Power!

The 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Today’s Readings: [Click here]

Everybody knows that we live in a world with a definite pecking order. We’ve got to kowtow to our parents… the boss… the teacher… the team captain or coach… the military brass, the bishop, any law enforcement officer and various others. Sometimes, people get us to do what they want just because they’re rich or famous—like a movie star, or politician, or sports icon. I guess we can sum up these kinds of social relations with a single word: Power.

Power is a funny thing. When you use it to manipulate or coerce people, it can be very tenuous. You may have seen the TV show, Prison Break. One character was a tough prison guard who got in trouble with the law and actually wound up incarcerated in the same jail that he previously guarded. Needless to say, his former power was completely gone—and then some! Everybody he ever stepped on was now out to get him.

Some people try to project an illusion of power by external things—like the car they drive or house they live in or clothes they wear. You’ve all heard the expression, “power clothes.” Last Sunday, I was looking at The New York Times website. This was the week they had their semi-annual men’s fashion edition. I had to laugh. One model was wearing a rather plain, lightweight, fall jacket. The price was $1,655. His shirt was $843, and his necktie—leather, no less—was $283. I wouldn’t pay those prices for clothes made out of gold! I guess I better get my power someplace else!

The dishonest manager in the gospel parable today used to have a lot of power, too—until he got caught and fired by his rich boss. But this guy was shrewd—and Jesus praises him for it. He used a couple of last-ditch maneuvers to make some key people like him. So instead of being completely backed into a corner and stripped of his power, now he’d have some allies and maybe some options for his future.

All of these examples of power—the kind of power that most people want but very few want to admit wanting!—might be called “aggrandized power.” This is the kind that gains its strength by taking power away from other people. In the context of friendships and relationships, aggrandized power is the driving force behind cliques, the A-list, the “in” crowd, the haves (as opposed to the have-nots). A person in pursuit of aggrandized power says, “I have power because you don’t have power, and I am threatened if you feel powerful.” Aggrandized power also works its way through our culture in many ways: sexism, racism, ageism, classism. You can only be an insider as long as you make someone else feel like an outsider. And, as we’ve seen in the examples I gave you, a person’s power fortunes can get reversed in the blink of an eye. So you can see that it’s kind of risky to base our lives on this kind of foundation.

Now, Jesus doesn’t praise the ousted supervisor because the man figured out another devious way to make a power grab. The parable is actually a bit more subtle. Jesus commends him because the man comes to realize that there’s another kind of power that’s much more durable and safer than aggrandized power.

This other kind of power might be called “inherent power.” This is the strength that comes from within us. It’s based on our faith, our actions, our treating other people the way we’d like to be treated ourselves. Inherent power doesn’t take anything away from others, but actually gives them something: support, encouragement, acknowledgement of their self-worth and lovability. People with inherent power truly want others to feel good about themselves. It’s very Christ-like. This kind of power doesn’t depend on any external factors such as people liking you or having to obey you, so there’s no need to struggle to assert yourself. And perhaps best of all, inherent power can’t be taken away from you, since it comes from you.

Think about the people you regularly come into contact with. Sometimes, no matter what you do, you walk away from a particular person feeling diminished or weakened or less confident than before. It could be an aunt who always compares you to your cousin, or a boss who can’t praise you without bringing up some little thing you did wrong, or even some friend who always manages to get in some dig. But then there are people who have a knack at making you feel better about yourself—supported, full of strength, uplifted: your grandfather who taught you how to fish or hunt… a math teacher who took the time to explain a difficult theorem to you… a boss who gently points out how you made a mistake, but who isn’t insulting when correcting you.

Jesus is a master at inherent power. Wow, he is God! He has all the power he wants in the whole universe. Yet he is kind and merciful and forgiving. He goes out of his way to build up the people who don’t have the aggrandized power that the world gives: the poor, the sick, the uneducated, the dirty, the suffering, the homeless, the outcasts. These are the ones who are considered powerful in the kingdom of God. He wants them to come to know that their power is inherent. It comes from within themselves, and it can’t be taken away. What an amazing discovery!

What about us? Jesus would no doubt be very happy if we gave some thought to our own concept of power—and if it’s of the kind that lords it over others, we probably should shift gears in our thinking. Isn’t it better to say I have power because I am a beloved child of God and am seeking to do his will by loving him and building up my neighbor—rather than thinking I’m powerful because I wear a crisply-ironed, $843 shirt. What do you want the foundation of your power to be?

Our psalm today says: The Lord raises up the lowly from the dust; from the dunghill he lifts up the poor to seat them with princes. I pray that’s the kind of power the Lord will bestow on all of us.