What is power? Where
does it come from?
Maybe you’ve know people in your life who act as though they
know everything. No matter what
the topic is, they can expound on it. No
matter what the issue, they have an opinion.
And they’re very sure that they know. And they’re very sure that they’re right. They take authority upon themselves and they
like to tell everyone else what to do. Trouble
is, when folks try to tell you what to do, it can be pretty annoying—you want
to walk the other way! My daughter says
I’m like that sometimes….
Then there are the folks you encounter from time to time who
really seem to know what they’re doing in life. They might be well educated, or simply
schooled in experience, but they’re happy to share what they know, and what
they say rings true. They might not be
loud or bossy, but if necessary, they can take charge, and very often, they
have done amazing things in their lives.
You get the feeling that they could move mountains if they wanted
to. And when you’re in their presence,
you feel as if you have the power to move mountains as well. You feel good and whole and strong and sure.
What is power? Who
has it? How do you get it?
President Obama has a certain kind of power—he has the power
of rhetoric, to stir people’s hope. He
has the power of his office, the power of consent from the people. He has the authority
to make decisions on behalf of this nation, and the power to influence what
others think and do. He has the power to
command armies, and when he speaks, the whole world listens.
Bill Gates has a certain kind of power. He has the power to get anything he wants by
purchasing it. He has the power to hire
and fire people and to hold their lives in the balance. He has great intellect, and can come up with
great ideas that spread like wildfire.
Oprah has power. She
has the ability to put her finger on the pulse of the people. She can make you feel like she really
understands your problems and your issues.
She can put into words what folks are thinking and feeling and ask just
the right questions to help them go a bit deeper. She knows how to put together a really
entertaining show!
Doctors have power. They can take a power drill and a metal plate and some screws and repair a broken bone. They can replace a dead kidney with a live one from a human donor. They can treat diseases of many kinds and bring health and healing where there has been sickness and pain.
All of these kinds of power are useful and can be used for
good. Whole books have been written
about what makes a powerful person—what’s that one called—The Seven Habits
of Highly Effective People—and you can learn a lot from books like that.
But today’s Gospel reading is quite brief. It describes Jesus in the synagogue,
teaching. He was probably talking about
the scriptures—that’s what you did in the synagogue, you studied the law and
the prophets and the other writings in the Hebrew Scriptures. As Jesus taught, the people who observed him
were amazed! He wasn’t like the other
teachers they’d heard. Oh, there were
some good teachers there—the Scribes had lots of interesting things to say
about the fine points of biblical law, and they knew their scriptures inside
and out—but this Jesus, he was different.
He seemed to have a special kind of authority, and the people were
intrigued. Somehow, his teaching seemed
altogether new and different.
Then one man who was there caused a big ruckus. He cried out to Jesus, “What are you trying
to do here? Why are you talking with us?
Have you come to destroy us? I know who
you are! You’re the Holy One of
God!” It was like he was possessed or
something. The text says he had an
unclean spirit—was he sick? Mentally ill? Angry? Demented? What was he afraid of? Was there something threatening about what
Jesus was saying?
Well, it was disruptive behavior, to say the least. The teachers among us can certainly
relate! You just can’t have people
shouting out when you’re trying to teach something. Normally someone freaks out like that you
feel like you want to usher them right out of the room.
But Jesus didn’t do that. Instead, he spoke right to that unclean
spirit, whatever it was, and said, “Be silent! Come out!
Shhhhh!”
And the man shook and cried out, and became calm—the unclean spirit was
gone. And the people who saw it were
amazed.
“What is this? His
teaching comes with authority! He really
knows what he’s doing. He can even
command the spirits, and they do what he tells them to do! This is something new!”
What kind of power was this?
It wasn’t the kind of power that comes from higher education and
specialized degrees—oh, Jesus was learned, to be sure—he had studied in the
Temple, and he knew his scriptures—but he wasn’t like the other scholars of his
day.
It wasn’t a presidential kind of power—he wasn’t commanding
armies, and he didn’t hold any democratically elected office.
It wasn’t economic power—Jesus lived on the edge of poverty!
It wasn’t the power of celebrity, either—Jesus could tell a
pretty good story, for sure, and his fame spread around the countryside, but he
wasn’t trying to be in any spotlight and he wasn’t worried about
popularity.
Jesus’ power wasn’t even medical power, really—although he
had a gift for healing, but he had no medical degree, no modern drugs or
equipment.
As I explored this question about Jesus’ power, I focused in
on the word that’s translated “authority” in this text. It comes from the Greek word exousia.
It’s a word that can be used in many ways. It can mean ability or permission, or
absolute power, or ruling power, or official power. It can mean the freedom to act and
choose. It can mean power over others. It can mean knowledge. But at its root is the word ousia, which means “essence.” Think about that for a minute. Jesus had authority because he spoke from
his essence. He had power because he
connected with the very ground of his being.
He could look at a disturbed man and see, not just a troublemaker, but a
troubled spirit. He didn’t need to send
the many away because he could get to the heart of the matter and identify the
cause of the trouble and say to the man, “Shhhh! Be
still.”
What might the church be like if we could receive this gift
from Jesus—if we could tap into that same source of power, connect with God’s
very essence, and touch the ground of our being? What demons might be stilled? What authority might we claim—and share? God knows, there are many demons that possess
us, even now, many places in our lives and in our communities that long for a
sense of peace and wholeness and direction.
I hear in this gospel story an invitation to be still and to reconnect with what is essential—to let all the frenzy of my life fall away and to attend to the very essence of God, and to let it shape my life and all of my interactions with others.
What demons in you might be stilled by a word from
Jesus? Where might you be called to look
past someone’s demons, right down to their soul, and help them to connect with
their essence, that ground of being which comes from God?
I read a story in the United Church News (1) a while back
about a church that had been blessed with a new family—a husband and wife and
three small kids, who came one Sunday and decided to stay. The church was thrilled! They hoped that this might signal the
beginning of a new growth spurt for their congregation. But one day the pastor came back from
vacation and found the church in an uproar.
As the article explained, “A video had surfaced on YouTube showing one
of the newer families in the church making racial and anti-Semitic remarks on a
late night TV talk show…their remarks were vitriolic and full of hate. The deacons peppered their pastor with
questions. “Did you know about this? How could you let these people into our
church? Why didn’t you warn us?” In spite of their claim to welcome everyone,
the church ended up driving this family away.
No matter that, in the time they had been at the church, their attitudes
about race had changed. No one bothered
to find that out. No one stopped to
listen to what they had become since they had joined the church. Perhaps it was just easier to banish this
family than to learn with and from them.
Or perhaps the church was not willing to confront their own demons and
allow Jesus to lead them to wholeness.
Contrast that with a story from of one of my favorite German
TV shows, called Edel und Stark. Its part legal show, part comedy, and Randy
and I loved to watch it when we lived in
What a contrast, these two stories! In the words of I Corinthians, “Knowledge
puffs up, but love builds up.”
I want to leave you this morning with the wonderful poetry
of a hymn that is based on the story of Jesus healing the man with the unclean
spirit. It’s written by Tom Troeger,
formerly a professor at
“Silence!
Frenzied, unclean spirit,” cried God’s healing Holy One.
“Cease your ranting! Flesh can’t bear it. Flee as night before the sun.”
At Christ’s voice the demon
trembled, from its victim madly rushed,
While the crowd that was assembled
stood in wonder, stunned and hushed.
Christ, the demons still are
thriving in the grey cells of the mind:
Tyrant voices, shrill and driving,
twisted thoughts that grip and bind,
Doubts that stir the heart to
panic, fears distorting reason’s sight,
Guilt that makes
our loving frantic, dreams that cloud the soul with fright.
Silence, Christ,
the unclean spirit, in our mind and in our heart.
Speak your word that when we hear
it all our demons shall depart.
Clear our thought and calm our
feeling, still the fractured warring soul.
By the power of your healing make us faithful, true and whole. (2)
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1. Gaffney, E.S., “Who’s in the pew next to you?” in United Church News, December/January 2009, p. A9.
2. Troeger, Thomas, “Silence, Frenzied, Unclean Spirit,”
copyright 1984, rev. 1993, Oxford University Press, Inc. (Printed in the New Century
Hymnal, #176.)