SARAH KAETLER
The man with all the power

It is 2000 years since Jesus’ birth, and we can celebrate. But what are we celebrating, and why?

Jesus, whose birthday we celebrate at Christmas, said these words to his followers one day: “I have been given all power in heaven and on earth” (Matthew 28:18, The Bible). He did not say, “some power” or even “much power”. He said “all power”. Let’s ponder that for a moment.

Jesus, who made this statement, was a Jewish peasant and a carpenter. He had no formal education. He probably learned to make ploughs, yokes, boxes, chests, doors and the like. Then he took up preaching. Some believed him, but some doubted his words. Some said one thing about him, and some said another. He did have a few followers. They were fishermen, tax collectors and other common folk. Some called him an impostor and a deceiver, and he was hung on a cross to die between two thieves at the young age of 33.

Where, then, did his power lie?

First, He had power to make friends. Today, it is almost 2000 years since anyone has seen Jesus. No one living today has clasped his hand or heard him speak, yet, amazingly, he has many friends today.

In fact, Jesus has friends in every nation of the world, friends in every climate, friends of every colour, friends in every condition, friends in palaces, huts, cottages, caves, prisons and churches. He has friends willingly offering their time, talents and money to serve him. He has friends working in mines, friends in hospital beds, friends sewing blankets for the needy, friends drying their fishing nets, friends preaching sermons in churches and friends suffering persecution because they follow him. He has friends everywhere.

How is it that Jesus who died between two thieves 2000 years ago has so many friends around the world today, friends who have never seen him, yet who know him and love him?

The answer is this. Jesus is the Son of God. He had the power to heal diseases and perform miracles. He had the power to control winds and waves, to stop the rotation of the earth and to keep it going with the greatest of precision. He had power to make himself remembered. He still has power to make His words live in the lives of individual human beings.

A little company of 12 people sat in a room around a table, ate some bread and drank some wine as Jesus said, “Eat this as a way of remembering me.” Shortly afterwards, he was betrayed and rejected by everyone. He was executed by crucifixion.

How often did his followers observe this? One would think, “Never again!” Yet today, in different lands, in different quarters of the world, hundreds of millions of people gather to remember Jesus in this way. With tearful eyes, they drink and eat in memory of Jesus’ death.

This year we will celebrate Jesus’ birth once again. Someday Jesus will return to earth, and we will all recognize him as the man with, “all power in heaven and on earth”.