The Power of US

I remember the instructions clearly, “You have to get over the 12 foot wall.” I looked at the wall. It was smooth. There was no way I was going to jump high enough to reach the top. “It’s impossible,” I thought to myself. I wondered if the folks I was with felt the same way.

Then it occurred to me that I wasn’t supposed to get over the wall on my own. I wasn’t asked to do something that was impossible. It was only impossible if I didn’t take advantage of the people I was with.

So we began. A couple of the more athletic guys stepped forward. They bent down and began to push another up the wall. They were both about six feet tall, and the person they pushed up was six feet tall, so with their arms extended, they reached at least fourteen feet high. The person on top grabbed the top of the wall, and with some pushing from below, pulled himself over the wall. He did it. One of our team members was over the wall. Instead of taking off and leaving us behind, he turned around, leaned over the wall, and began to help the next person who was being lifted up by the two athletic guys. In a matter of a few minutes, almost all of our team was over the wall. But now what? We had two on the ground left. One of them put the other one on his shoulders and slowly but surely the one on the shoulders began to reach up the wall. He was being slowly pushed up by the one who was carrying him, while at the same time two of the people on top of the wall reached down and grabbed him and began to pull. Just like that he was up and over the wall. Only one left.

How was this last one going to get over the wall?

One of the people on top of the wall leaned over really far, so far that others on the wall had to grab his legs. They slowly lowered him back down the wall so that he reached about 1/2 of the way down the wall. The person on the ground reached up and jumped. Miss. Miss. Miss. Almost . . . miss.

But then about the fifth try, after the person was lowered as far as possible, they linked hands. The folks on the wall began to pull the person up who was grasping the person on the ground. Slowly but surely the team lifted both people up over the wall. The entire group had accomplished what was impossible for one person to accomplish. I was amazed. I was one of the people who went over the wall even though at first I thought it was impossible.

“Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.” John 14:12-14

What a promise that Jesus makes to us! We will do “greater works than these,” the works that Jesus himself did? That is what the text says.

From the very beginning, we see our tendency to approach life with a “Let ME do it” attitude. It is not at all unhealthy when it comes to a lot of life, but when it comes to the “faith based” approach to life, it fails. It is impossible for us to follow Jesus and keep His commandments and reach the world IF we try to do it on our own. Jesus didn’t ask us to do anything on our own. His approach is “Let US do it.” It is community based. It is relational. It reflects dependence upon others and Him to be able to climb the walls He asks us to climb.

Your marriage isn’t what is ought to be. Hear Jesus says, “Let US do it.”
You’re not making disciples. “Let US do it.”
You’re stuck in sin. “Let US do it.”
You’re overwhelmed with guilt and shame. “Let US do it.”
And on and on it goes. Whatever wall you face, Jesus is saying, “Let US get over it together.”

So often we spend time focused on the wall. I could have jumped and jumped to try and get over the 12 foot wall on my own. I could have sat in despair because of the hopelessness I felt looking at the wall. But the change came in me when I stopped looking at the wall and started to focus on US. I saw the US and began to realize it wasn’t up to ME to get over it. I felt so much more hopeful when I began to see the power and strength in US.

As Jesus asks you to follow Him, maybe it is a better plan to focus more attention on the US. We tend to live in the ME, but as we focus on the US, I think, we began to realize that no wall is too high, no relationship is too broken, no task is too great for US to overcome.

US = you and me and our brothers and sisters in Christ and the Trinitarian God (Father, Son & Holy Spirit).

There is nothing that US can’t do.