May 14, 2023
St. John’s United Church of Christ, Union, Illinois
Acts 4:1-11; John 14:8-24[1]
Have you ever been challenged to
defend yourself, what you believe, what you have done, or what you have said? It
can come as a shock, startling us into defensiveness. Sometimes we know what to
say, but when we’re caught off-guard, we often draw a blank. How could the
other person not understand things the way I do? How could my intentions not be
clear?
A musician I know, Ron Berg, once
wrote:
Why do you ask? Must I explain?
Is it wrong to believe; is my faith a crime?
Where will it end? Do you understand?
I am just being me, with God by my side.[2]
In the scripture passages for today,
Peter is challenged by the high priests of Israel, and Jesus is challenged by
Philip. Peter has healed a man, and the priests are threatened. They are the
ones who are supposed to hold the power. People are supposed to come to the
temple to be healed. But this Peter person has side-stepped all of that. “Who
do you think you are?” they seem to ask. “By what power or by what name did you
do this?” (v. 7) We’re the authorities here, and we didn’t give you
authorization. Peter answers, “I have done a good thing! This man has been
healed by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth.” But the priests don’t see it
that way. Jesus and his followers are a threat to their power.
Philip challenges Jesus in a
similar way. He seems to ask, “Where does your power come from? If it is from
God, then show us God and we’ll believe.” Jesus answers, “Have I been with you
all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me?” (v. 9) “The words that I
say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his
works.” (v. 10) Power, real power, comes from God.
Power is often measured by control
over others. It is control based on money, fear, and ignorance. Peter and Jesus
have a different understanding of power. Power is love, healing, truth-telling,
moral clarity, and love of God above all else. Power belongs to God alone, and
we are merely the instruments of God’s power.
Most of us do not truly understand
the power of God that resides in us. Jesus understood. He said, “I am in the
Father and the Father is in me.” (v. 11) Philip did not understand, even though
Jesus did many things to show him the power of God within him. Peter didn’t get
it then, either. It was only after the death and resurrection of Jesus, after
the Pentecost, when Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit, that he understood
the power that was within him.
If Peter and Philip didn’t get it,
and they walked around with the living, breathing, Jesus, it’s no wonder we
struggle too. But the power is there. The power of God is within each of us.
And if we believe and trust in God, that power will be revealed. Jesus said,
“Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that
I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the
Father.” (v. 12) By the power of God, Peter stood up to the powerful and
brought healing. What works of love, justice, and peace might we accomplish if we
believe in the power of God, and trust God to use us well?
Now, we can’t expect to become
miracle workers like Jesus. Faith healers that put on a show for the TV cameras
are doing just that – putting on a show. No one has ever been able to move a
mountain just by having faith and praying for it to move. The thunderstorm that
woke my children in the night didn’t stop when I said “Peace, be still,” and
I’m an ordained minister! However, by connecting to God, praying for God to
increase my courage and strength, I have been able to calm the storm in myself,
and help others move metaphorical mountains. With the help of God, I have
helped others to connect to the love and grace of God in moments of joy and
pain. And when others have shown their love and care for me in my time of need,
I too have experienced the power of God’s love.
The greatest power Jesus possessed
was love. As he nears the end of his earthly ministry, Jesus makes plain to the
disciples the most important aspect of his mission: “I give you a new
commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also
should love one another.”[3]
This commandment, so simple and yet so hard at times to follow. This is the
core of all the teaching, the motivation for all the miracles, the source of
the Savior’s power.
The Gospel of John was written in a
time when the empire of Rome dominated the world of this budding faith, when
violence ruled, and rebels might have raised a call to arms. In a striking
contrast, the Gospel makes a different claim about power. Real power, the power
to transform lives and relationships, is the power of God’s love, love that
endured the cross, and even death, and will not abandon the disciples. As Jesus
prepares to leave them, his parting message is that love abides. “They who have
my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will
be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them” (v. 21).
If this were simply the love of
greeting cards and romance movies, the disciples would have been lost. This was
not sunshine and roses but the lived reality of Jesus, a person they knew from
Nazareth, who looked and talked like them, and lived as one of them. Revealed
in that life of healing the sick, feeding the hungry, touching the lepers, and
treating each person with compassion, was the powerful love of God. In
challenging the ethics of legal scholars, and lifting up the value of each
person, even sinners, even outcasts, Jesus made the powerful claim that each
one of them, and each one of us, is worthy of love, respect, and peace.
In the command to love one
another, to love our neighbor, to love God, is the call to recognize the image
of God that lives in every other. Love requires that we see them, those people,
the “other” as people whom God also loves and wants us to love. It is not a
love that is hierarchical, superior, or condescending but mutual, understood in
serving one another, sharing in common what is needed for life to thrive. Jesus
poured water into a basin and washed the disciples’ feet, telling them, “If I,
your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one
another’s feet.”[4] As
the early church was formed, “All who believed were together and had all things
in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the
proceeds to all, as any had need.”[5]
With love as the source and rule of life, the Christian community became known
for their love.
My friends, you may not have
magical healing powers, but you are connected to the power of God. Jesus said,
“If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (v. 15). Love God, and love
your neighbor as yourself. Love one another as I have loved you. Ideas that
seem so simple, and yet require of us all our heart and mind and strength. But
if you love Jesus, if you love God, the Spirit of God abides with you.
In every act of compassion, in
every work of kindness, we encounter the power of God. In every age, sharing what we have with others as they have need,
listening as the broken-hearted pour out their grief, challenging the power of
those who would use violence and hatred to dominate others, we carry on the
mission of Jesus to reveal the powerful love of God to the world. Amen.
[1] The
scripture quotations contained herein are from the New Revised Standard
Version Bible, copyright © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of
the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
[2] “A
Question of Faith” by MADD Camp 1984 © 1984 Ron Berg.
[3]
John 13:34.
[4]
John 13:14.
[5]
Acts 2:44-45.
No comments:
Post a Comment