In the movie, “Bruce Almighty,” God takes a vacation and gives Bruce divine authority and powers. Bruce uses his newfound powers not for world peace, but for his personal gain. He becomes obsessed with power. It possesses him, and so he makes a mess of things. We are not that different from Bruce.
Jesus had power and authority. But it was tempered with humility and love, which can be expressed in meekness. By worldly standards, meekness is rarely celebrated. In any thesaurus you will find a list of synonyms that include weak, apprehensive, deferential, passive and self-effacing. But Christ-like humility and meekness have to do with knowing God’s love and believing God’s operating instructions about you. God says that each of us is loved and valued. We are to model that and share it with others.
This message is adapted from “Bone-deep Peace” written by Angela Shannon in the December 2007 issue of Gather magazine. Today we remember John XXIII, bishop of Rome, who died in 1963 and The Martyrs of Uganda, who died in 1886.