by Michael J. Gorman and Eric W. Logan
Power: We affirm that God’s love is supremely manifested in God’s Son, who did not exploit power but arrived in a humble manger and died a sacrificial death on the Cross for our salvation. We reject the accumulation and consolidation of political power as a clear abuse of democratic norms as well as a violation of the biblical call to serve rather than lord it over others. We commit to holding our political leaders accountable and practicing leadership in the Church that submits itself to transparency and accountability.
(“Christ Alone: A Call to Faithful Resistance,” affirmation # 2).
What is Power?
Power is a challenging word to define. A thesaurus would supply related words along a spectrum, ranging from influence on one end of the spectrum to sway somewhere in the middle to domination or control on the other end. In a thesaurus we will also find words such as strength and might. We might also find words like ability and competence and even right and authority.
Power, despite the challenge of defining it, is deceptively attractive and compelling. It may spring from our innate perceived physical, emotional, and intellectual need or desire to control our environment. Being in the image of God, we are compelled to create, form, and manage. In its simplest form, this impulse is not evil. But when overtaken by greed or fear, it will turn into a form that seeks to override others and their needs and subjugate them to the whims and will of our desires. We see this tendency in our personal relationships, in our communities, and therefore in our politics. It is an insidious pull away from the power exemplified in Christ and expected of us who are called by His name.
What neither the thesaurus nor normal human experience will offer us concerning power is the word love or service or humility or vulnerability. Yet that is precisely the sort of vocabulary—and the sort of power—that comes to us in Jesus Christ, specifically Jesus Christ as the crucified one.
Jesus-Shaped Power
Jesus himself taught us about this kind of power and exemplified it—while naming the abusive power of domination in the political structures of his day among the “gentiles” (Romans) occupying his land. When Jesus’ disciples James and John, the sons of Zebedee, approached Jesus to ask him to sit at his right and his left hand in glory, Jesus responded in part with these famous words:
“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; instead, 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)
To “lord it over” people is to use power to control, subject, or dominate them rather than using it for their good. Jesus is the Lord who serves, the antithesis of tyrants and even many ordinary rulers then and now.
The apostle Paul takes up this theme of self-giving service in his letter to the Philippian Christians, as he describes their life together, a life that is both in Christ and like Christ:
If, then, there is any comfort in Christ, any consolation from love, any partnership in the Spirit, any tender affection and sympathy, make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or empty conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests but to the interests of others. Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,
who, though he existed in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God
as something to be grasped,
but emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave,
assuming human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a human,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to the point of death—
even death on a cross. (Philippians 2:1–11)
This sort of power, the power of incarnation and even death for others, is called kenosis. This word comes from the Greek verb kenoō in the phrase “emptied himself.” Ironically, however, this phrase is not about Jesus becoming less by losing some of his divine abilities or prerogatives. Rather, it is about his act of self-giving love. It is about service as true power.
Jesus-Shaped Practices in an Age of Domination
We cannot expect secular authorities to imitate Jesus. But there are things Christians should and should not do personally and politically in light of Jesus’ teachings.
First, Christians must avoid admiring, identifying with, or promoting any form of personal or political power that contradicts the instructions and examples we find in Jesus. Unfortunately, however, in the current political climate in the United States, many people who self-identify as Christians also identify with manifestations of power that are clearly antithetical to Jesus’ teaching and example. There are probably several different reasons for this admiration of such power, but the results are the same—sidelining Jesus as if he is irrelevant to Christian perspectives on politics and supporting people and policies that specialize in power understood as might and even domination.
Second, although Christians cannot hold politicians to Christian standards per se, they know that such standards are ultimately good and true. Thus, they can speak truth to power from within their Christian worldview, shaped by Jesus as revealed in Scripture and followed in the Christian tradition at its best. This sort of Christian practice in the face of the abuse of power has a long history in the Christian church from the apostles to the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King and beyond.
Third, Christians can attempt to hold politicians to account when they practice forms of power that betray their own democratic commitment to public service and to the common good. When politicians—whether “conservative” or “liberal”—use their position and power to benefit themselves (versus all the people), the rich (versus the poor), the majority race (versus minorities) while neglecting others in need of basic human essentials, then Christians can and indeed must speak and act. We must do so out of love and, in fact, as an exercise of power—the power of Christ, the power of the cross. Speaking may involve critique–speaking truth to power. But it may also involve more specific forms of action.
Finally, then, in countries where power is derived from and given to the people (at least in principle), Christians have the privilege and responsibility of using that power in ways that benefit others (the common good), especially the weak and marginalized, for Scripture tells us time and again about God’s special concern for the poor, the widow, the orphan, and the immigrant.
Conclusion: Choices Empowered by Christ’s Power
“How shall we then live?” Are we willing, enabled by the power of Christ himself, to offer ourselves as Christ did for the benefit of others? Are we willing to make personal, communal, and political choices within our contexts that look more like faith and less like fear? Are we willing to “die to self” for the sake of His kingdom? Admittedly, these are difficult choices for most of us, bathed in the socialization and expectation of “me first” and always “look out for number 1”—both personally and politically. However, real power and joy are found in the fullness of Christ’s teaching to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength” and . . . to “Love your neighbor as yourself” for “There is no commandment [or power] greater than these.”
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Michael J. Gorman, a Methodist, holds the Raymond E. Brown Chair in Biblical Studies and Theology at St. Mary’s Seminary & University in Baltimore. He is the author of twenty books.
Eric W. Logan is a lay leader in the Free Methodist Church USA, currently serving as Chair of the denomination’s national Board of Administration.
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