Kristin Niehof Dr. Bob Ekblad Lift Up Your Voice 19 April 2006
The Prophet Fully Human
I. Introduction Prophets are commonly defined as the mouthpiece of God; they hear his voice and deliver its message to the people. Less common is the understanding that prophets also deliver God’s message through their actions. In a prophet who both speaks the truth and lives the truth in a symbolic and obedient way, the so-called charismatic and social prophetic streams come together. Jesus, who lived before this artificial division was made, is the perfect example of this kind of prophet.
Jesus is portrayed in the Gospels as a true prophet, who hears God’s voice and declares that message not only through his teachings, but also through his miracles and lifestyle. Because in everything he spoke and acted as fully human, we can see in his life a model of the authority we are to have and the way in which we are to live.
II. Jesus as true prophet “Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world” (Jn 6:14).
A. Hearing the message “For I did not speak of my own accord, but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say and how to say it” (Jn 12: 49).
Like any other prophet, Jesus has to listen to hear the Father’s voice. The first task of listening is to know the Scriptures, which Jesus definitely does. Even at age twelve he amazes the temple teachers with his understanding (Lk 2). He continues to stupefy with Scriptures those who try to ensnare him: the devil in the desert, as well as the scribes and Pharisees who ask him tricky questions about marriage in heaven (Mt 4, 22). Walter Brueggemann, in The Prophetic Imagination, argues that a prophet must be steeped in the traditions of a community, that he may wisely use its texts, history, and symbolism to declare a new era in that community. As the master prophet, Jesus constantly refers to Old Testament stories and writings, displaying not only an expansive knowledge of the Scriptures but also special insight into their meaning. “The people were amazed at his teaching, because he taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law” (Mk 1:22). This insight he receives from the Father.
Purposefully listening to God is a priority for Jesus. He spends his first thirty years on earth preparing, learning to discern and obey. Then he begins his ministry by receiving John’s baptism and being led by the Spirit into the desert for fasting and testing (Mt 4). Even when his ministry is at its peak, with crowds hounding him, Jesus continues his ritual of listening. In the Gospels we see him seeking time away, usually on a mountaintop. “Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed” (Lk 5:16). Because so many come to him for healing, he often has to slip away at night or at daybreak. The night before he calls the twelve apostles, he prays all night (Lk 6:12). Just as his food is to do the will of him who sent him (Jn 4:34), Jesus’ rest must come in communing with the one who sent him. In Dialogue with God Mark Virkler explains the importance of getting away and quieting one’s self in order to hear God speak. Jesus knows that his ministry must come out of the fullness of the Spirit and not his own strength.
Though he sometimes evades the crowds to pray, Jesus is willing to be interrupted by those who seek him. When he and his disciples try to find a solitary place to debrief about the Galilean campaign, the crowds follow and Jesus has compassion on them (Mk 6:30-4). Listening to God is not solely a mountaintop experience; Jesus hears God’s voice in the thick of the crowds. He has special insight into people’s hearts (which Mark Stibbe terms “cardiagnosis”). This insight comes as he focuses on certain people and engages them in dialogue. One can assume he is asking the Father to speak to them through him. It is tempting to think that Jesus receives his knowledge from the Father in bulk, whereas we only receive it piece by piece as we fumble along. However, in his dialogues with people, we can see him increasing in understanding as he listens to them and to the Father. This is especially evident in the interaction with the rich ruler (see below) and with the centurion, in which Jesus is amazed at his faith (Lk 7:9).
Jesus receives different types of words for people, but each word brings the recipient to a place of decision. For people on the margins, the words are often gentle. The Samaritan woman’s past is revealed to him, which causes her to call her whole village out to meet the man who told her everything she ever did (Jn 4). That a Jewish male knows her stained past and yet still dialogues with her is enough to make her an evangelist. To those who are wavering on the fringes of discipleship, Jesus gives a test. When the rich ruler asks what he must do to inherit eternal life, Jesus tells him to keep the commandments. He answers that he always has. When Jesus hears this, he tells him to sell everything he has, give the money to the poor, and follow him (Lk 18). As Jesus is asking the Father about the ruler, he is shown the one thing this man will not relinquish. This allows him to speak straight to the man’s heart, and the man decides to turn away. The words Jesus receives for the Pharisees usually reveal the sinful thoughts of their hearts. When the sinful woman anoints Jesus’ feet with oil in Simon’s house, he thinks to himself that if Jesus were a prophet he would know what kind of woman she is. The beautiful irony of this scene is that Jesus not only knows that she is a sinner, but he also knows the evil in Simon’s heart and speaks to it with a parable (Lk 7).
Jesus was able to hear God’s voice so distinctly partly because he spent time communing with God alone and partly because he positioned himself on the margins. It is primarily among the poor and “sinners” that God speaks, because he loves and pursues them with special care. Also, those rejected by society are often the only ones desperate enough to listen. Jewish law, not unlike American law, was set up so that the lower class was a class of “sinners.” Thus, sin was as much a social standing as it was a moral issue. Jesus was not sent to call the righteous, but sinners (or those who recognized themselves as such) (Mt 9:13). Paradoxically, the worst sinners are the “righteous,” against whom he speaks harsh words.
The final way in which Jesus hears God’s voice is audibly. In three instances a voice comes from heaven: at Jesus’ baptism, at the transfiguration, and once when he is teaching. At his baptism God speaks to Jesus, saying that he loves him and is pleased with him (Mk 1:11). At the transfiguration, the message is for the disciples: This is God’s son, whom he loves; listen to him (Mk 9:7). And during Jesus’ teaching, he asks God to glorify his own name, to which the Father responds, “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again” (Jn 12:28). The crowds disagree about whether the voice was thunder or an angel, but the message is passed down among believers to be recorded. Each instance is God’s declaration of approval on Jesus’ ministry at a crucial time, and two of the three times God speaks without being sought. Since Jesus is in constant dialogue with the Father, he is able to hear him in a variety of ways. He falls in line with the Old Testament prophets, who also heard him in all of the above ways.
B. Delivering the message “Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people” (Mt 4:23).
Once a prophet hears the voice of God, he must pass its message along to God’s people. This transfer can occur through word or through deed; a convergence of the two is the most effective. Jesus delivered God’s message through his preaching and teaching, through the miracles he performed, and through the lifestyle he chose.
1. Teaching A large portion of the Gospels is comprised of Jesus’ teachings. These are not irrelevant, esoteric sermons, but rather words directed at people’s hearts and daily lives. When the crowds chase him down, Jesus has compassion on them because they are like sheep without a shepherd. David Garland, in his commentary on Mark, points out that the way he shows this compassion is to first fill them with teaching and then later to fill them with bread (Garland 253).
Jesus’ message was the good news of the kingdom: that God is for his people and wants a relationship of reciprocal love with them. This message brought hope to those on the margins. His mission statement, taken from Isaiah 61, is to preach the good news to the poor, to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind, to release the oppressed and to proclaim the year of Jubilee (Lk 4: 18-9). He identifies himself with the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the sick, and the imprisoned, saying that the help we give to these people we give to him (Mt 25). Much of Jesus’ teaching involves the elevation of the oppressed and the overturning of the social and religious order. In the Sermon on the Mount he declares that those who are poor, hungry, weeping, and hated are actually blessed, for their reward in heaven is great (Lk 6:20-3). He says that the rich will have a hard time entering the kingdom of God, and the tax collectors and prostitutes are entering it ahead of the chief priests and elders (Lk 18:24, Mt 21:31).
Just as Jesus’ message brought hope to the downtrodden, it spoke condemnation to those in power. The flipside of Jesus’ good news to the poor sinners is his bad news to the rich and righteous ones. Even this bad news could be seen as good news, though, since it calls the hearer to right relationship with God. As Graham Cooke writes, a prophet’s message must always be good news, even if that news is Repent! (Cooke 68).
Directly following the blessings on the oppressed he declares woe on those who are rich, well-fed, laughing, and honored among people (Lk 6:24-6). The seven woes in the Gospel of Matthew are even direr, with the refrain, “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites!” (Mt 23). He indicts them for putting heavy burdens on the people, for shutting the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces, for putting on religious shows; he asks how they will escape being condemned to hell.
Jesus is not afraid to speak truth to power, even in seemingly dangerous situations. One time he eats at the house of a prominent Pharisee on the Sabbath and is carefully watched. Rather than toning down his message, though, first he heals a man and then attacks the Pharisees in painfully relevant parables. He exhorts them to take the lowest place at a banquet and to invite the poor and crippled to a dinner (Lk 14). Jesus’ strong words are not limited to the religious authorities; he also speaks truth to the Roman authorities. Even after Herod has beheaded his cousin John, Jesus calls Herod a fox and refuses to fear him (Lk 13:32-3). When he stands before Pilate, who threatens him with crucifixion, Jesus answers him, “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above” (Jn 19:11). In a fascinating play of words and careful silence, Jesus thwarts Pilates’ interrogation and, in a way, draws him into admitting that he is the king of the Jews (Jn 18).
Not only the content, but also the format of Jesus’ teaching is prophetic. Old Testament prophecy is full of symbolic narrative (trees clapping their hands, rich women being compared to cows), which is paralleled in Jesus’ parables. Jesus often answers questions using parables. To the expert in the law who wants to justify himself and asks, “Who is my neighbor?”, Jesus responds with the parable of the Good Samaritan, a contradiction in terms (Lk 10). He teaches about the value of the kingdom by comparing it to a hidden treasure and a pearl of great price, and he teaches about the value of the lost by comparing them to a coin, a sheep, and a beloved but prodigal son.
The concrete but ambiguous format of the parables has a dual purpose: both to enrich the message and cement it in believers’ hearts, and to keep it from those who do not believe. Quoting Isaiah 6, Jesus explains to his disciples, “This is why I speak to them in parables: ‘Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand’” (Mt 13:13).
In addition to word symbolism, Old Testament prophecy is also full of dramatic symbolism. The prophets perform dramatic actions that portray a spiritual reality in a physical form: Hosea marries a prostitute; Ezekiel digs through a wall and goes into exile; Jeremiah smashes a clay jar and buys a worthless field. Jesus likewise declares the message of God in dramatic form. He washes his disciples’ feet to remind them to serve one another (Jn 13). He rides the colt into Jerusalem with crowds shouting Hosanna! around him. Richard Horsely and Neil Silberman write in The Message and the Kingdom that this odd triumphal entry probably took place soon after Herod entered the city with a royal parade (Horsley 71). Whether he was mocking Herod’s imperial claims (as these scholars posit) or claiming kingship for himself, Jesus was using a well-known symbolic act to proclaim his message.
Jesus’ message is delivered in the dramas of other actors, too. The woman who anoints Jesus’ head with oil in the Gospels of Mark and Matthew is proclaiming his lordship, and the woman who anoints his feet with oil in Luke and John is symbolizing his imminent burial. Morna Hooker, in her book The Signs of a Prophet, writes that the high priest who tears his clothes after hearing Jesus’ “blasphemy” is unwittingly symbolizing the tearing of temple curtain (Hooker 57). In addition, Jesus’ crucifixion is surrounded by prophetic drama; he is crowned with thorns, draped in a scarlet robe, and lifted up with a sign declaring in three languages that he is king of the Jews (Mt 27). The soldiers thought they were mocking his degradation, when in reality they were declaring his lordship.
The messages of the Old Testament prophets share a similar theme: God is Lord above all other authorities; he cares specifically for the oppressed; he desires obedience and justice from his people; and he will save them from their sins and their enemies. The prophets point backward to the saving work of God and forward to the coming Messiah. These themes of past and future can be traced throughout Jesus’ teachings, though he also fulfills them as the Messiah who was to come (Jn 11:2-6). Rather than simply declaring the good news, Jesus is the good news.
Though Jesus’ message keeps the tradition of the Old Testament prophets, he is shown as above all previous prophets. Though his life, especially in Matthew’s account, draws many parallels to that of Moses (the flight to Egypt and murder of the innocents, feeding the masses bread/manna, having power over bodies of water, etc.), he is superior to Moses. In the Sermon on the Mount, he preaches what seems to be the antithesis of Moses’ teachings: a new law that does not abolish the Law and Prophets, but fulfills them (Mt 5). Though his life as written by Luke draws parallels to Elijah’s (raising a widow’s son, “being taken up,” and being asked to call down fire), he is superior to Elijah. That Jesus is above both of these, the greatest prophets, becomes most obvious during the transfiguration. The disciples see him talking with Moses and Elijah, and then the Father speaks and tells them to listen to Jesus, his son. When they realize that their teacher is greater than even the prophets, they fall facedown and are terrified (Mt 17).
2. Miracles The second way in which Jesus declares the message of the kingdom is through miracles; Jesus’ teachings were enhanced and confirmed by his miraculous actions. After Jesus feeds the five thousand, the crowds say, “Surely this is the Prophet who was to come into the world” (Jn 6:14). Thus, in the Jewish mind miracles were a sign of the office of prophet.
Jesus’ miracles can be divided into two loose categories: demonstrations of power over creation, and miracles of provision.
The first category, dominion over creation, is the outworking of Psalm 8. David writes that the Lord has made man ruler over the works of his hands and put everything under his feet (Ps 8:6). The common assumption is that Jesus is able walk on water, walk unscathed through murderous crowds, and catch hundreds of fish because he is divine. On the contrary, he has these abilities because he is fully human. Being fully human, he is therefore rightly connected to the Father through the Spirit. He understands and lives in the reality that humans have been given authority over nature.
The second category, miracles of provision, includes healing, feeding, and raising the dead. Like the miracles of dominion over nature, Jesus is able to do all of these through the ever-filling power of the Spirit: “The power of the Lord was present for him to heal the sick” (Lk 5:17). Unlike the others, these miracles have social implications. The situations surrounding these miracles, especially the healings, make them much more than demonstrations of power; they tangibly preach the kingdom come.
Jesus heals people for free; therefore, health is no longer for the rich but for the believing. Suddenly the lower classes can be freed of diseases and illness. The impact of this becomes obvious in a song by Emmylou Harris called “Jerusalem Tomorrow.” The narrator is a fake mercenary healer: “Well, I’d hire a kid to say he was lame / Then I’d touch him and make him walk again. / Then I’d pull some magic trick; / I’d pretend to heal the sick. / I was takin’ everything they had to give. / It wasn’t all that bad a way to live.” He is bewildered when he comes upon a town in which nobody falls for his tricks, or is even interested. An old man comes and explains to him, “You’re pretty good if I do say so myself, / But the guy come through here last month, he was somethin’ else. / Instead of callin’ out for fire from above, / He just gets real quiet and talks about love. / And I’ll tell you somethin’ funny: / He didn’t want nobody’s money.” No wonder Jesus has hordes of people following him, dropping in through rooftops and chasing him across the lake. They were probably very familiar with “faith-healers,” but here was the first one who sought out the poor rather than the rich.
There are also religious and social implications of Jesus’ healings. Jewish law forbade people with certain illnesses from worshiping at the Temple, and forbade some from even living with the community. By healing the lepers, he restores them to their homes and families (Lk 17). By healing the bleeding woman, he restores her to the community (Lk 8). These healings symbolize God healing his people of their sins and sicknesses and restoring them to himself. The kingdom has come, and the people can feel it in their healed bodies. In correspondence with his teachings, Jesus’ prophetic healings declare new laws about what (or who) is clean and unclean.
In addition to allowing people to cross social boundaries by healing them, Jesus himself crosses religious boundaries while healing. Because his heart goes out to her, Jesus touches the bier in which the widow of Nain’s son lies (Lk 7). As Marvin Pate points out in his commentary on Luke, in this act Jesus ignores the ritual uncleanness of the dead (168). In the very next chapter of the Gospel, Jesus commits another sin, allowing the bleeding woman to touch him. According to Bruce Malina’s Social-Science Commentary on the Synoptic Gospels, this woman was probably from the elite class since she had sought the help of physicians. With her blood flowing, though, she was rendered unclean and therefore ostracized from the community; because of her illness she fell from the echelons to the depths. She was not only ritually unclean, but she was a woman touching a man, which was highly improper (Malina 261). Jesus also touches a leper in order to heal him; not only a incorrect act, but a dangerous one (Lk 5:13). In touching the unclean, Jesus pronounces God’s care for all, even the outcasts. His action backs up his teaching that it is not something outside a person that makes her unclean, but what comes out of her heart (Mk 7).
The major religious law Jesus transgresses is that of not working on the Sabbath. The Gospels are thick with examples of Jesus healing on the Sabbath, incurring the wrath of the Pharisees (they want to kill him because of it—Mt 12:14). He does it at Simon the Pharisee’s house, he does it at the Temple, he does it on the streets. After a controversy about his disciples picking grain on the Sabbath, Jesus enters the synagogue. The Pharisees try to trap him by asking if it is lawful to heal on the Sabbath. He not only heals the man with the shriveled hand, but also makes a pointed statement about how the Pharisees themselves would lift their sheep out of a pit on the Sabbath. It is lawful to do good on the Sabbath (Mt 12). This set of prophetic miracles signifies not only that God is powerful enough to heal his people, but also that he loves them more than their man-made laws. Jesus chides the Pharisees: “You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men” (Mk 7:8).The kingdom is about life, not enslavement to religion. If he must choose between following a rule or showing love to a person, Jesus always chooses the person.
The way Jesus deals with sickness sheds light on how he deals with sin. To Jews, illness is a result of sin. Encountering a man born blind, the disciples ask whether the parents or he sinned (Jn 9). Jesus answers that neither one sinned and he heals the man, which causes a ruckus with the Pharisees and ends in the man being excommunicated. Before healing the paralytic, Jesus forgives his sins (Mt 9). The religious implications of this are massive, because Jews believe that only God can forgive sins. By forgiving sins and healing the man, Jesus both declares his divinity and declares the authority of those who are in communion with the Father: “And the man got up and went home. When the crowd saw this, they were filled with awe, and they praised God, who had given such authority to humans” (Mt 9:7-8).
Hooker writes of one final prophetic aspect of Jesus’ healing ministry. In the healing of the centurion’s servant and the Syro-Phoenician daughter in Matthew 8 and 15, Jesus’ actions signify that his ministry will not always be only to the Jews. “God’s salvation is already reaching out to the Gentiles, and the good news will, in time, be taken to them.” Both of these healings are accompanied by discussions on the faith of the Jews versus the Gentiles, and both are performed at a distance, indicating that Jesus will not be the one to proclaim the gospel to the Gentiles (Hooker 37-8).
In the miracles of feeding and raising the dead, Jesus provides for other physical needs of his followers. After they have listened to his teaching for hours, he provides bread and fish for them. In a time of debt and dispossession for the Galilean peasants, this gift of food would not have been insignificant (Horsley 26). Even Jesus’ miracles of raising the dead were miracles of provision; the widow of Nain faced financial ruin after losing her only son, and Lazarus’ sisters Mary and Martha were probably in a precarious situation after losing him. By restoring these men to their families and by providing food for the crowds, Jesus shows that God cares about his children’s daily needs, not just their holiness. Through his miraculous actions he proclaims the good news of the kingdom.
Almost all of Jesus’ miracles would have brought to mind the actions of the Old Testament prophets. Like him, they healed, brought people back to life, displayed power over nature, and provided food and water for the Israelites. Unlike them, Jesus also drives out demons. This power is what sets him apart from other prophets and makes people wonder if he is the Son of David (Mt 12:23). Jesus explains that his power to drive out demons signifies that the kingdom of God has come (Mt 12:28). As Hooker writes, exorcisms are a dramatic physical sign of the spiritual work of God: the kingdom of God is bursting into this world, and Satan’s kingdom is crumbling (Hooker 37).
3. Lifestyle The third way in which Jesus delivers the message he hears from God is through the lifestyle he lives. In his choice of location, company, and career, he lives prophetically.
Jesus stays in Galilee for most of his ministry, which is not the most logical place for worldwide impact. Horsley writes that the local people are mostly poor Jewish farmers, struggling to retain their traditions against the progressive Romans. From the Roman perspective (the position of power), the Galileans are backward and difficult (Horsley 24). The town of Nazareth is known as a place out of which no good could come (Jn 1:46). At one point his brothers jeeringly tell him to go to Judea, where his fame might spread more (Jn 7:3-4). Instead, like the Old Testament prophets, Jesus does not desire fame. He teaches in remote places during most of his ministry, where people must seek him out.
If Jesus’ purpose is to declare the good news to the Jews, why does he not seek the largest audience possible? Because he must be true to the nature of that good news. It is news that is primarily for the oppressed and afflicted. It is news that is brought to those who are humble enough to receive it, but that the powerful must humble themselves to hear (as many do: Nicodemus, the centurion, the synagogue leader, etc.). It is news that those who are blinded by pride and position cannot comprehend (Jn 9:41). When he does go to Judea, he goes secretly (Jn 7:10). And when he goes into Jerusalem, the seat of power, he does not have kind words to say. The very place in which Jesus does his ministry mirrors the message he brings.
The second prophetic aspect of Jesus’ lifestyle is the mixed company he keeps. His disciples are uneducated fishermen and tax collectors. He has women (the unfavored sex) following him, caring for his needs, and even supporting his ministry (Mk 15:41, Lk 8:2). There are people in his group who have been healed from demon possession and all other sorts of unclean things, who are probably still on the margins of society. Not only this, but he even eats with tax collectors and “sinners,” which is repulsive to the Pharisees (Mt 9:11). He singles out Zaccheus, the chief tax collector who is a known sinner, and dines at his house (Lk 19). One consequence of Jesus’ eating with all sorts is the convergence of people it brings about. When a notorious woman hears that Jesus will be at the house of Simon the Pharisee, she comes to anoint him with oil (Luke 8:37). No doubt she had not stepped foot inside that house before, at least not in the daylight. Jesus, in his love for all people—even sinners—breaks down social barriers. The best example of this is when he goes into Samaria (which Jews do not do), and speaks to a Samaritan woman alone (which Jews definitely do not do: Jn 4). By speaking with, ministering to, and aligning himself with people of questionable reputation, Jesus announces that the kingdom of God is for all—especially these broken ones.
The third prophetic aspect of Jesus’ lifestyle is his rejection of home, family, and career. Again, these rejections put him in line with the Old Testament prophets. As he leaves his home, Jesus calls his disciples to do the same: “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head” (Mt 8:20). Jesus and his followers are something like a band of ragamuffins. As Rich Mullins sings in his song “You Did Not Have a Home,” “The hope of the whole world rests on the shoulders of a homeless man.” He and his disciples spend many nights on mountains and in gardens; though their needs were met, they could not have been well-dressed or well-fed. In addition to rejecting his home, Jesus rejects his family. He asserts, “Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother” (Mk 3:34). He also rejects his career as a carpenter to become an itinerant preacher who is either mobbed or thrown out of places. Instead, his work is to the will of the one who sent him.
Through these three rejections, Jesus proclaims aspects of the kingdom. In the new kingdom, home is heaven rather than earth. Family is comprised of those who believe in God, and work is doing the Father’s will. The world has no hold on Jesus; in fact, it hates him because he does not belong to it (Jn 15:18-9). He has rejected it, and so it rejects him. He belongs to a new kingdom, a different country.
III. Application: the authority we have been given “I have called you friends, for everything I have learned from my Father I have made known to you” (Jn 15:15).
The most amazing aspect of Jesus’ ministry is not that he raises the dead, nor that he walks on water, but that he does these things as a human. In the description of the kenosis in Philippians 2 we read that when Jesus became a man, he emptied himself of his divine prerogatives. He lives completely reliant on the Father, as he explains so often in the Gospel of John: “The Son can do nothing by himself; he can only do what he sees his Father doing” (5:19).
If it is true that Jesus does all things as a human, we should be able to do all of the same things that he does. First, we are able to learn to hear God’s voice as clearly as Jesus does: “He who belongs to God hears what God says” (Jn 8:47). We have the same access to the Scriptures that he does, and the same access to the Spirit.
Once we receive the message from God, we should be able to deliver with the same wisdom, authority, and obedience Jesus has.
He promises us the wisdom to teach as he teaches, speaking the words of the Spirit. When we are arrested, he tells us, “Do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say, for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you” (Mt 10:19-20). As we learn to hear the Father’s voice, we should grow in prophetic evangelism, winning people to him by speaking words specifically for them.
As recipients of the Spirit, we have the same authority to perform miracles as Jesus has. As humans, we have all been given dominion over creation. Jesus tries to convey this to his disciples. After calming the storm, Jesus rebukes the disciples for their lack of faith (Mk 5:40). In light of Jesus’ teaching about faith the size of a mustard seed being sufficient to move mountains, the reader can extrapolate that he was not chiding his disciples for their lack of faith in his lordship, but rather for not calming the waves themselves. We should be able to walk on water, or even to fly—the possibilities are endless.
We should also be able to perform miracles of healing as he does. When he sends his disciples out, he gives them the authority to drive out evil spirits and to heal every disease and sickness (Mt 10:1). In his last teaching, he tells the disciples their authority will only increase after he leaves: “Anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these” (Jn 14:12). As we improve in being filled with the Spirit, we should be able to go around curing cancer and AIDS and raising the dead.
Jesus also gives spiritual authority to his disciples: the authority to forgive sins (Jn 20:22-3). He gives us his glory, and he promises to do whatever we ask (Jn 17, 15).
Just as we have been given the authority that Jesus receives, so our lifestyles should be obedient as his is. We are not of the world any more than Jesus himself is (Jn 17:16), so we should not live as if we are. We should locate ourselves among the marginalized and declare the good news first to them. Our friends should be a diverse mix of social classes and levels of holiness, since we attract all through God’s love in us. We need to reject our families, careers, homes, and countries as we find a place in the family of God, our work in serving him, and our home in his heavenly kingdom.
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