Sunday: Lord, Will You? . . . But You
WEEK 7
SUNDAY
LORD, WILL YOU? . . . BUT YOU
Matthew 17:14-18
We come now to look at another mastery—the mastery of looking to Jesus to do everything.
“So when they had come together, they asked him, ‘Lord, will you . . . ?’ He said to them, . . . ‘But you. . . .’ ” (Acts 1:6-8 RSV). The emphasis had now shifted; they had been looking to him to do everything—“Lord, will you?”—and now he was going to look to them—“But you.”
That change from Jesus himself doing everything to his doing everything through them is of the utmost importance. For if their attitude had not changed, the movement of redemption would have resulted in a shabby group of pietists, folding their hands and rolling their eyes and saying, “Jesus will do it all.” The movement would have died and ought to have died, for it would not have been worth surviving. It would have weakened the persons involved, taking away their initiative, their very personalities.
Up to this time they had watched him do everything: heal the sick, preach the good news, feed the multitudes, die, rise again, instruct them. He was taking the initiative. They were in the dependent stage—of childhood; then for forty days they were in the independent stage—of adolescence—for he came and went and left them on their own. Now they were passing into the interdependent stage—of maturity—where they were working things out together.
While he was looking to them to be the center of activity, he was more than with them, he was in them in the Holy Spirit. “Rather, you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses” (v. 8). There was interplay here. They were in the stage of maturity—of interdependence. Now they were grown-up human beings working with Christ within them and working out his purposes. He had brought them to the stage where he wanted them—of upstanding human beings who, now morally independent, choose to be morally interdependent and to work out things in cooperation with him—a cooperative endeavor. They would supply willingness, and he, power.
O Christ, you are so thoughtful, so considerate, guiding us but not overriding us, making us the center and yet yourself the center at the same time. We thank you. Amen.
AFFIRMATION FOR THE DAY: I am facing life not on the unit principle but on the cooperative plan.