Today’s Gospel reading is Matthew 21:23-32
Beware the sin of pride. Jesus spent a lot of time talking about it. To me it is self evident that, for example, if someone thinks they are a prime example of a godly person, like one of the chief priests, they’re not. Tripping Jesus up was what they were trying to do in today’s Gospel reading. They were trying to be clever, but found out that Jesus was even cleverer – they became trapped in their own argument. It was definitely 1 – 0 to Jesus.
However, winning the argument was not really what it was about. Jesus could beat them at their own game, but it wasn’t a game that really interested him. The topic interested him though – the topic of power and responsibility. If you think about it, Jesus wasn’t against power. After all he wielded a lot of power himself in some ways – the power to heal the sick, drive out demons, rise from the dead – these are things which use more power than any of us have. As Christians, believing that Jesus was God’s Son, part of God himself, we have to recognize that he was in inherently an extremely powerful person.
But Jesus used his power in very specific ways. For instance, he didn’t use his power to ‘come down off the cross’ as he was ragged to do by the crowds. In fact, he didn’t use his power to avoid his terrible death at all. If you think back to the story of the temptation in the wilderness, you will remember that Jesus established, right at the beginning of his earthly ministry, that he was not going to use his power to serve his own ends. In other words, he didn’t want power for the sake of it.
When Jesus did use his power it was in the service of those who had no power – very sick people, people who no-one wanted to associate with, and children. There is an old saying that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. For Christians, power has to have a purpose and that purpose is to empower those who have no power. This can be done in many ways – education, the protection of the vulnerable, the enrichment of lives through art and music, making accessible that which is inaccessible, healing.
Very often we feel powerless, and we are probably a great deal less powerful than most. But we all have power, in one way or another, simply because we’re alive. How can we use our power as followers of Jesus? We can use our words to build up, not tear down. We can all consider others before ourselves. Even though we feel powerless, we can speak out about abuse of power when it affects us or others. We can look at our motives – when we do something are we trying to bolster our own egos like the chief priests or doing something from a genuine desire to help and make life better? Whose kingdom are we building – ours or God’s? In some ways I think people like ourselves have to be extra vigilant – when we have experienced powerlessness, suddenly having power can easily go to our heads and before we know it we’re trampling others underfoot in the same way that we have been downtrodden. We have to be vigilant and self-critical.
Let us reflect on the words from Philippians in today’s New Testament reading…:
Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,
who, though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God
as something to be exploited,
but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave,
being born in human likeness.
And being found in human form, he humbled himself
and became obedient to the point of death –
even death on a cross.
Therefore God also highly exalted him
and gave him the name that is above every name,
so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
Therefore, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed me, not only in my presence, but much more now in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
Amen
Rev’d Dr. Anne Morris
Vicar St. Oswald’s, Knuzden, Blackburn