The Source of Power

The Word is first...

Luke 5:17 (NIV)

¹⁷ One day as he was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law, who had come from every village of Galilee and from Judea and Jerusalem, were sitting there. And the power of the Lord was present for him to heal the sick.

The Holy Bible : New International Version. electronic ed. Grand Rapids : Zondervan, 1996, c1984

We open this verse with another testimony to the power of Christ to draw people to him. In previous verses we saw the healing power of Christ and we explored how throngs of people came to listen to him and to be healed. We also read how Jesus often withdrew to lonely places where he would pray. In my exploration of those verses, I posited that one of the purposes of his prayers was to be refreshed and strengthened. I believe that the study verse today explains a key concept to the necessity for frequent solitude and prayer.

Today's verse opens with Jesus doing something he frequently engaged in; teaching. "One day as he was teaching" seems like such an incidental statement as to bely the importance of what it signifies. The Son of God came to earth as a man and instead of parading around soaking up the praises of his people, he sat and taught. This indicates, to me, that he was not interested in mindless obedience but rather that he earnestly worked to help people understand God's word and will. He took the written Word which had become the 'property' of the religious professionals and opened it up in ways that spoke to the common man. He used the parable in a masterful way to reveal things of Heaven to a people who were desperately in need; who ARE desperately in need.

Nevertheless, on this particular day as he was teaching, "Pharisees and teachers of the law, who had come from every village of Galilee and from Judea and Jerusalem, were sitting there." What an incredible assemblage of scholars and lawyers this must have been! They had heard of him and had come from miles around to hear for themselves, the words of this man. Of course, this was no small feat in itself for travel was neither easy nor pleasant in those days; to the contrary, it was arduous and dirty. Yet they had come and they had assembled that they might hear from his lips what they had only heard as hearsay to this point. I can imagine that he expounded 'The Law' for the Pharisees and amazed them that such a 'common man' would have such a profound understanding of God's word. In this way, he revealed to them his divinity. Yet, on what he was teaching that day, Scripture is silent and we are left not with a revelation based on what he taught but rather insight into who he is.

Consider how this passage progresses to "And the power of the Lord was present for him to heal the sick." As I read this single verse, I am struck by three portrayals of the person of Jesus; teacher, celebrity and instrument. And it is the last characteristic, that of an instrument, that I seize upon as the most important component of this verse and a critical attribute of the character of Jesus the Christ.

Jesus, the Son of God became as nothing to become the Son of Man that he could live among us as an instrument of God. I believe that Christ laid aside his diety and with it all the divine power that is attendant to being the Son of God. I believe that he walked the earth just as we do and that of himself he had no more inherent power than you.

But what he had was the most profound faith ever to grace this planet. And as a result of this extravagant faith he was a vessel for The Holy Spirit such as had never been seen before. It is from the indwelling Holy Spirit that the power of God was unleashed through the instrument of Jesus. Jesus was the physical manifestation of Christ the Son and The Spirit is the earthly manifestation of God's power. The source of Jesus' power to heal was not Jesus himself but rather the Spirit of God that lived within him. The source of power is God the Father. The miracles he wrought while alive were the fruit of the deepest most intimate relationship that man can have with God. And that relationship was nurtured and developed in the lonely places and through prayer.

Now I accept that this may be an inflammatory assertion and I admit that I do not fully understand this. But I write under the direction and leading of The Spirit and offer this to you with the expectation that in the spirit of Romans 12:2 and 1 John 4:1 you will 'test' my writing and that in the spirit of 2 Timothy 3:16 you will offer me rebuke or correction as appropriate. With that in mind I offer these three points for your consideration.

We are made in the image of God (Gen 1:27). All men and women as descendents of Adam and Eve then must inherent some qualities that reflect the Lord our God. I believe the manner in which we reflect the image of God is a spiritual not physical one. I believe it is a matter of capacity or potential to love and to be in relationship that is the true reflection of the image of God. Insomuch as Jesus was fully man, he too was formed in the image of God. He is the model for us to emulate. He is the standard to which we are to strive. Therefore, I believe that each of us has the same capacity to love as Jesus loves. I believe that each of us can achieve a significant degree of the relationship the Jesus had with God the Father through study, meditation and prayer. We were made for the garden and it was to the garden that Jesus went to strengthen his relationship with God. If we live our lives as Jesus lived, setting the will of God ahead of our own, often withdrawing to lonely places and living lives of constant prayer, that potential may be realized.

We are temples of the living God and we were made for relationship with God. Adam was created to walk with God in the garden. I believe that Jesus was the same in this respect; made for relationship. Further, Jesus was a willing vessel for the Holy Spirit and we have the same capacity. 1 Cor 6:19 teaches us that our 'body is a temple of the Holy Spirit.' I believe it is the same Holy Spirit that inhabited Jesus and it is the same Holy Spirit by which the miracles he performed were accomplished. That's why today's study verse says "the power of the Lord was present for him to heal the sick." Further, I believe that it was the total yieldedness of Jesus to God that enabled The Spirit to do such amazing things; things we believe we cannot do. But that flies in the face of Christ's own words in John 14:12 where Jesus said "I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than therese, because I am going to the Father." I believe that at the point where we achieve the same measure of yieldedness, The Spirit will bloom inside of us and come bursting forth in ways that amaze and give testimony to the power of God. I believe that Eph 4:24 speaks to this very matter and that it is by that depth of relationship with God that we achieve our potential as having been created in the image of God. Please do not misunderstand me. I am not asserting that we in any way can rival Jesus but rather that we can become that which he modeled for us. We cannot become Jesus nor can we become the Christ, but what we can become is a totally selfless instrument for the will of God.

We are meant to be instruments for the will of God. I believe we have been placed on the earth to praise God through thought, word and deed. There is no better way for us to live out this charge than to be the hands and feet of God in the same way that Jesus lived.

As for praising God through our thoughts, consider Philippians 4:8 where it is written "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable -- if anything is excellent or praiseworthy -- think about such things." This is the charge upon our lives to give our thoughts over to the thoughts of God. Romans 12:2 challenges us to 'conform no longer to the patterns of the world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.' What could this possibly mean other than to praise God by the surrender of our minds to him?

As for praising God through our words, consider Col 3:17 "And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him." We are charged in Col 3:8 to "rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips." It is through these efforts that we may then praise God through our words.

As for praising God through our deeds, consider James 1:22 "Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says." And Jesus himself said in John 13:35 "By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you lvoe one another." This is not in thought nor in word but in every action to which we commit. In this way, we praise God through our deeds or actions.

Brothers and sisters, Jesus came to pay the price for our sins and to show us what living in God and for God can do in our world. Jesus was not the source of the power of the miracles which he performed, God is the source of power and by the Holy Spirit reaches into our lives as well. We need only to live for him as Jesus did to see the truth of this matter in our own lives.

In His Grip,

Carl