What is the purpose of power, how should it be used, and what does that mean for followers of Jesus?

Depending on how you look at it, every human relationship is shaped by the answer to one question: who or what has ultimate power?

At the individual level, do I work 80 hours a week to make more money, or do I work 40 hours a week to spend more time at home?

At the family level, do we spend our Sundays driving to and from various kids’ competitions or do we gather with our church family and rest?

At the community level, do we invest more resources in raising teacher salaries or in attracting new businesses?

At the national level, do we care more about economic growth or about mitigating climate change?

And beyond. At every level, these are not dichotomies, there’s not a single right answer, but the answers we give will ultimately come down to what we value most or what is most important to us.

Or, in other words, what or who has the ultimate power?

Power in Daniel 2

That’s the question that is roiling throughout Daniel Chapter 2. Nebuchadnezzar is king, but he hasn’t been there long. His advisors are a hodge-podge of court magicians, wise men, and counselors; some new, and some inherited from the prior regime. The king is concerned with solidifying his power. His advisors are concerned with maintaining their own.

And, in the middle of this tense political situation, the king has a dream. Dreams in Babylon were thought to be messages from the gods, and Nebuchadnezzar is disturbed by what he sees. He thinks that the dream has implications for his rule, for his power. But, as concerned as he is about the contents, he is also mindful of the potential use of such a situation.

The court advisors were the ones traditionally thought to be able to speak for the gods, particularly in the interpretation of dreams, those messages from the gods. So, Nebuchadnezzar calls his advisors in and demands that they give him the interpretation.

But the power play is that he also demands that they tell him the dream. That way, he says, he can trust their interpretation. They insist that he has asked for the impossible, that only the gods can do that. The trouble is, they’ve been claiming to speak for the gods all along. The king’s power is apparently greater than the power his advisors claim.

He proves it by condemning all the advisors to death. Talk about solidifying your power: just kill everyone who opposes you.

But what Nebuchadnezzar doesn’t figure is that there are several advisors in his administration who are servants of YHWH, worshippers of the God of Israel: Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. These faithful men pray, and God gives them the answer the king demanded.

The revelation he passes on to Nebuchadnezzar is probably not what the king wants to hear: your kingdom will come to an end, the kingdom that follows it will come to an end, and the kingdoms that follow it will come to an end. In fact, the only power that doesn’t end will be the Kingdom of God, the reign of God’s King, a Kingdom and reign which will destroy all others and never be succeeded.

And Nebuchadnezzar praises Daniel and gives him gifts! Why?

Because when Daniel shares the dream and its interpretation with the king, he does so with respect. He doesn’t play power games, he doesn’t claim power for himself, and he acknowledges that there is no wisdom or power apart from the true God, YHWH. Daniel was certainly motivated in part by the fact that his head was on the chopping block as well, but the only thing he asked the king for was that his fellow advisors receive mercy and not be destroyed.

Daniel essentially opts out of the power games the Nebuchadnezzar and his advisors were playing, opting instead to give credit where credit is due and graciously point those around him to a greater truth, the highest power, and use whatever position was granted him for the good of those around him.

The Babylonian king (and most other kings) and the Babylonian political functionaries (and most other political functionaries) were claiming power for themselves, in hopes that they could control the people around them. Daniel willingly gives power away, choosing to humble himself, and reacting with compassion for others.

The power of compulsion that the world seeks pales when compared to the power of compassion that Daniel demonstrates.

Power in Jesus’ Life

In Daniel’s example, we have echoes of another prophet, a wandering wise man who also knew the power of compassion. But this man, unlike Daniel, had more than just borrowed power: he had all the power. He said this, in Matthew 28: “All authority has been given to me, in heaven and on earth.”

It’s Jesus. He didn’t just speak for God; He was God. But how did he express his power?

Matthew 9: “When he saw the crowds, he felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dejected, like sheep without a shepherd.”

Jesus, with all the power, and all the authority in heaven and on earth, didn’t look at humanity as objects to be controlled; he saw us as people to be loved. He felt compassion for them. Elsewhere, we’re told that he “didn’t come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” And: “Greater love has no man than this, but that he lay down his life for his friends.”

That’s what truly ultimate power looks like: loving self-sacrifice.

Jesus’ People and Power

This makes the two paths Jesus’ followers tend to take regarding power even more mystifying. Instead of following the example of Daniel, or of the Lord we claim to submit to as King, we are prone to two temptations. They look like opposites, and may be that, but they are equally wrong, even sinful.

1.     We embrace worldly power and ignore Jesus’ solutions to this world’s problems

2.     We ignore worldly problems and embrace a Jesus who offers no worldly power

You can recognize those who take the former path by their close identity with their chosen political party, their manipulative maneuvering, and their yelling. The second group is also easily identified: they wave gospel tracts in the faces of the starving, create churches that function like secret compounds, and twiddle their thumbs while they wait to die and go to heaven or be raptured and let Jesus do all the work.

At various times in my journey with Jesus, I’ve been in both camps. I’ve railed against those who disagree with me, and I’ve abandoned the public square. I’ve thrown stones and built walls.

But, thankfully, God is merciful, and Jesus shows us how to perfectly walk the path that Daniel also trod.

That way is to embrace Jesus’ model and teaching AND meet worldly problems with the power of compassion.

In order for that to happen, we will need to opt out of some things and opt in to some different things.

We need to opt-out of using power as means of control and opt-in to using power to express compassion

Jesus tells us that the two most important commands are to “Love God” and “love people.” When we join the world and its systems in viewing power as a means of control, we inevitably reduce other people, both those “with” us and those “against” us, to pawns that we can move around our social chessboard for our own purposes.

That’s not the way of Jesus. He told us to “do unto others as we would have them do unto us.” Instead of control, we need to see power as an instrument of compassion. Power is not a lever with which we move people according to our whims; it’s a gift from God that we steward to serve those who bear His image.

We need to opt-out of cultural Christianity and opt-in to following the example of Jesus

In the last 100 years, the Good News of the Kingdom has too often been reduced to a good news of “pray this prayer for personal salvation which you’ll receive at the end of a life that you can live however you want.” This “gospel” has produced a version of Christianity that allows many in the Western world to claim they are Christian, without that claim costing them anything because it is culturally acceptable.

First, I am doubtful that such a gospel bears any biblical hope of saving anyone. Second, it eradicates any concern for anyone other than us. That’s not how Jesus spent His life, that’s not the example He gave us. It is not a “gospel of works” to say that people who claim Jesus as Lord should devote themselves to doing what He did: that’s the literal definition of “disciple”, “follower”, and “Christian”.

Conclusion

This world has problems and is in desperate need of power to solve them. The trouble is that worldly power and worldly solutions only seem to make things worse. Instead of continually beating our heads against that futility, or instead of running away to hide in our “holy huddles”, the world needs Jesus’ people to love them enough to use His power for their good.