The Power of Love Taught and Lived Out by Jesus

Jesus was not spared the temptation to become all-powerful. 

Tim Alberta starts his thought-provoking book The Kingdom, The Power, and the Glory, by quoting the following words recorded in Luke 4:5-8 (KJ21):

And the devil, taking Him up into a high mountain, showed unto Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.

And the devil said unto Him, “All this power will I give Thee, and the glory of them: for this has been delivered unto me, and to whomsoever I will, I give it. If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine.”

And Jesus answered and said unto him, ‘Get thee behind me, Satan! For it is written: “Thou shall worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve.’”

These words should not be interpreted as Jesus ruling out the exercise of power. He only rejected the type of power that Satan offered to him. At the end of this Musing, you will read about the type of “power” that Jesus taught and lived out. But it will take us a while to get there. I start by reflecting on the type of “power” that is rampant in our tribalistic culture. 

EXERCISING POWER THAT BUILDS ON FEAR AND HATRED

The staggering contemporary problem that leads to a pernicious view of the use of power is “tribalism”; an us-versus-them mentality holding to the belief that “me and my People” (e.g., my church or religious denomination; my political party; my circle of friends) have captured the “complete truth” about any given contentious issue, and the beliefs of “those other folks” about the issue (e.g., that other church or denomination, that other political party, that other group of friends) are “all wrong.”

This untenable view becomes particularly pernicious when an unwarranted extrapolation is made: Not only are those other folks all wrong; they are evil and need to be demonized. And the best way to start demonizing them is to instill “fear” of them in the minds of all who disagree with them about the given issue.

This problem is especially rampant in the political realm. As Tim Alberta reports, quoting Ralph Reed, instilling fear is the “most valuable tactic” for winning elections, which is all-important (p. 193). And a major reason why instilling fear can win elections is that it takes money to win elections, and “if the goal is bringing in money, you have to scare them” (Tim Alberta quoting Cal Thomas, p. 210). 

And the ultimate purpose of “scaring” those with deep financial pockets is to get them to “hate” those they now “fear” because “wrath is a business model … hating enemies is far more powerful – at least in the immediate sense – than loving them” (p. 229).

In summary, the practices of instilling fear of those who hold to differing political views and fomenting hatred of them can be viewed as exerting a pernicious form of “power” over those with whom you have strong disagreements.

CHRISTIANS SUCCUMBING TO FORMS OF POWER THAT CALL FOR “DOMINATION” 

Tim Altena’s book is replete with heart-breaking examples of Christian church leaders teaching their parishioners that “real power” consists of “dominating” other people. One such example is described by Altena relative to Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia.

Even at a place like Liberty … politicians saw the pointlessness in talking about servanthood, about humility, about unity and peace and love for neighbor. The market for such a message had long since disappeared. The demand was for domination, and Republicans like Trump and DeSantis were happy to supply it. Their appeal to evangelicals had everything to do with acting like champions and nothing to do with acting like Christ (p. 422).

As the reader will eventually see, the view of “power” as exercising “domination” stands in sharp contrast with the type of power that Jesus taught and lived by. 

A GOOD “END” DOES NOT JUSTIFY AN EVIL “MEANS”

In a local face-to-face conversation that I hosted involving four Christians who were supporters of Donald Trump and four Christians who were not, no one expressed support for the “means” that Trump has used to accomplish the “ends” that he sought to accomplish. Everyone acknowledged that his penchant for lying and his politics of grievance and retribution toward those who disagree with him are antithetical to the teachings of the Christian faith.

But the Trump supporters were willing to overlook these prominent flaws because they perceived that these “evil means” accomplished some “good ends” (e.g., the overturning of Roe Vs, Wade and the ending of “abortion on demand”). 

This local experience fits well with assertion by Tim Alberta that “politics is about the ends, not the means,” and “since the ends are about power – the power to legislate, the power to investigate, the power to accumulate more power – the means are inherently defensible, even if they are, by any other measure, utterly indefensible” (p. 196). 

But the insurmountable problem is that the Bible does not teach that a “good end” (from a Christian perspective) ever justifies an “evil mean” (from a Christian perspective). Consider Romans 12:21: “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (emphasis mine). This exhortation seems outrageously unrealistic. But that is the unambiguous biblical teaching. 

STARTING WITH CHRISTIAN VALUES

Three words stand out in the above descriptions of how tribalists, especially during political discourse, seek to exert power: By instilling “fear” of and “hatred” toward those who disagree with them, and by seeking to “dominate.” But I find nothing in the biblical record that calls for expressing these “values.”

Consider first the teaching in 1 John 4:18: “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.” As we will soon see, the primary word in what Jesus taught and how he lived was “love,” which precludes a focus on instilling “fear” of and hatred toward those who disagree with you.

And there is also nothing in what Jesus taught and how he lived that lends credence to the idea that exerting “power” means to “dominate others.” 

The lesson to be gleaned from rejecting a focus on these three words is that in any area of discourse, the place to start is to be sure that what you have to say is grounded in your understanding of “Christian values,” which may differ radically from the “values” embraced by the clear majority of those you are engaging.

Therefore, those of us who aspire to be “followers of Jesus” must pay close attention to the “values” that he was committed to, as revealed by what he taught and how he lived. 

EXAMPLES FROM THE TEACHINGS AND LIFE OF JESUS

If you read the Semon on the Mount, as recorded in Matthew 5-7 (which I just did), the sharp contrast with the prevalent notion of “power” described above is shocking (It took my breath away). What jumped out at me was the clear teaching that the preeminent Christian value is “love.” Jesus clearly teaches that those who aspire to follow him are to love others, including those who consider themselves to be our enemies.

And it is all-important for us to see the ways in which Jesus exemplified such “love of neighbor” in his daily life; paying particular attention to who he associated with and how he ministered to them.

As pointed out by Tim Alberta, contrary to the practices of the “religious people” of his day (e.g., the Pharisees), Jesus associated with “the broken and the shunned” (p. 323), such as tax collectors and prostitutes. Alberta quotes the way Julie Roys puts this: “God wants us [the Christian Church] to be tending to the people who have been strewn by the side of the road” (p. 393).

How, then, did Jesus minister to those marginalized and dispossessed members of society? By loving them! And, as recorded in Matthew 25, he taught those who aspire to be his followers to also love others with his radical teaching that those who will “inherit the kingdom” are those who give food to the hungry, something to drink to the thirsty, welcome to the stranger, clothing to the naked, care for the sick, and visits to those in prison.

THE POWER OF LOVE TAUGHT AND PRACTICED BY JESUS

So, Jesus did indeed exhort his followers to be exert “power.” But it was not the power of domination fueled by fear and hatred. It was the “power of love.”

And Jesus clearly taught those of us who aspire to also practice the “power of love” to pay close attention to that set of “Christian values” we refer to as our “attitudes,” the “enduring dispositions” that motivate our actions. One essential attitude that ought to motivate our expressions of love is “humility,” an acknowledgement that “I am not God.” Rather, I am a finite and fallible human being who will make my share of mistakes as I seek to love others. But my goal, however imperfectly realized, is to be like Jesus in giving daily expression to the “power of love” (a goal that I will return to at the end of this Musing).

A LESSON FOR THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH

As I have already noted, Tim Alberta’s book is replete with sad examples of Christian church leaders teaching their parishioners that “real power” consists of “dominating other people.” What is the antidote to such an egregiously wrong teaching?

To start out by saying more about the nature of this common inadequacy of many Christian churches, here is a reflection from Jules Woodson, a victim of sexual abuse on the part of a pastor serving a Southern Baptist Church: “The Christ that loved me at my most broken and vulnerable is not the Christ that is demonstrated by the Church” (Alberta, p. 368). 

Another reflection on the nature of this inadequacy within Christian churches is the following report from Tim Alberta about the response of many who came to Nashville (TN) for a “Road to Majority” event: “These multitudes … claimed to worship a Prince of Peace, yet they roared [their approval] at every mention of conflict” (p. 184).

An all-important lesson for the Christian Church to learn from these reflections on the inadequacies within many Christian churches is the need to soundly reject the all-too-common metaphor of “a culture war.” Here is the change recommended by Nick Olson, one of Tim Alberta’s interviewees:

I think the first step is reimagining the Christian worldview. And that means replacing our dominant metaphor –culture war – with something different … that [the culture war metaphor] has been a running theme for evangelicals: we’re always embattled, always fighting back. But what if we laid down our defense mechanisms? What if we reframed our relationship to creation, to our neighbors, to our enemies, in ways that are more closely aligned with the Sermon on the Mount? What if we were willing to lay down our power and our status to love others, even if that comes at cost to ourselves? (emphasis mine, p. 427).

I strongly embrace Alberta’s assertion that “ultimately,” the purpose of the Church is “training followers of Jesus to become more and more like Him” (p. 432). 

A CONCLUDING PERSONAL REFLECTION: I ASPIRE TO FAITHFULLY FOLLOW JESUS

I am decidedly “inner-directed.” Everything I do is deeply informed by my personal conviction that, in any given situation, I must do what I believe is the “right thing to do, which may differ radically from what other people think I should do, and may lead to unintended painful personal consequences. 

What, then, is my primary consideration in deciding on the “right thing to do?” As a person who aspires to be a faithful follower of Jesus, it is my attempting to discern what Jesus would do in my situation. This foundational starting point is based on the teachings in Romans 8:29 that I should be “conformed” to the “image” of Jesus, and in 2 Corinthians 3:18 that I should be “transformed into the likeness of Christ.” 

But the life of Jesus did not end well from the perspective of those who embrace the “power of domination”; who thereby view “winning” as their goal. From that pernicious view of “power,” Jesus was a “loser,” suffering crucifixion on a cross. Does that give me pause?

No! I only have control over what I decide to do. I cannot control the outcomes of the actions I decide upon, including how people who disagree with me respond to my actions (that is their responsibility). 

But a huge question remains unanswered: How do I know that the actions that I decide upon are “good” actions from a Christian perspective? I don’t know that for sure. But what “keeps me going” in the face of that uncertainty is the Parable of the Mustard Seed spoken by Jesus, as recorded in Matthew 13:31-32. 

The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in his field;  it is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.

As I decide on actions that I believe give expression to the “power of love” that was taught and lived out by Jesus, I dare to believe, without having convincing evidence, that God’s redemptive purposes for our world will be fostered. I am content to faithfully plant tiny mustard seeds of redemption. I can entrust the harvest to God.