Power
Living in the D.C. area for five
years now has made me more aware of power—the way it is used well and the way
it is sometimes not used well or even abused. Pontius Pilate is a person who
had a great deal of power. He is thrust into a difficult situation as the Jewish
leaders ask him to sentence Jesus to death. They are convinced Jesus has
blasphemed God by calling himself the Son of God.
Pilate goes into Jesus and asks
Jesus, “Where are you from?” When Jesus does not answer, Pilate asserts his
authority making clear he has the power to release Jesus or to crucify him.
Jesus answered him, “You would have no power over me unless it had been given
you from above.”
Though Jesus did suffer under a
religious and political system that was seemingly spinning out of control, let
us be clear: Jesus was not a victim. Jesus does not have his life taken from
him by the power of another. He never stops being the Lord of the universe who
is always in control. What we see is remarkable power and self-control in Jesus
who chooses to willingly give his life as a ransom for many (Mark 10:46). I
think of his words from John 10:14-15, 18.
I am the good
shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I
know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep…. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have
power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again. I have received
this command from my Father.
As
we prepare to begin Holy Week and walk with Jesus all the way to the cross, let
us be amazed by his love and his sacrifice. Let us be filled with gratitude for
the way he took our sin on himself that we might be dead to sin and alive to
God. Let us wonder at the God of the universe exercising his unlimited power
and authority to do for us what we could not do for ourselves. And let us confess
any ways that we are misusing power and ask God to make us the kind of people
who use any power God has given us to love, to bless, to heal.
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