Cross Power or Sword Power? // Luke 22:17-26

Pastor Doug Glynn

“The greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves.” Jesus uttered these words just after his Last Supper with the disciples. The disciples were arguing (again) about who would be the greatest in God’s kingdom, and this was his response. And then, astonishingly, Jesus not only talked about being a servant, but he dressed himself as a servant and humbled himself to wash his own disciples’ feet!

The more we press into the stories of Jesus’ Final Week, the more clear it becomes that foremost on Jesus’ mind was the struggle between two kingdoms, two powers, two Ways. Even for folks like the disciples who had walked with Jesus a long time, the tendency to default to sword power is strong. But that should come as no surprise, as the alternative to sword power is cross power, a power which comes not from asserting dominance but from serving, from laying down our lives for the sake of others. Indeed, in God’s kingdom, it’s not just the what but the how. For, “You cannot get Kingdom of God results using Kingdom of the World methods.” We can “win” according to worldly
standards and completely miss the Kingdom. Will we, then, against all our survival instincts, choose cross power, even (perhaps especially) when we feel most threatened and backed into a corner?