Thought for Today
Numbers 3:25 The responsibility of the sons of Gershon in the tent of meeting was to be the tabernacle, the tent with its covering, the screen for the entrance of the tent of meeting,
Joshua 2:19 If any of you go out of the doors of your house into the street, they shall be responsible for their own death, and we shall be innocent; but if a hand is laid upon any who are with you in the house, we shall bear the responsibility for their death.
Matthew 22:29 Jesus answered them, "You are wrong, because you know neither the scriptures nor the power of God.
Luke 4:36 They were all amazed and kept saying to one another, "What kind of utterance is this? For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and out they come!"
What is the proper relationship between power and responsibility? Do you subscribe to the Peter Parker Principle? “’With great power comes great responsibility’ is a proverb popularized by Spider-Man in Marvel comics, films, and related media. Introduced by Stan Lee, it originally appeared as a closing narration in the 1962 Amazing Fantasy #15, and was later attributed to Uncle Ben as advice to the young Peter Parker.” (en.wikipedia.org)? More specifically, as a Christian what is your proper correlation between power and responsibility? We can even drill down to ‘as a Christian in the U.S.A., what is your response to the issue?
Our ancestors-in-the-faith during the period of Numbers and Joshua lived in a theocracy. “Theocracy is a form of autocracy or oligarchy in which one or more deities are recognized as supreme ruling authorities, giving divine guidance to human intermediaries, with executive and legislative power, who manage the government's daily affairs.” (en.wikipedia.org) In their case, that deity was God. Moses and Joshua were part of the ruling authorities.
The political scenario in Jesus’ time was somewhat more complex. Jesus lived in a province of the Roman Empire. There was a civil ruling authority in Rome, led by an emperor. There was a civil ruling authority in Jerusalem, a representative of that emperor. However, much of the daily affairs of the province were under the control of the religious leadership, the High Priest and the Sanhedrin.
We live in the U.S.A., a constitutional republic. “A constitutional republic is a governing state where the chief executive and representatives are elected, and the rules are set down in a written constitution.” (simple.wikipedia.org) Our Constitution includes the Bill of Rights; and, the First Amendment of that Bill of Rights states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof...” (en.wikipedia.org) I strongly support the idea of keeping our civil government at arm’s length from our faith traditions.
Given all of the above, how are we to apply the Peter Parker Principle to our lives as Christians in the U.S.A.? What is our power? What are our responsibilities? First, our power as Christians anywhere in Christendom and beyond is our faith in Jesus as the Christ. The apostle Paul captures the power of that faith in “Ephesians 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God—” Our Christian faith has the power to realize our eternal salvation. Therefore, our faith has the power to transform our lives. Our faith has the power to allow us to become what our Creator God created us to be. We just need to remember the words of James, “2:26 For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is also dead.” Merely saying we have faith is not enough. Our lives must witness to that faith.
Thankfully, James’ words dovetail neatly into our responsibilities. Jesus reminded us, "Luke 10:27 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself." We capture that in our hymn, They’ll Know We Are Christians by Our Love.
As Christians in our nation, we just need to make sure that they do know we are Christians by our love, that the lives we lead reflect the faith we have. Of course, the Devil is in the details. We just need to remember and treat each other accordingly, always remembering that there are other Christians who understand those details differently. Our power and our responsibility is love, love for God and for each other.
Stay safe, always apply the rule of love to every issue, trust God,
Pastor Ray