The Hammer & The Power

My favorite superhero is Thor. Not just because he is easy to look at, but I love the idea of being worthy to lift the hammer. The hammer contains power, but in order to lift it, to weild that power, you have to be deemed worthy.

I wonder if the world operated that way how it would look. Power seems to be given, not on merit of being worthy of it, but by extremely subjective measures. You have money, you have power. So where does that leave the poor? You have status, you have power. But where does that leave the working class? You have influence (good or bad), you have power. Where does that leave the voiceless and the hurting?

Power is a commodity and it is something everyone desires whether we will openly admit that or not. The power to make a difference, the power to get ahead in life, the power to be the boss, the power to be in control and in charge, the power to chart your own course. The power to do as you please.

Reading through scripture it seems to me that the desire for power is the root of all sin.

Go to the garden, the familiar story of Adam and Eve. They had all the power but the temptation was that there was even more, the power to know what God knew. So they sought that power and ate that apple and changed the trajectory of mankind forever. Continue through scripture. Samson, King Saul, King David, the Israelites, the Pharisees and Sadducees... story after story of people who wanted power and would do anything to get it.

Timothy tells us the love of money is the root of all evil. Far be it from me to rewrite scripture but I can see the underlying issue there... more money, more power.

Why do men want to not see women in the pulpit? It comes back to power. Why is equality still a pipe dream for people of color? I comes back to power. Why can't the two sides of the aisle come together to make good policy? Neither side wants to give up power. Why won't the NRA have discussions about gun control? They don't want to lose power.

It is our never ending search for power that has ultimately scarred mankind.

Jesus tells us the first shall be last and the last shall be first. He understood the danger of living a life seeking power. Notice what Jesus did and said. Throughout the Gospels he makes numerous reference to laying down our life, turning the other cheek, washing feet, being a servant... all ways that we concede our power. He even went as far as to tell us the only way to inherit the Kingdom of God was to give up power, as he ultimately did on the cross.

What if we lived in a society that instead of seeking power, we sought humility? Instead of thinking we need to control things, we decided to offer that control to others? Instead of giving power to those with the money or the status, we worked to empower the poor and needy? What would that be like? It would be the Kingdom of God being established and lived out. It would be a world where we fought not to be heard, but to listen. It would be living exactly as Jesus instructed us to.