A man once went to his doctor to ask if he could help the man with his snoring problem. “As soon as I fall asleep, I begin to snore very loudly,” the man explained. “It happens all the time. You do have the power to help me, don’t you Doc?” “Yes, I have the power to help you,” answered the Doctor. “But tell me, is your snoring really as bad as you say? Does it bother your wife?” “Oh yes,” said the man. “It not only bothers my wife, but it disturbs the rest of the congregation as well!”
Power! Most of the world, including our society here in the U.S., is enamored with power. Many folks are in awe of powerful people, from the famous athlete or entertainer, to the CEO of a huge corporation; from the physically powerful to the politically powerful. Many people have sold their soul to Satan in order to gain power. Many have trashed or at least compromised their values, conspired with evil, and warped their own personalities in order to obtain the power they seek. Others go to great lengths and much trouble just to be around powerful people, because they believe that somehow that enhances their own self-worth.
But the power and authority that the world offers and knows is but a false and corrupt version of the true power of God. For us, power most often corrupts, and absolute power most often corrupts absolutely. That is due to our fallen and sinful nature. Were we not disposed to abusing power, we would not be corrupted by it. But today we shall look at the absolute power of God found in the Gospel, the Good News of God the Son, Jesus Christ. It is a power available to all of God’s children and if we will submit to the leadership of Jesus the Christ, through His Holy Spirit, it is a power that will not corrupt. For in Jesus we see the power of God used as it was intended to be used from the beginning.
Unfortunately, throughout history men have tried to use this power in their own ways, and so have indeed become false and corrupt. But if we, you and I, are to learn how to use this awesome power without being corrupted by it, we must look to Jesus as our example and learn from Him and Him alone. For the power of the Gospel is truly an awesome power. It can be like having access to a nuclear power plant. Used correctly, it can bring miracles. Used corruptly, it can bring tremendous disaster.
Let’s now take a deeper look at the awesome power of the Gospel of Christ. As I said, Jesus is the personification of the power of God. He is the “One who speaks with authority.” He is the “One with authority.”
In the first chapter of the Gospel according to St. Mark, we learn of Jesus’ authority and power over Satan, evidenced in Jesus’ extremely victorious encounter with Satan’s best attempts at temptation in their meeting in the desert. We learn of Jesus’ authority and power over men as He called them to follow Him and they left all that they had and all that they were to do so. We learn of Jesus’ authority and power over nature as He filled the nets of the fishermen, when just moments before there were no fish to be found. And again, when Jesus calms the raging storm on the sea with but a word. We learn of Jesus’ authority and power over science as He feeds thousands of people with but a few fish and a couple of small loaves of bread. We learn of Jesus’ authority and power over Death as He raises Lazarus from the grave.
In last Sunday’s Gospel reading we saw Jesus exert His authority and power over the scribes as He taught in the synagogue. We also saw Jesus exert His authority and power over Satan’s demons as He cast out evil spirits from a possessed man in the congregation. It is in those passages that we are given a demonstration of Jesus’ power to deliver the afflicted. Jesus’ casting out of the demons is one of the signs of the Messiah that the Jews had been waiting so long for. Yet most of them failed to recognize the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy concerning the Messiah, “Then the eyes of the blind will be opened, and the ears of the deaf will be unstopped. Then the lame will leap like a deer, and the tongue of the dumb will shout for joy.”
Most of those who were there that day saw the evidence of Jesus being the long-awaited Messiah. They saw the power of God manifested in Christ. By His word the forces of Hell had to retreat. He spoke and they had to obey. Here was a man who spoke with the authority of God. He was the personification of pure power, used not to bring glory to the One who used it, but to the One from whom it came, Almighty God.
Next, in today’s Gospel passages, we see that Jesus’ power and authority is not only greater than the scribes’, not only greater that Satan’s, but also greater than natural sickness. When Adam and Eve fell, all of creation fell with them, and sickness, disease and death entered the world. Not only our world, but scientists now know that the entire universe is running down. They call this the Law of Entropy (The Second Law of Thermodynamics), which stated simply says that, “all things are running down, subject to the degenerative forces operating in the universe.” We call it decay. Unfortunately, our bodies are also subject to that effect. We call it aging. We will all one day, sooner or later, die. Saved people and lost people alike, will all eventually suffer the fate of physical death. We all get sick, some more sick than others in our flesh, and it can be terrible.
But far worse than being sick in our bodies is to be sick in our spirit. Far too often we reveal our earthbound mentality when we emphasize our physical health, rather than our spiritual health. We tend to go to far greater lengths to heal our bodies, which are mortal, rather than healing our spirit, which is immortal. Perhaps if we would seek spiritual healing more regularly, then most of our physical problems would be taken care of as well.
Jesus has the power to heal our infirmities, physical and spiritual. Jesus also desires to empower each of us with that very same power. Oh, we will never have the same degree of power that He has. After all, He is God, but Jesus wants to give each of us a measure of His power in order for us to minister in His name, as He ministered while here on Earth. We are His representatives. We are His hands, feet and mouth on Earth. We are His ambassadors. We can receive and use the power of God if we come to understand how to do so.
What an awesome gift! What an awesome responsibility! Jesus has chosen to impart His great power to all of His disciples, that we may receive and use it in His name to serve and help others in this world! Understand this well, this power comes from God alone! It doesn’t come from a crystal. It doesn’t come from a talisman. It doesn’t come from a cosmic force. It comes from a living, personal God.
Throughout John’s Gospel, Jesus tells us that the works He is doing are not His works alone, they are the works of the Father. Jesus says that His teachings are the Father’s teachings, that everything He does is what He sees the Father do. Jesus always points to the Father as the source of His power. Since Jesus and the Father are One, the power that Jesus wishes to impart to us is that very same power that He manifested while here on Earth, the very power of God!
What is the secret to accessing this awesome power that Jesus wants each and every one of His disciples to have and use today? The secret is prayer! Listen again to Mark 1:35-39:
“And early in the morning, while it was still dark, He (Jesus) arose and went out and departed to a lonely place, and was praying there. And Simon and his companions hunted for Him; and they found Him and said to Him, ‘Everyone is looking for you.’ And He said to them, ‘Let us go somewhere else to the towns nearby, in order that I may preach there also; for that is what I came for.’ And He went into their synagogues throughout all Galilee, preaching and casting out demons.”
All through Scripture, Jesus takes time to go off to pray and commune with the Father. Many times it was early in the morning and in a solitary place free from distractions. Sometimes it was in front of crowds of people, for their benefit, not His. For instance, remember that just before Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, He paused a moment to pray out loud to the Father, so that the people there would understand just from whom the power to raise the dead comes from. The point is, if Jesus the Christ, God the Son, took time out to pray, shouldn’t we? There are many, many, many Christians today who spend less time per week in prayer than they spend brushing their teeth, and then they wonder why things aren’t going so well.
Prayer is the key to the success of every effective minister you could think of throughout the ages. Prayer is the key! Prayer is the power!
Whenever Jesus manifested His power, the power of God, it was never, never, never, for a show. There are many today who make, or at least try to make, the things of God a show. They call attention to themselves and advertise the power of God to gain an audience. “Look at me!” they say. “Come to me and be healed!” they cry. Jesus never did that. In fact, many times He told someone that He healed not to go around telling others of what He had done. “Why?” you ask. Jesus did that because He did not want to be bothered with “curiosity seekers.” He did not want to be surrounded by those who only wanted something for themselves, without making any commitment to God. Jesus knew that those kind of people would not last, and those who came to Him that way did not last. When things got tough, they got going. They left Him. They still do.
Many people come seeking a blessing, and even after they receive one, you never see any real commitment to God in their lives.
Brothers and sisters, we must never ask to see the power of God at work, just to see it work. God has no desire to perform for us. He is not an entertainer. Jesus did not perform for Satan by turning the stones into bread and He will not perform for us so that we will believe He is who He says He is. But, if we put our faith and trust in Him and Him alone, He will do His works so that we will be healed, saved and made whole for His sake. He does it because He loves each and every one of us. He will use His power through us to minister to others.
We need to take our eyes off ourselves and think about those who are in need. We need to minister to the sick, the poor, the hurting, and especially the spiritually poor and dead. It is unfortunate that far too many Christians today do not wish to get their hands dirty with people such as those. But Jesus was not that way. Jesus reached out His hand and touched the leper! That was unheard of in His time on Earth. Lepers, after all, were full of horrible disease. Their skin was literally rotting off their bones. They were required to walk around and yell, “Unclean! Unclean!” whenever someone approached them. A person would have to be crazy to touch a leper! You could get the disease yourself. How could anyone touch a leper? Why would anyone touch a leper?
Well, Jesus did. As a matter of fact, Jesus made a point of doing it. Why? He did it so that we would have an example of what we should do. Jesus could have spoken just a word and the leper would have been healed. But Jesus did not do that. Instead Jesus touched him. We need to reach out and touch others in every way we can. For when we reach out and touch those in need, we grow in our spirit. God blesses such actions. The joy of the Lord flows into our very being and our spirits are lifted up. That is how Jesus uses His power, to help others. That is how we are to use His power through our lives.
Jesus has given us a great gift and the insight into how we are to use that gift. The gift of His power and its use is found in His Gospel. There we find the instructions on the wonderful privilege and responsibility we have of following in His footsteps and using His power, in His name, as He wants us to. But we are only able to fully receive, use and enjoy this gift if we will come to Jesus, seek His face in prayer, and seek to use His power and authority in order to help others who need Him.
God has called us to be His lights in this dark world. He has called us to be shining beacons of hope and life for those who are lost. We are blessed, indeed. We have the awesome power of the Gospel at our fingertips. The power of Christ is given us through the Holy Spirit as revealed in the Gospel. We have it. Let’s share it. Amen.