Ascension of our Lord May 21, 2023
Fr. Alexander Albert St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette
What would you do with more power? Make your own life easier? Get even with some people? Fix some local problems? What would you do with all the power? Solve world hunger? Cure diseases? Save the environment? Change laws? If I had the power to make one law that couldn’t be reversed, I’d probably make it illegal for anyone to own a smartphone or equivalent device under the age of 16… maybe even 25.
Now, as great as that would be, it’s not going to happen and it’s not really the point of the question. Perhaps I should rephrase it. What is the right thing for someone to do if they have all the power they could want? To quote that overused and now outdated phrase: what would Jesus do? Unlike most of the times that people ask that question, we actually do have an answer. We know exactly what Jesus did.
He tells us outright in the gospel, “all power in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” And what does he doe with it? He doesn’t create a new government. He doesn’t end world hunger. He doesn’t even tell a whole lot of people about it. No victory rallies or celebratory billboards. He gives one single order and then ascends into heaven. What is that order? Make disciples.
Atheists and anti-Christians have challenged this again and again. If our God, our savior is so all-powerful, why is there so much evil in the world? Either Jesus is lying about having all the power or he’s evil for not using it to solve the obvious problems all around us. So they think, at least. This simple either-or argument is false because they don’t stop to consider that maybe the problem isn’t with Jesus, but with their own understanding. Maybe the problem isn’t that Jesus fails to use his power but that we simply don’t understand what real power is for.
That’s why this single command is so important. Not only is it a clear mission statement for all Christians, it is a profound answer to the question, “what is power for?” It’s not for control or comfort or making ourselves look good. Power is there for freedom.
All the power in the universe and beyond and what is the one thing Jesus uses it for? To make disciples. This is not some cult leader megalomania. Jesus isn’t trying to brainwash people or control their behavior. He wants them to be disciples because his disciples, and only his disciples have true freedom. Freedom from sin, freedom for love.
Simply passing a law or using force to make people act a certain way isn’t freeing. It should be obvious that laws and punishment are necessary in this world. It should be equally obvious that they wouldn’t be necessary if everyone was free from sin. God does have the power to make laws – He created the laws of the universe, the laws of the Jews, the laws of the Church. God does have the power to punish. He’s done it in the past and will do it once and for all in the end. But all of that is nothing compared to the power revealed when a rational, free human being chooses to love and follow God for all eternity.
World wars, vast riches, and clever negotiations can gain political dominion over countries and even the whole earth, but they can never grant the joy of eternal life. Nuclear fission can light up a city or wipe it off the map, but it can never remove addiction to sin. Nuclear fusion creates stars, but it can never make a soul choose to love.
This hints at the whole paradox that God’s power is most clear when he seems most powerless: on the cross. God deliberately hides and holds back his ineffable glory and power precisely to prove to us what matters most: our choice to love. By even creating something with free will, God chose to “limit” himself. He “constrains” himself to respect the choices of someone other than himself. He not only allows them the power to choose, he then makes those choices what he most cares about.
You understand that God doesn’t need us, right?. He doesn’t have self-esteem problems that we solve by glorifying him. He doesn’t struggle with a loneliness that only our love can solve. Our choices don’t have to matter to God. He could very well override our choices and make those choices line up how he wants. A lot of people would that forcing people to make certain decisions would be perfect proof of God’s “power.”
But this moment, this revelation that Jesus does in fact have all power in heaven and on earth… this choice to use that power in service to our freedom is the real proof of real power. Jesus is saying “I have real power and to prove it, I’m asking you to spend your lives helping people to freely make the right choices.”
That’s what “making disciples” means. It’s not about registration numbers, saying the right words, or checking the boxes. It is about persuading, encouraging, enabling, and liberating people enough for them to genuinely and fully accept the truth, live that truth, and make that truth complete by their love. All of the practical details of running the Church – registrations, policies, public relations – do of course matter. Baptism is a necessary part of becoming a disciple. Learning what Jesus taught is a necessary part of being a disciple. But if these things remain external, coerced, or detached from real discipleship, their power is incomplete.
So, back to my first question: what would you do with more power? To answer that, you have only to look at what you already do with the power you have. We know what we’re supposed to do with it. Make disciples. But if we aren’t already doing that, we are mistaken in thinking we’d do any better with more power.
And don’t think we have no power now. Don’t make the mistake of thinking money and political influence are real power. Politicians and corporations might be able to manipulate our passions, to shame and frighten people into acting a certain way. But they cannot create true freedom of the will, they cannot empower authentic choices to love.
Yet, even the weakest among us can do that. Every conscious moment of your life does have the power to help with that. How? Jesus is with us always and he has all the power. That power is what we call grace. You have only to use it. Use that grace by acting with love in every choice. Whether passing laws, creating industry, preaching to pagans, correcting errors, changing diapers, listening to a friend, or in hidden acts of prayer and sacrifice in our most pathetic of moments, we can have Jesus – and his infinite power – with us. So, get to it! Go, make disciples, starting with yourself.
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