Power In The Name Of Jesus

𝐒𝐄𝐏𝐓. 𝟐𝟒, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟓: 𝐓𝐖𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐘 𝐅𝐈𝐅𝐓𝐇 𝐖𝐄𝐄𝐊 𝐈𝐍 𝐎𝐑𝐃𝐈𝐍𝐀𝐑𝐘 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄

𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝟏: 𝐄𝐳𝐫𝐚 𝟗:𝟓-𝟗

𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐏𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐦: 𝐓𝐨𝐛 𝟏𝟑:𝟐-𝟒, 𝟕-𝟖 “𝐁𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐞 𝐆𝐨𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫.”

𝐆𝐎𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐋: 𝐋𝐊 𝟗:𝟏-𝟔

𝑲𝒆𝒚 𝑽𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒆: “…𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆.” (𝒗.6) 

About the second week of July, we read from the gospel of Matthew (𝐌𝐭 𝟏𝟎:𝟏-𝟕) that Jesus had chosen his so-called Evangelization Team, the 12 disciples from among the 72 who have been following him and whom he has elevated to become the Apostles who will help build the church that will be born on the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit takes its place as the Advocate who will equip and empower the Church as we see it now.

         Then, we also read in the same gospel (𝐌𝐭 𝟏𝟎:𝟕-𝟏𝟓) that Jesus had issued what appears to be the mission orders for his Apostles and those who will come after them and these tasks include: (𝟏) 𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐤, (𝟐) 𝐑𝐚𝐢𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐝, (𝟑) 𝐂𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 (𝟒) 𝐂𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐝𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐬. But over and above all these is the need to proclaim the Kingdom of God to all who will hear and listen.

         And in today’s Gospel, Jesus sends out his disciples in pairs and gave them the power and the authority to speak and to act in his name. He gave specific instructions to them to do the same works that he did – to heal, to free people from the power of the evil one, and to speak the word of God – the good news of the gospel that they received from Jesus.

         When Jesus gave his disciples the power and authority to evangelize, he also meshed this power and authority with love and humility that they are to be clothed with. While the “world” and the “flesh” seek power for selfish gain, Jesus is teaching us to use it for the good of our neighbor.

         Our Lord Jesus is actually giving us the members of his body today to serve as his ambassadors and missionaries – to bring the Good News to all peoples, lands, and nations as he freely pours out his Holy Spirit upon each one of us so that we may have the confidence and boldness to speak and act in his name wherever he places and sends us.

         As he did with his Apostles and disciples, Jesus is also telling us the new breed of evangelists to “travel light” with as little provision or none at all and depend on what we will find in the mission field where we are to go. What Jesus is teaching is for us to embrace this poverty of spirit that will free us from greed and desire for possessions instead of God's provision.

         What the Lord wants is for us to be dependent on him and not on ourselves. What these directives of Jesus represent is the pursuit of a radical kind of faith which simply means doing things that we are not used to. This also means getting out of our comfort zones and into the mission fields even if such will inconvenience us.

         I am particularly saddened when I meet Christians who claim to have been renewed but who serve only where it is comfortable and conformable for them. While Jesus and his disciples make do with whatever is given them in the homes they go to, there are a new breed of Pharisaic disciples who expect that they be treated like royalty.

         To talk of radicalism in the way we practice our faith is to look at the way we conduct ourselves as disciples. There is an ocean of difference between talking about discipleship and actually doing it. Preaching the Gospel and living it is what the call of Jesus is all about.

         All these translate to servanthood which means that in Christ’s schema, we lose our identity. We forget who we are and we go to the mission field to toil and to serve and not to issue orders because only Christ gives the order. While a leadership structure puts order even in a Christian setting, leaders are expected to become encouragers and not controllers who impose their will on others.

         We should take to heart that the mission orders that Jesus gave to the Apostles are the same as what He has been doing during his earthly ministry and it presupposes that as we have seen what he has done Jesus also expects that we can replicate this in our own mission fields.

         As with the Apostles, we are to do this in conjunction with the more important task of proclaiming the Kingdom of God. The Jews longed to have their own Kingdom and be freed from the oppression but they had a different mindset of the Messiah. And what Jesus was saying was that His coming into the world heralds the coming of the Kingdom of God.

         This pronouncement rings true even today that the Kingdom of God is near. Jesus actually began his Kingdom in the hearts of his Apostles and his disciples and in us whom he has gathered from the dark valleys where we dwelt before Jesus found us. The time will come when this Kingdom will be fully realized and evil will be erased from the face of the earth and the people will live in peace with one another.

         He is also telling us that the gift of life that we received has been freely given by Our God and that we are to give this gift to others as a free gift. Translated into action, what Jesus is saying is that for all the many blessings that we have received, we are now called upon to give generously of our time, love and possessions.

         To serve God without counting the cost is one of the things that we can do for Our Lord. We have all been purchased at a high price with the life that the Son of God offered for our redemption. Our calling then is to serve him faithfully at every opportunity.

         The BLD Community has designed and launched some years back a two-day revival conference called F.I.R.E. which stands for Fruitful – Inspired – Renewed – Empowered. The objective of is to reignite the fire that Christian disciples have received when they were baptized in the Holy Spirit. And for the embers to keep on burning, we need to “𝒇𝒂𝒏 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒇𝒍𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒊𝒇𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝑮𝒐𝒅” (2 𝑻𝒊𝒎 1:6) and “𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒃𝒖𝒓𝒏𝒕 𝒐𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒓𝒆𝒎𝒂𝒊𝒏 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒂𝒍𝒕𝒂𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒏𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕, 𝒕𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒆 𝒎𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒃𝒆 𝒌𝒆𝒑𝒕 𝒃𝒖𝒓𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒂𝒍𝒕𝒂𝒓.” (𝑳𝒆𝒗. 6:9)        

This simply means that the fire of the Holy Spirit must constantly be in the heart of every disciple, the heart being the altar of the Lord. As with the Apostles, we too are commanded to simply shake off the dust on our feet – meaning leave when the person or people we bring the Good News to will not listen or will reject the Kingdom of God and proceed to a more fertile field where the Good News will be accepted with enthusiasm and delight.

         There is, however, a deeper reality that lies beneath this gospel reading and you can find this in the opening verse itself when Jesus “𝒔𝒖𝒎𝒎𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑻𝒘𝒆𝒍𝒗𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒈𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎 𝒑𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒖𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒚” (𝒗.1). This meant that the Apostles were able to proclaim the Kingdom of God, drive out demons and cure the sick not on their own power but on the basis of the power and authority given them by Jesus.

         In the same manner, when we are sent we should not even for once assume that we have the power to cure the sick. What we have is the power and authority that we receive from Jesus and we should always bear in mind that to be given this power and authority is a privilege that carries with it a tremendous responsibility.

         As Paul wrote in his letter to Titus, to use the Name of Jesus means that we are “to say ‘𝑵𝒐’ 𝒕𝒐 𝒖𝒏𝒈𝒐𝒅𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅𝒍𝒚 𝒑𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇-𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒓𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒅, 𝒖𝒑𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒈𝒐𝒅𝒍𝒚 𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒂𝒈𝒆.” (𝑻𝒊𝒕 2:12) (𝘌𝘥 𝘔𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘺 – 𝘚𝘦𝘱𝘵. 24, 2025)