But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth… Mt 9:6
For a long time I desired a more complete understanding of the biblical teaching on doing things in the name of Jesus. For many years the true meaning, and thus the true power, of Jesus name escaped me. I saw it in literal terms, in the way that the televised religion of my youth had taught me to think.
I recall the years of my childhood when my aunt, who was my guardian, and I would watch Oral Roberts on television. I remember getting close to the TV, even putting our hands on the screen while "brother Oral" prayed, and hearing him say emotionally, "In Jesus name!"
I was taught from the time that I was a child of about 5 years old that, in order for your prayers to be answered, you must say “In Jesus name.” This, while perhaps appearing absurd to anyone with formal learning, was quite plausible to me when I was a child, and continued to be so into my early adulthood. After all, my first experience of religion was in fact televangelism, and praying in Jesus name was dogma.
It was a natural move for me, as a late teenager seeking a way to live out my Christian faith, to look for an expression of the faith similar to the Oral Roberts variety of religion that I had known as a child. Thus, at age 18, it was not difficult for me to becoming a Jesus Name Pentecostal. I had found a church where they did everything from baptisms to prayers over the sick in the name of Jesus.
I still have respect for the faith of my youth. I do not mock, in any way, the reliance of Oneness Pentecostals on Jesus name. It is the method, for many sincere people, of making conscious contact with God. I still to this day pray in the name of Jesus, as most Christians do in one form or another. However, I’ve moved beyond the literal-mindedness of the verbal Jesus name formula of prayer. There is something deeper to be gotten at in Jesus name.
The gospel reading today reminded me of the power and the authority of Jesus. It is like no power on earth; however, we have access to it.
To understand the power of Jesus name, to act in Jesus name, and thus to receive in Jesus name, it is necessary that we focus our attention entirely on the authority given to the person Jesus. This is what doing something in his name means most clearly: it is doing or acting according to his instruction – by his authority.
To take hold of the power of Jesus name we must yield to a power greater than that which is common to this world; we must yield to a different kind of power, to the healing and transforming power that converts the soul. We gain access to God's power by relinquishing our claims to earthly power and by recognizing our powerlessness instead. Indeed God has a way of confounding the strong and mighty by raising up the weak and powerless.
Our role is to let go of the claims we have on this life, and to embrace the one who passed through death and rose to eternal life. When we understand our resurrection solely in light of his, then we begin to stake our claim on salvation, on the forgiveness of sin, and on eternal life.
Today’s narrative about the paralytic intrigued me because of something that I have learned in my work with children with disabilities. I have come to see them as the messengers of something that God desperately wants us to grasp. It is not the strong and the mighty, not the powerful of this world, that have favored status. Rather, it is those who are often devalued or perhaps are not allowed self-determination.
Ultimately, the ones who find themselves in the company of Jesus are either those who have no real power of their own, or also those who have voluntarily laid down all their claims to power. The cornerstone of our faith, the very basis on which it rests, is the authority given to Jesus Christ. Inasmuch as we are able to surrender everything to him, we are able to know the true power in Jesus name.
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