Authority vs Power

By Jonathan Shieh

This is the second post in the series in our continuing discussion of authority. I encourage you to give the first post a quick glance to put things in context. Go ahead and take a minute. I’ll wait.

Welcome back.

Now let’s take a moment and exercise our imagination a little. Imagine a desert. The sun is blazing and the heat is unbearable. The dirt is cracked from the dry heat and only a few dried out bushes are visible in view. A two-lane highway, stretching as far as the eye can see, runs straight through the desert. This sets the stage for a conflict between two titanic forces.

The first of the two contestants in this conflict is a truck. It comes speeding down the highway. As it gets closer into view, you see that it is an 18 wheeler, a giant of a truck. In tow is its cargo, weighing at about 36 metric tons. By any measure, it has got a lot of physical power.

The other contestant in this conflict is a man. He seems fairly unimpressive physically: average height, average weight, and average build. There doesn’t appear to be anything different about this person than anyone else you may see in the street.

But this man begins to do something that goes against his ordinary appearance. Indeed, he does something that goes against all logic and against all common sense. He steps onto the asphalt and stands right in the middle of the highway, right on the path of the giant truck. He gets ready to stop the truck with his bare hands.

Are you with me so far? Two forces are about to collide and the outcome seems apparent: The man simply cannot stop that moving truck.

As the truck draws closer, without any sign of slowing, you prepare yourself to look away from the imminent disaster. This man, without any sign of worry or concern, simply raises his hand in front of him to motion to the truck. He yells, “Stop!”

The brakes of the truck soon engages and the whole of the truck, with 36 tons of cargo and all, comes to a screeching halt right in front of the man.

How did this man do this, you ask? Did I forget to tell you? This man is a policeman. And you have just witnessed “Authority vs Power”.

See, in a match up comparing raw power, this man would have lost to the truck each and every time. But this man has something more than raw power. He has been given delegated authority.

He has been given authority from a government agency, that says, “Go and keep the law, order, and peace on behalf of the government.” So if anyone were to disobey the police officer, they are not just disobeying a person. They are not dealing with just a man in some uniform, but they are also dealing with the whole of the government that’s standing behind the police officer, backing him up with all the power and resources available.

So when the police officer issues that bold command “Stop!” He’s not saying, “Stop, or you will have to deal with my physical prowess”, but he is saying, “Stop, or you’ll have to deal with what’s backing me up.”

Have you ever seen police car chases on TV? Often times, the incident starts with just a routine traffic stop, due to speeding or some other minor issues. But the driver for some reason doesn’t obey and starts to try to outrun the police officer. And soon enough, they have half a dozen police cars and a helicopter chasing them down.

When the authority of a police officer is challenged, the government agency that authorized the police officer springs into action, bring as much power as is needed to ensure that what the officer attempted to perform is completed.

Have you begun to see some parallels with the Kingdom of God?

Mark 16:15, 17-18

And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.

And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

The authority has been issued by Jesus. How we use it, or if we use it, is up to us. There are many things that we can say about what our mentality ought to be in light of the example of the centurion and the policeman. But that… will have to wait until next time…

Share on Facebook