In the Gospel of John, Jesus is interrogated by Pontius Pilate who demands to know if Jesus is the King of the Jews. He later had the sign INRI nailed above him on the cross. The reverend William Coffin (Riverside Church) called this powerless love vs. loveless power. I like to meditate on this interesting comment.
Jesus refers to mankind believing in earthly things and not heavenly things. As a man of faith, I strongly believe in heavenly things, but as we all, I must live in a society governed by earthly things. Our government does not care about God’s wishes for mankind. Some individual leaders do, but when governing God’s plans are laid aside. It is almost impossible to live and believe in heavenly things when our society is bombarding us every day with material wants, demands, and just about everything alien to God’s plans for us.
God gives us light, a light to live and a light to love by, and yet, more of us covet the darkness of anger, greed, and jealousy. We recognize the gifts from God; we know that His gifts do not include these three vices. When we are skeptics to the healings of Jesus; we are also skeptical of our gift of love. Before Jesus left His disciples, He asks, “Do you love Me;” and follows with “Feed My sheep.”
There is noting more intimate than prayer, prayer for mankind, and there is nothing more intimate than sharing prayer. Prayer and sharing are partners in our lives, partners worthy of God’s full attention. We can practice powerless love (bringing God back to the table) and feed His sheep or to practice loveless power feeding our ill-fated egos.
©Russell Kendall Carter
Meditating to Heal 