The power of Jesus Christ

Jesus Christ is powerful. The very name and title has power; resurrection power, saving power, healing power. That "Every knee shall bend...and every tongue confess..."(Philippians 2:10-11) is a promise filled with the universal power of Jesus' name. Jesus (YHWH saves) Christ (anointed) is both spiritual and royal, traditionally rendered as Lord.

In traditional language, the relationship between Jesus and believers is that of sovereign and subject, master and slave. How can this relationship be re-imagined to better suit today's context, without the loss of reverence for the power in the name Jesus Christ, yet without holding on to the damage that traditional ideology creates?

One answer is to say that yes Jesus is Lord, but a different sort of Lord, one who serves. Jesus subverts the sovereign/subject master/slave relationship by, among other things, bending down to wash the feet of his disciples (John 13). He is a ruler, but not in the same way that a human ruler rules.

For the earliest followers of Jesus, the affirmation that Jesus is Lord was over and against the power claims of Caesar. The good news of victory (euangelion) for Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was a direct contradiction to the good news of victory for Caesar, the Son of God.

However, saying that Jesus is a different sort of Lord is dodging the question. The language of sovereign/subject master/slave remains intact for otherwise good intentioned Christians to abuse. Along similar lines, following the subversive message of Jesus Christ over and against the powers of empire in our world can be denying that God can and does work through those powers, however broken and corrupt they may be.

Perhaps a good answer is to affirm Jesus Christ both as the pioneer of a new way (Hebrews 12:2) (one to follow after (nachfolge Christi for the early Anabaptists)), and as the power that calls believers to repentance and animates them to faithful action through the Spirit (John 15:5-15).

To lay claim to the name Jesus Christ is to lay claim to this power of resurrection, salvation, and wholeness. It is a power that compels discipleship to the way of Jesus and animates those who follow to transformative action in the world. It is good news to the poor, freedom for the prisoners, sight for the blind, and release for the oppressed (Luke 4:18; Isaiah 61:1).