Deeds and words of power
by Rev Dr Noel Due
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And all the crowd sought to touch him, for power came out from him and healed them all (Luke 6:19).
Read Luke 6:17-26
God reveals himself through Jesus, not only in his deeds but also in his words.
Here, we see a great crowd gathering because of the deeds. God had visited them through healing, and by releasing them from demonic spirits. The crowd was vast and had travelled a long way. News was spreading! Expectations were high. Jesus’ power (i.e. that of the Holy Spirit) was flowing freely.
And yet, the deeds are not enough in themselves.
The Bible gives examples of seemingly miraculous events carried out through powers other than God’s power. We might think of the magicians in Pharaoh’s court who could (for a time) keep pace with the wonders performed through Moses and Aaron. Or we might have in mind those who profess to have done great deeds of power but, in the end, are shown to be workers of iniquity (Matthew 7:21–23).
The crucial question is, by whose power? What is the nature of the authority behind the deed? Is it truly in keeping with the character of the kingdom of God?
Here we see a common pattern in the New Testament. The deeds of power offer the opportunity to explain the nature of the person who does the deeds. The crowd gathers initially because of the miraculous works. But Jesus does not let them stay focused on those. He teaches them about the meaning of the deeds. He explains what the kingdom of God is like.
That phrase, ‘the kingdom of God’, means simply ‘the reign and rule of God’. When Jesus says, ‘The kingdom of God is like …’, he is saying ‘The reign and rule of God is like this …’. In other words, ‘This is how God really is! He is not like you imagine him to be’.
That’s important because everyone wants a powerful God. We don’t want a weak God. We have ideas of what an all-powerful God should do or how he should act. Often, we carry deep resentments because we think God ought to have acted in a certain way but didn’t.
Here Jesus explains to the crowd the nature of the reign and rule of God by using a contrast. He speaks of those who are ‘blessed’ (Luke 6:20–23), and he compares those who are not (the ‘woes’ of Luke 6:24–26). And when we read those, we begin to understand that the reign and rule of God are not like our ideas of power and sovereignty. The blessings and the woes turn our expectations upside down.
Thank you, dear Heavenly Father, for revealing yourself to us in your Son Jesus. Thank you that his words explain his deeds and that your kingdom is not like our idea of power. And so, we pray today, ‘May your kingdom come, may your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven’. Amen.
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