We can trust Jesus!
All Authority
Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had appointed for them. When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some doubted. And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen. (Matthew 28:16-20, NKJV)
Before I get to the main point of today’s devotional, I want to chase a rabbit. This might be of particular interest to those of you who like the occasional biblical Hebrew lesson.
The word “disciple,” is the Hebrew word, “talmid,” or “talmidim” in the plural. It was the goal of every talmid to surpass the master in knowledge and insight of the Torah. However, it was understood that the master was always superior as long as he was living. The focus of the talmidim was on the Torah and the master’s teaching about the Torah. This is where the disciples of Jesus began to veer off. While they were attentive to the teaching of Jesus, their focus was on the person of Jesus. In Matthew 10:24-25a, Jesus said, “A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a slave above his master. It is enough for the disciple that he may become like his teacher, and the slave like his master. . .” (New American Standard Bible). And since Jesus rose again and is alive forevermore, the goal of surpassing the master was abandoned. This gives a unique perspective to our text. There is an implicit understanding in the command to make disciples. That is, that the disciples that we make, in other words, our disciples, will actually be disciples of Jesus. That is only possible and necessary because Jesus is alive!
Back to my main point. In verse 18, Jesus said, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.” All authority in heaven and on earth resides in Jesus. Still, I know that there is a difference between authority and overt control. Jesus has the authority to do whatever He wants to do but we, as all good Wesleyans, understand that He has chosen to give us free will.
I am always troubled when I hear people say things like, “Well, after all, God is in control.” These kinds of statements trouble me not because I don’t believe that God is in control, but because of what the person who makes the statement may mean by it. Let me illustrate this by way of personal experience.
My first senior pastorate was in Victoria, TX. I was there for exactly six years. One of the ministries that I engaged in was chaplaincy with the Victoria Fire Department. During my time as a chaplain I was able to become certified as a Critical Incident Stress debriefer. The biggest incident in which I was directly involved occurred on May 14th, 2003, when 19 people died of dehydration, overheating, and suffocation in a smuggling incident.
It was my responsibility and privilege to conduct the debriefing for all the first responders involved in that incident. I did not attempt to assuage their grief by telling them that God was in control.
However, it was a previous incident that brought the “God is in control” idea more directly into the mix. In May of 2002 I was called out to a house fire. When I arrived the fire marshal told me that there was something strange about it. The investigation revealed it was an arson set to cover up a triple murder.
Back to the incident. At one point, after the bodies were discovered, the Presbyterian pastor who was the head of the chaplains told the Fire Marshal in my hearing something to the effect of, ‘Well, this must have been God’s will or else it could not have happened.’ After he left the scene, I approached the Fire Marshal to give him a different perspective on God’s will.
I told him something to the effect that it is God’s will that all people become followers of Jesus and become like Him. But God created us as free moral agents and gave us the ability to choose to follow Him and make right moral choices or to reject Him and make poor, tragic, immoral choices, like the choices made by the at that time unidentified arsonist.
Remembering that, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to” Jesus, is a far cry from saying that God was in control during the commission of either of these atrocities. You may have heard the argument that goes something like, “If God really does exist, how come there is so much pain and suffering in the world?” Or, another version is, “Why do bad things happen to good people?” The answer is simple but not to be used as a means of comforting someone in a time of suffering. The answer is simply, free will. Bad things happen to good people as a result of our rebellion against God’s authority. Bad things happen when people try to live their lives on their own terms, often with ensuing disastrous results to themselves and collateral damage to those around them. While I understand, to a degree, why God chose to create us as free moral agents, I have never liked it. However, like it or not, God has not only given us the freedom to choose but also the power to choose correctly.
That is why those who choose to live under the authority of Jesus, draw comfort, strength, and courage knowing that He is able to do “immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine” (Eph. 3:20, NIV). Knowing that all authority in heaven and on earth resides in Jesus helps us to remain calm and sustain hope when He does not act as we would like Him to act in a given set of circumstances. Believing also, as we do, that He always acts in our highest and best good, helps us to lean on His authority and trust His heart when we cannot see His hands at work.
I will leave you with a rough paraphrase of Hebrews 11:1:
When we encounter circumstances in which we cannot discern even a hint of the presence or activity of God, it is our faith in Jesus that provides all the evidence that we need in order to trust Him with our very lives.
- William Proulx is a graduate ('94) of Nazarene Bible College and has been an adjunct professor at NBC since 2006.