Those of us currently celebrating the season of Lent know it is a time of self-examination.  This year I have especially been reflecting about the meaning and practice of power.

Jesus’ kind of power is so contrary and counter-intuitive to the macho, strutting images dominating our culture that it is rejected even among some who claim to be his followers.

Excited people shouted Hosanna! (“Save Us!”) as Jesus rode a humble donkey into Jerusalem. Their King had arrived! He was just the powerful leader they needed to stick it to their enemies after suffering their abuse.

But Jesus proved not to be powerful in any of the ways they expected. We see it clearly throughout Holy Week. He let his enemies capture him without a fight. He did not resist the Jewish Sanhedrin’s mock trial. He remained silent before obviously trumped up charges.  When brought before the crowds again, this time mocked as a King with crown of thorns, the crowds shouted not “Hosanna” but “Crucify Him!”

As soon as Jesus veered away from the kind of power they expected, they also turned away. We need to ask ourselves, “What expectation could Jesus not fulfill that would cause me to turn away?”

—Am I expecting a pain-free life because God will protect me and my family from all harm or tragedy?

—Am I expecting that other people, especially Christians, will never misuse or mistreat me?

—Am I expecting that no one will ever look down on me or openly reject me because I identify with Jesus?

—Am I expecting that I’ll never be asked to sacrifice my time, my money, or my convenience to follow Christ?

—Am I expecting that I can continue a typical middle or upper-middle class American lifestyle without any awareness that following Jesus will seriously challenge aspects of that lifestyle?

—Am I expecting that I still get to define what I do and how I spend my life?

I have talked to people who turned away from Jesus Christ for all of these reasons. When they encountered weakness or sacrifice instead of the kind of power they desired, their interest in him dissolved.

My wife loves to read mysteries and thrillers. Over the years, I’ve often noticed that she has a terrible time waiting through the suspense to see how it’s going to end. Often when she’s 3/4 of way through a book, I catch her jumping to the end and reading the last few pages. Today, we know how the story ends! We know two things the Holy Week crowds did not know.

First, we know who Jesus came to be: “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.” Jesus conquers sin through weakness and death, not power and might. He conquers sin by becoming like the perfect, unblemished lambs sacrificed daily in the Temple that Isaiah pictured when he wrote: “He was wounded for our transgressions; he was bruised for our iniquities….yet he opened not his mouth, like a lamb that is led to the slaughter.”

The crowds thought Jesus was coming to Jerusalem to extend their power. We know different. We know he is coming to die.  Any true follower of his must be willing to “die” to the world’s enticements of power as well, whatever that may mean to us.

But we also know that Jesus is not only a sacrificial lamb; he is a conquering lamb. Visualize these final pictures of Jesus from the Book of Revelation:

In a loud voice they sang:  “Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!”  Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing:  “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!”(Rev. 5:12-13)

After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice:  “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.”(Rev. 7:9-10)

Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.  No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. (Rev. 22:1-3)

Yes, Jesus is the “Lion of Judah.”  But like Aslan in C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia, and unlike many so-called “lions” today, his strength is seen in servanthood and sacrifice.  He is a strong lion who never brags about his power, and becomes a lamb so he can fulfill his lion-hood.

Biblical scholar Dale Bruner writes about Jesus’ use of power: “Real power is the control of power, the rejection of power, the willingness to express power in weak-seeming ways.” Jesus looks weak but ends up showing how strong he really is—the King of the universe! 

• Jesus’ behavior throughout Holy Week offers several examples of the biblical case to be made for Christian non-violence.  Gandhi, practitioner of non-violence and certainly a Christ-like non-Christian, said: “I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.”  Perhaps such words are hard to hear, but Lent is a good season to listen.  No wonder the world turns away from Christ when his followers support political “power” that demeans the weak and flouts the very moral and ethical values they say they uphold.
• A strong historical case can be made that the more the church acquired political or state-sponsored power, the more corrupt it became and the worse it behaved. Jesus’ three temptations by Satan in the beginning of the gospel all revolve around using power inappropriately. The church has fallen to these same temptations over and over down through the centuries. Indeed, our Founding Fathers saw this and insured that America would not give such power to a state-sponsored church.

So the question:  If I am a follower of Jesus, should I act more like a lamb or a lion?  Am I strong enough to embrace weakness, servanthood, sacrifice, put others ahead of me? 

We can sing out “Hosanna’s” to the sacrificial lamb who was strong enough to express his strength through weakness.

We can also sing “Hosanna’s” to the conquering Lamb who rules the universe and whose rule will one day be complete.

Question:  How do you reconcile Jesus’ identity as both lamb and lion?  Share your thoughts in a comment below.

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