We Have Super Powers

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The command “Be ye perfect” is not idealistic gas. Nor is it a command to do the impossible. He is going to make us into creatures that can obey that command. He said (in the Bible) that we were “gods” and He is going to make good His words. If we let Him—for we can prevent Him, if we choose—He will make the feeblest and filthiest of us into a god or goddess, dazzling, radiant, immortal creatures, pulsating all through with such energy and joy and wisdom and love as we cannot now imagine, a bright stainless mirror which reflects back to Him perfectly (though, of course, on a smaller scale) His own boundless power and delight and goodness. The process will be long and in parts very painful; but that is what we are in for. Nothing less. He meant what he said. (C. S. Lewis, “Mere Christianity.” Macmillan, 1952, p. 174)

 

“For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.”  (Matthew 5:20)

Grace doesn’t cancel out our need to be righteous. 

Jesus provides supernatural abilities to live out His commands. Someone once said, “Christians have don’t have special advantages over the world but greater demands.”

Unlike Frederich Nietzsche’s “Superman” (cf.  “he is this lightning, he is this inner intoxication, he is the sense of the earth!”), becoming a superman (like God) is a matter of pure grace and becoming intoxicated with God’s will.

Only a person endowed with “superpowers” can fulfill the Sermon on the Mount.  Think of all of the times Jesus underlines our need to surpass the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees:

1. Matthew 5:22 – But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a …
2. Matthew 5:44 – But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those …
3. Matthew 5:39 –  But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If …
4. Matthew 5:34 – But I tell you, do not swear an oath at all: either …
5. Matthew 5:28 – But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman …
6. Matthew 5:32 –  But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife …
7. Matthew 17:12 –  But I tell you, Elijah has already come, and they …
8. Matthew 11:22 –  But I tell you, it will be more bearable for Tyre …
9. Matthew 11:24 – But I tell you that it will be more bearable for …

Uncontrolled rage must be turned into righteous indignation, spiteful jealousy into zeal for the truth, sexual lust into an eros that is pure in its fervor. The passions, then, are to be purified, not killed; to be educated, not eradicated; to be used positively, not negatively. To ourselves and to others we say, not “Suppress”, but “Transfigure”.

Ware, Kallistos. The Orthodox Way . St Vladimir’s Seminary Press. Kindle Edition.

Jesus begins with 12 men and in a few short years, the hatred Roman Empire is a part of Christ’s kingdom.   Christ’s supermen and women emptying themselves to become little Christs.

The Bible promises us Superpowers: 

“Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” (Matthew 17:20)

” All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20)

Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I have said you are “gods”‘? (John 10:34)

 

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