People Over Power--July 3, 2024

People Over Power--July 3, 2024

"Immediately aware that power had gone forth from him, Jesus turned about in the crowd and said, ‘Who touched my clothes?’ And his disciples said to him, ‘You see the crowd pressing in on you; how can you say, “Who touched me?”’ He looked all round to see who had done it. But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling, fell down before him, and told him the whole truth. He said to her, ‘Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.’"[Mark 5:30-34]

I guess I used to think that Jesus was protecting his power and got nervous when it seemed like it might have slipped out of his fingers.  I used to have a really hard time understanding why Jesus, who apparently was "immediately aware that power had gone forth from him," was so concerned to find out who touched him.  I suppose I heard his tone of voice as anxious, maybe even a bit threatened, like he was worried about losing power or insecure about who was taking it from him.  Maybe I had seen too many Superman comics where the red-caped hero gets a look of panic when he discovers that the villainous Lex Luthor has weaponized some green-glowing Kryptonite against him, and I heard the same kind of fear in Jesus' voice as you could see in a weakened Man of Steel, prone on the ground because someone had sapped his strength.  

But those are our ways of thinking about power, and the more I think about this scene, the more I am convinced that it's not about Jesus being afraid of losing his power and more about Jesus limiting the use of his power to ensure it is only used appropriately--for life and for well-being, rather than co-opted for rottenness or corrupt purposes.  It's a hallmark of insecure and corrupt humanity that we feel threatened at the idea of losing or limiting our power; we hoard it and guard it and do all sorts of nonsense to keep a tight grip on the mere idea of having power.  Jesus, on the other hand, is more interested in ensuring that power--including his own power!--is held in check and not able to be abused or to cause harm to others.  Jesus puts guardrails up on his own power, wanting to check that there is no collateral damage, no people harmed, by his walking through the crowd on the way to Jairus' house.  And apparently, Jesus would rather investigate possible misuses of his power in order to limit any possible abuse of that divine power, rather than to go around unchecked and reckless.  That is because of a crucial difference between Jesus and the logic of the world: Jesus is more interested in protecting people than his own power.

Let me say that again: Jesus is more interested in protecting, healing, and saving people than he is in safeguarding his own power.  It's evident here in this scene that many of us heard this past Sunday, as well as throughout the Gospels.  Here, Jesus stops the rush to Jairus' house to find out what happened when the woman who had been bleeding for twelve years touched him in the hopes of curing her hemorrhages.  But once he hears her story, you'll notice that not only is Jesus not upset, but he helps to protect this woman from any repercussions from the crowd who might have been upset--either that she touched someone else while she was unclean, or that she delayed the trip to help Jairus' sick daughter.  Jesus does not rescind the healing, nor does he chastise her for wanting to be healed.  He seems only concerned to make sure that the "power" he felt flow out from him was not used destructively or wickedly.  In other words, Jesus isn't worried about being seen as "weak" or "losing his power," but rather he just wants to make sure that there is no way anyone is abusing his divine power.

You see the same thing in other important moments in the Gospels.  In another few chapters in Mark's Gospel, for example, the disciples will get all bent out of shape that there is another person invoking Jesus' name and casting out demons through the power of Jesus' name.  When they bring their concern to Jesus (again, basically revealing that they are worried about holding onto Jesus' monopoly on power rather than sharing it), Jesus isn't upset at all. Instead he says, "Nobody who uses my name to bring life will soon after be cursing me--don't you worry, guys, whoever is not against us is for us." The conventional wisdom about maintaining a tight grip on power just goes right out the window, because, yet again, Jesus is more interested in people being set free from ailments or possession by evil than he is in bolstering his power.

Or in the scene during Jesus' arrest in the garden, when one of the disciples grabs a sword to defend Jesus and try and prevent the lynch-mob from taking him into custody, Jesus' response is again to choose to protect other people--even his would-be enemies--rather than consolidating his own power. "Do you think I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels?" he asks, pointing out that his vulnerability in the garden is a deliberate choice, not a lack of power on his part.  Jesus is just not interested in maintaining unchecked power.

And maybe most illustrative of all, when there comes a moment that two of Jesus' closest disciples (the ones you would think have the best shot at really understanding Jesus' agenda and teaching) are vying for the spots at Jesus' left and right hand as his future vice-presidents in glory, Jesus' response is not simply to deny their request, but to say that they have completely misunderstood how his kingdom works:  "You know that among the Gentiles those whom they recognize as their rulers lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them.  But it is not so among you; but whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many" (Mark 10:42-45).

All of this is to say that Jesus repeatedly makes the choice to limit or restrain his own power rather than to preserve it or maximize its potential.  And he always does this because Jesus' priority is always on helping people rather than being seen as "powerful."  And not only does he talk this way, but he models it, even in moments where his wondrous divine power is on display, like healing the bleeding woman.  He is more interested in making sure his power has not been abused than in going unchecked and recklessly through the world, leaving disaster in his wake.

We live in a time when power is often seen as an unquestionably good thing, always to be amassed, and never to be surrendered.  We live in a time when keeping checks and balances on power feels increasingly precarious or even pointless, and maybe it is tempting to just give up on any notion of restrained or self-limited power and just declare the whole world a never-ending game of King of the Hill.  But we should note that this is not Jesus' way. Jesus himself insists on limits to the exercise of his own power.  Jesus himself takes the time to make sure his power has not been abused.  And Jesus himself puts the priority on the well-being of people rather than the maintenance of his power.

I will be honest with you: the more time we spend in the company of Jesus, or even just letting his stories and teaching steep into us like tea in hot water, the more subversive he will make us, at least compared to the conventional wisdom of the day.  Jesus' concern for preserving the well-being of other people over protecting his own power will rub off on us, and we will become people who are more committed to compassion than being seen as "strong."  The rest of the world may shake their head in confusion or disapproval, but we won't care: we are learning from Jesus how to love people.

Lord Jesus, reorder our priorities in light of your love of people over power.