Scene 2: You could hear the howling before they even boarded the bus. Shifting seats to make room for the woman with a little lad in a stroller, my sympathy soon switched to the toddler who was being completely ignored while the woman continued her cell-phone conversation, simply upping the volume to drown the shrieks. Maybe the youngster had been acting up and had already tested the limit of her patience and endurance. Or, perhaps he was hungry, hurt, upset, or throwing a temper tantrum as a growing kind of power struggle?
Scene 3: For the third time in twenty-four hours the same fibre-optic cable salesman turns up at the door at some inconvenient moment – always polite, but always insisting you Sign here or lose out! And for the third time you tell him you don’t have a TV and are not interested. When even words like harassment fail to penetrate that thick armour you find yourself engaged in a personal power struggle right on your own doorstep.
Power – power games can play a part in all kinds of everyday situations and relationships – politicians vying for votes are not the only ones who try to exert the power of persuasion. As partners, parents, teachers, pupils, employees or preachers maybe we have all tried to use our personal power, hopefully for the common good. It is not necessarily a bad thing, or why else would we end services with the prayer: Glory to God whose power working in us can do infinitely more that we can ask or imagine, glory to God from generation to generation, in the church and in Christ Jesus, forever and ever. Amen. This recognizes that the Holy Spit and love of Christ empowers us to do far more than we think we can, but knowing where that power comes from means how we use it should give glory to God, not just ourselves.
Jesus himself was tempted at least three times to abuse or misuse power to, firstly to satisfy his own burning appetite, next bring attention and glory to himself by pursuing military and political power; or lastly, prove to himself he could even escape death – the death he would eventually face in Jerusalem by throwing himself off the top of the Temple and relying on angels to rescue him. Put another way, instead of using power to serve God and the good of others, he was tempted to use it to control nature by turning stone into bread, take control of people by exerting temporal power to rule over them, and even try to control God by forcing God to intervene and save his life if he deliberately put it at risk just to put God to the test.
By way of background (and a mini-Bible Study), what we have here is a fascinating set of comparisons between Jesus resisting these temptations in the wilderness after 40 days of fasting, and the Israelites doing the opposite during their 40 years of wandering in the wilderness, when they too had been hungry but dissatisfied with God’s provision of manna from heaven, when they wished they could have a king like the pharaoh whose regime God had rescued them from, then when they had sunk into idolatry worshipping a golden calf, if not the devil. You will find these parallels in Deuteronomy as Moses reminds and chastises folk for their ingratitude towards God, telling them that the secret to life is to love God with all their heart, soul, mind and strength. That’s exactly how Jesus resisted temptation, and what he went on to preach, along with the need to love our neighbour as self.
Now back to us and our situations which may not seem to divide so neatly into serving God or Satan, good or bad, but sit in the grey zone where our choices often seem between good and better, or bad and worse. How do we negotiate our way through the kinds of mundane decisions or moral dilemmas we face? Firstly, remember we do have the power to choose one course of action over another, the power to react to opportunities, and even to provocation in a positive or negative manner. Often when we feel boxed into a corner or have managed to paint ourselves into one, we still have the power to walk over the wet paint, even if it leaves a mess that we need to clean up. Accepting that we always have the power to choose how we respond, is major and for me one of the greatest gifts God gives us – the power to turn to Christ, to repent, turn around then try again. Believe me I have found this process can certainly help turn things around.
Last Scene: – Our sparring matches were the stuff of legend, no sly sniping in backrooms but full on vocal attack as we both vehemently represented the interests of our companies, often viewing them in opposition to each other rather than our common goal, the common good. After yet another shouting match just before lunch, I was so furious that I stormed off to see a priest to pour out my troubles. After my tirade, she asked if I was ready to make confession. Was she crazy? She had obviously failed to get the gist of my rant – surely it was the other person who should be repenting. But politeness got the better of me, so reluctantly I relented and gave in to a quick summary confession using the briefer of the two brief Rites of Reconciliation in the BAS. Calmer at least, I decided for everyone’s sake, and my own peace of mind to take the moral high-ground and apologise, realizing that if I could not change the other person’s attitude I had the power to change my own – though no easy task. Determined to get this particular devil off my back, I went straight to his office only to be greeted by funny looks from his team for daring to stray in enemy territory, and was told by his secretary that he had gone to my office. Better still, that would be home turf, except I was greeted by funny looks there too. OK, so I was being fired, fair enough – I guess I asked for it. But no, not fired – the other manager was just putting the finishing touches to his handiwork having filled my office with flowers – and I mean filled! Anyone with allergies would have fainted on the spot – I almost did too. True story! And that was the start of a wonderful working relationship that achieved far more than either of us or our teams could have ever managed alone.
I’m not guaranteeing you will get flowers – the shops may have sold out being Valentine’s Day, but Lent is the perfect time to do some soul-searching and put our own houses in order – if putting the past in its place by turning to Christ for help if necessary. That is what repentancemeans – to turn around, to turn back to Christ and like Jesus, to put our God-given power to good use, not fritter it away in power struggles, or holding on to hurts and grudges. Not everyone would choose to make confession the way I described, but anyone can. However, we do it – through private prayer, apology, writing a letter to God, Paul assures us that Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved – even saved from ourselves sometimes.