I am currently working with a 10th grade student
at the youth group I volunteer at.
A
self-proclaimed rebel and rabble-rouser, he prides himself on his latest
exploits, humiliations, “burns” and mischief.
Week after week, he talks about how he is able, at any time of his
choice, to make his teachers cry, yell, threaten and potentially react
violently to his rude, disrespectful, offensive and provoking behavior.
He masks it with sarcasm, but openly admits
that he doesn’t really care – that it is funny.
He regales his friends with his increasingly extreme measures to display
his dominance and is virtually indifferent to any form of reprisal.
I was talking recently with a friend about the movie “The
Shawshenk Redemption.”
Morgan Freeman
plays a man incarcerated for the vast majority of his life.
He receives his coveted freedom only to
reenter society to find himself alone and aimless.
In one particular scene, he is bagging
groceries at his new job and asks his boss for a bathroom break.
His boss, annoyed, pulls him aside and tells
him he doesn’t have to ask to use the bathroom – just do it!
The narrated voice reflects that for the
majority of his life, he has had to ask permission to use the bathroom every
single time.
At no point was he to ever
make such a decision or move himself, it was the way this system worked.
My late grandfather was a prisoner of war in World War
II.
He was marched mercilessly through
the snow-covered grounds of
Poland
and
Germany.
Miles upon miles, starving to the point of
insanity, his captors led him to the prison camp of Oflag 64.
This particular story ends in victory as the
captives were freed by General George Patton.
Yet, the amazing part of this story was not in the victory (though it
was miraculous and to be celebrated).
The
amazing part of this story is in the strength of the human spirit.
The hundreds of American soldiers held at
Oflag 64, oppressed as they were, resolved not to surrender their souls to
their German captives.
In an effort to
maintain their dignity (and sanity) they set up a complete society in the
prison camp complete with elections, sports teams, clubs, lectures and the
like.
Though their freedom had been
taken away, their resolve, their spirit and their faith had not.
Though they were apparently powerless against
their captives, they were free and in control of their minds, relationships and
approach toward their situation.
Power is an interesting concept.
Though suppressed, these amazing men in Oflag
64 were not powerless.
They chose not to
surrender control even when forced against their will into captivity.
Morgan Freeman’s character did not realize
this power in the moment he was told to use the bathroom whenever he wanted.
As noble as this thought is, sometimes power motivates
people toward evil and harm.
My heart is
burdened for the 10th grader who is so power-hungry he cannot help
but act out to display his independence.
His parents carry no weight, his teachers cannot control him,
consequences mean nothing – and all of this is the way it is because: he says
so.
In yet another act of power, he
forbids anyone to tell him what to do, even when all control is taken away from
him, he replies with that which no one can control: his spirit.
People display power (whether given or
demanded) in a variety of ways.
Manipulation,
indifference, violence, etc.
Those who
fight for power can be of noble or ignoble intent.
God is all-powerful.
We profess Him to be the ultimate force in all that is known.
Yet, the way God is viewed depends on our own
understanding of power.
If God is viewed
as the oppressor, we can justify (or remain indifferent about) acting out under
that “oppression.”
The constant power
struggle will be that of Jacob who wrestled against God.
On the other hand, if God is viewed correctly as
all-powerful – yet grace-filled and interested in our best, the humble follower
willingly relinquishes any fabricated belief that power is personally possessed
or deserved.
The paradox of all
Christianity: “Christ did not consider his equality with God something to be
grasped but made himself nothing, taking on the very nature of a servant.”
Those of us who think we are in control need
to re-evaluate why we think that.
Because
it’s not true and, sooner or later, we’re going to find that out the hard way.
