2-12-19 - Power Came Out

(You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here.)

When trying to come up with a name for a church newly formed out of two parishes, I knew I wanted “Christ” in it. People have heard of Christ, even if they’ve never been introduced. The rest of the name also needed to be something people could connect to, a word in use nowadays. “King” seemed too monarchical and male-centric; “Redeemer” not particularly relatable – these days we only redeem points and coupons. We ended up with “Christ the Healer,” which was great, but what I really wished we could have used was “Christ the Transformer.”

They had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. And all in the crowd were trying to touch him, for power came out from him and healed all of them.

Electric transformers take energy running on one current (say, that used in America) and transform it so it can be used by appliances wired for a different current (such as in Europe or Africa). Jesus was the Transformer extraordinaire, taking the energy current that birthed the universe and translating, mediating, making it usable for God’s creatures in this earthly realm. More than once the gospel writers refer to Jesus’ power being something that people could feel, that came out of him. Here we see a whole crowd trying to touch him, just to get a dose of what Jesus was mediating to the world. This is yet another bible passage suggesting to me that God is pure energy, of a frequency we could not withstand were it not transformed for us.

That power coming through Jesus didn’t just “zap” people – it healed and restored. It cast out “unclean spirits,” whether demonic forces, or mental or physical diseases, or both. It forgave and released people. God’s power coming through Jesus transformed in body, mind and spirit – and transformed individuals become transformers in their communities.

We are called to be transformers as we grow into Christ's likeness and ministry. We receive the power of the heavens and transform it into a current that “runs appliances” – lifting up the lowly, feeding the forgotten, healing the infirm, forgiving the unforgivable, loving the unlovable. As we grow in faith, exercising the power of God in prayer and ministry, we become able to withstand and channel a higher and higher frequency, or voltage, of spiritual power. God’s power has not weakened from the time of Christ to now; it is as strong as the wiring able to carry it.

Every single time we exercise faith in the name of Christ we mediate the power of the heavens to bring transformation and life to the things and creatures and people of this world. The more we channel God's power and love, the stronger and deeper our capacity grows. Christ the Transformer is alive and eager to work through us, his Body in the world. How much can your wiring take?

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