What if Connections Were Power?
A reading for Tuesday, April 7, 2020: Mark 11:27-33.
By what authority? That's the question the chief priests, the scribes and the elders want to know. What makes you think you have the right to do all this? That's really the question being asked. It's about power. Who has power? Who gets to decide power? Does Jesus have any power, especially since he has no "official" title like the chief priests, the scribes and the elders?
We too live in an age when power is shifting and changing. Networks and relationships used to be based on institutions like clubs and professional organizations. Power was designated by class or by status. Even on the internet, influencers like celebrities and professional athletes had the power to drive clicks and marketing. You had to be somebody to have power.
However, in the "new normal" all that is changing like a blur. Suddenly, we are connected across virtual platforms with whoever we choose. Commutes, meeting space, travel schedules and all the rest has evaporated and all that's left is the connected universe of person to person. You don't have to be somebody to have power, but maybe a group of nobody's.
"By what authority" might suddenly mean what group are you part of that is doing this? Could that mean the groups networked and connected by Jesus Christ are suddenly important again. Our institutional power was diminished and the reports of the church's death greatly exaggerated. But what if new networks of connected Christians suddenly had authority again?
It's a new connected world, and Jesus is still in the center of it all for many of us. What's God up to here?
By what authority? That's the question the chief priests, the scribes and the elders want to know. What makes you think you have the right to do all this? That's really the question being asked. It's about power. Who has power? Who gets to decide power? Does Jesus have any power, especially since he has no "official" title like the chief priests, the scribes and the elders?
We too live in an age when power is shifting and changing. Networks and relationships used to be based on institutions like clubs and professional organizations. Power was designated by class or by status. Even on the internet, influencers like celebrities and professional athletes had the power to drive clicks and marketing. You had to be somebody to have power.
However, in the "new normal" all that is changing like a blur. Suddenly, we are connected across virtual platforms with whoever we choose. Commutes, meeting space, travel schedules and all the rest has evaporated and all that's left is the connected universe of person to person. You don't have to be somebody to have power, but maybe a group of nobody's.
"By what authority" might suddenly mean what group are you part of that is doing this? Could that mean the groups networked and connected by Jesus Christ are suddenly important again. Our institutional power was diminished and the reports of the church's death greatly exaggerated. But what if new networks of connected Christians suddenly had authority again?
It's a new connected world, and Jesus is still in the center of it all for many of us. What's God up to here?
Comments
Post a Comment