
There are also stories of Jesus giving power to his followers to do the same kinds of things that he could do. In Luke 9, Jesus sent out the Twelve; he gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick. Later on, he sent out the 72, and they came back reporting that the demons had submitted to them in Jesus’s name. Jesus said it was because he had given them authority. And at the end of Luke, Jesus tells his disciples, “I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.” (Presumably he was talking about the coming of the Holy Spirit.)
Jesus was not shy about claiming and using his power during his earthly ministry. He had the power of God within him, power that could subdue demons and cure diseases. That is some strong power! And Jesus only used that power for good. He did not perform miracles just to bring attention to himself or to get some benefit from them; the miracles were for the benefit of others. He fed hungry people; he cured the sick; he healed the lame; and he raised the dead. Jesus apparently had so much power that it literally seeped out of him. People could just touch him and the power would go out of him to heal them.
But that power did not make Jesus proud or boastful. In fact, Jesus practiced a humility that is incredibly rare among great leaders of the world. In John 13 we find the story of Jesus washing his disciples’ feet. It says that Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and in the next verse it says that he got up from the meal and began to wash the feet of his disciples. His power was channeled through his love and compassion and humility in such a way that it allowed him, or even compelled him, to serve others.
The disciples of Jesus were given the same kind of power that he had. They were also able to cure people of diseases and heal the lame, to cast out demons from those who were possessed. They claimed their authority and they traveled about the countryside preaching about the kingdom of God that had its beginning in the coming of Jesus. And, especially after the death and resurrection of Jesus, they used that power and authority to stand up to the Jewish authorities and the Roman government in order to preach the message of Jesus throughout the Roman world, even into the city of Rome itself, within thirty years of the death of Jesus.
What does it mean for us to claim the power and authority that Jesus gives to his followers? Are we expected to be able to literally lay hands on people and heal them? Is performing exorcisms really meant to be a part of our mission today? And what about those snakes?
Well, I know that healing does take place and that some Christians do seem to have that spiritual gift. I can’t explain it, but I do know of instances where it appears to have taken place. But for most of us, claiming our power and authority means being bold in our faith and in our ministry. It means moving beyond comfortable Sunday morning religion to active everyday Christian mission and ministry. It means creating a Jesus-sized dream for our congregation and then living into it with courage and passion. It means getting off the back burner and taking a position of leadership in our community. And it means believing that we belong in that place because what we have to offer is significant and relevant to the whole community.
What does it look like to have a Jesus-sized dream for our church? What kind of vision does that take? Rebekah Simon-Peter, in the Creating a Culture of Renewal Program, defines a vision as an imagined future condition that expands assumptions about what is possible; is bigger than you are; scares you; focuses on the flourishing of the Kingdom or the community, rather than the survival of the congregation; and inspires and unifies the people. That is some kind of dream! And it is absolutely certain that we cannot live into that kind of dream on our own power and relying only on our own resources. We will need God’s help and the power of Jesus. We will also need help with money, resources, and peoplepower.
What we can never forget in this process is that ultimately the power comes from Jesus. It does not come from us. We can’t create and live into a vision that is powered by our own human effort and energy. We need the power of Jesus, the power of God, to infuse it and us if it is to succeed. It’s like plugging a lamp into a socket. A lamp may look good sitting on a table, but if it is to fulfill its purpose and do anybody any good, it has to be plugged in to its power source. And the same is true of us; we have to be connected to our power source. So let’s never forget: the power comes from Jesus.
