Natural disasters often bring “power outages.” Over “300,000” people lost electricity when a recent hurricane swept along our east coast. Manufacturers capitalize on these events by advertising the new and latest power generators. We “moderns” are extremely dependent on electrical power. Without it our lives come to a halt.
Reflecting on the current state of affairs in our world, many ask the question, “What is going on?” Seventeen “mass shootings’ have taken place in our country so far this year. Did you even hear the term “mass shooting” when growing up? Politics of hate, parading of immorality, cheating and greed have begun to saturate the world.
We are having a global “power outage.” We live in a society that has consciously unplugged itself from God and proudly claims to be able to solve its own problems.
We are in desperate need of a power generator. God, in his mercy, sent such a power source to us in Jesus his Son. We read about this power today (Luke 6:12-19).
“A great crowd of his disciples and a large number of the people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and even those who were tormented by unclean spirits were cured. Everyone in the crowd sought to touch him because power came forth from him and healed them all.”
People in Jesus’ time were desperate for help. Sickness abounded, demon possession was rampant, and people were starving for truth. And so when news came out that God had sent a new “power generator” to earth, people came, not just from local vicinities, but from faraway places like Tyre and Sion. They were not disappointed; he “healed them all.” He did what no one else could do; he set people free from unclean spirits. And most of all he taught the truth. People experienced great peace when they heard wisdom pour out of his mouth. At last power was being restored to the human race. God came through!
And where did this power come from? What was Jesus’ secret? Earlier in the same passage we read:
“Jesus departed to the mountain to pray, and he spent the night in prayer to God.”
Aha! Jesus drew his power directly from God himself. He spent an entire night in prayer! In doing so he received such a dose of divine power that he was able to serve the needs of the thousands who came to him.
Rather than throw up our hands in frustration and confusion, we, Christians know exactly what the problem is in our time. It is the exact same problem that confronted the people of Jesus’ day. There is a global “power outage.” And we know that free power is still available in Jesus Christ. He is still alive; he still walks the earth; he still releases his power through the Church and through all those who give their lives to him. In a way each of us is a portable “power generator” for the world, and the sacraments are an eternal power source.
Are we going to wallow in confusion and distress, or will we drop everything and go straight to our power source? Maybe more of us need to “spend the night” in prayer, so we can be filled again with divine power. How sad, if knowing the answer, we neglect to use it, proclaim it, and take it to the world.
“I chose you from the world, that you may go and bear fruit that will last” (John 15:16).
