We Don’t Know True Power
I keep coming back to a scene from Schindler’s List.
Two powerful men at the concentration camp where the story happens are having a late-night discussion after a party.
Amon, the Nazi in charge of the camp says, “Control is power. They fear us because we kill.”
Oskar, the businessman who employs the prisoners replies, “They fear us because we can kill arbitrarily. Someone commits a crime, and we kill him, and we feel good about it. This is not power; this is justice. Power is when we have every justification to kill, and we don’t.”
Amon: “You think that’s power?”
Oskar: “That’s what the Emperor said. Someone stole something. He is brought in before the Emperor and throws himself down on the ground; he begs for mercy. He knows he is going to die, and the Emperor…pardons him. This worthless man – he pardons him; lets him go…That’s power.”
In Matthew 18 Jesus tells this weird parable about forgiving, about pardoning. In it, a servant is suddenly, unexpectedly, and for no good reason forgiven an unpayable debt by his King.
The servant walks out – surely in shock from the power he’s experienced – and meets a co-worker of his who owes him some money.
He forgets the King’s forgiveness and forfeits the opportunity to share this miraculous power with someone else. Instead, he chokes the man and demands his money.
Things don’t go well for the servant from that point on. That’s not surprising because he’s missed out on sharing in real, resurrection power.
Jesus, after all, from his cross showed ultimate power in Luke’s gospel by praying forgiveness upon his destroyers. And, when he rose from the grave on Easter, Jesus went about sharing new life and not settling old scores.
We almost always get true power wrong.
Oskar, the businessman who employs the prisoners replies, “They fear us because we can kill arbitrarily. Someone commits a crime, and we kill him, and we feel good about it. This is not power; this is justice. Power is when we have every justification to kill, and we don’t.”
Amon: “You think that’s power?”
Oskar: “That’s what the Emperor said. Someone stole something. He is brought in before the Emperor and throws himself down on the ground; he begs for mercy. He knows he is going to die, and the Emperor…pardons him. This worthless man – he pardons him; lets him go…That’s power.”
In Matthew 18 Jesus tells this weird parable about forgiving, about pardoning. In it, a servant is suddenly, unexpectedly, and for no good reason forgiven an unpayable debt by his King.
The servant walks out – surely in shock from the power he’s experienced – and meets a co-worker of his who owes him some money.
He forgets the King’s forgiveness and forfeits the opportunity to share this miraculous power with someone else. Instead, he chokes the man and demands his money.
Things don’t go well for the servant from that point on. That’s not surprising because he’s missed out on sharing in real, resurrection power.
Jesus, after all, from his cross showed ultimate power in Luke’s gospel by praying forgiveness upon his destroyers. And, when he rose from the grave on Easter, Jesus went about sharing new life and not settling old scores.
We almost always get true power wrong.