Jesus returned in
the power of the Spirit . . .
Luke
4:14a
After forty days in the wilderness, Jesus emerges with
power, ready to begin his ministry. I think about the preparation that his time
in the wilderness gave him. Would we ever think of withdrawing as a way to
access power? I have heard many people say they were fearful that if they took
time away from the activities (be it work, volunteer service or recreation)
they would be forgotten, deemed nonessential, or would lose the discipline to
show up.
Withdrawal seems so passive to us, and most of us don’t
like to be passive. I remember several years ago hearing someone say he did not
want to call a retreat by that name. Instead he wanted to use the word “advance.”
Advance does sound more assertive than retreat, and we might think that
advancing would make us more powerful. Withdrawing or retreating, stepping out
of the fray of daily activity, may not seem like the way to power.
Our cultural tendency to grit our teeth and push forward
as if we are superhuman is not the way of Jesus. If we want to follow Jesus,
we have to cease our breakneck pace of life. We have to move with intention and
attention. We have to stop, rest, withdraw and pray. To receive the power of
the Spirit requires that we lay aside our own notions of power, our tendency to
take matters into our own hands.
To follow Jesus, not run ahead of Jesus, requires that we
trust that the Spirit will empower us, that we can withdraw, wait and rest,
setting aside our arrogant notions of how things should be and instead
entrusting God with our being and doing.
It is why following Jesus is so hard for us. We have to
follow, not lead!
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