Know All Too Well

“I’m in charge.”
“I’m the boss.” 
“You report to me.” 

Even more than a mirror, power reveals who a person really is and whether they have a strong or weak sense of moral identity. Who we are when we are in charge speaks to our character. How we behave when given influence exposes our motivations.  

And it doesn’t matter how much power we get or for how long we have it. Just a little bit of power can go “straight to our heads.”  

The thought that we make the final decision and have the authority to render judgments to impact the life of another can be a troublesome one. From parking meter reader to politician, power can be a corrupting influence. 

“Power promotes the objectification of others and increases the tendency to disparage and engage in harmful behavior toward others including bullying, autocracy, and manipulation,” Dr. Tobore Onojighofia Tobore wrote in an essay titled “On power and its corrupting effects: The effects of power on human behavior and the limits of accountability systems.”

 Early tests of power begin at home. We tell our siblings, “Mommy left me in charge.” 

And what that means changes the moment she walks out the door. Now, the workload shifts as we watch television while our siblings wash the dishes. Perhaps these older sponges have soaked up their parents’ behavior.

I wonder what the conversations were like at Mary and Joseph’s dinner table.  Were there power plays and awkward silence?  

Though Jesus is “living under their roof,” did he toss out his parents’ rules and throw his weight around? Did he talk back to Joseph and remind him that he was not his real daddy?

Because knowledge is power. What we know about people determines how we relate to them. Secrets are a currency and they can pay off depending on what we know.  

Spanish novelist Carlos Zafon said, “A secret’s worth depends on the people from whom it must be kept.” What secrets did James, the brother of Jesus, know?

While I don’t know the answer to this question, we have one instance after another of how Jesus manages power. Time and time again, Jesus questions, redefines and redistributes it, giving power to the powerless.  

But early demonstrations of power begin at home. I think James is a remarkable example that I don’t see often enough.

I read his letter and remain amazed by his humility. He was close to Jesus and could have claimed his power by proximity. 

And he wouldn’t be different from any of us, who tout the victory of our sports team. James would not be unlike parents who brag about their children’s accomplishments and claim their achievements as their own. A win for them is a win for us and, if a celebrity, we are quick to tell others, “Look who I know!”  

But look who James knows: “James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ…” (1:1). James will become the leader of the church in Jerusalem. He is left in charge and this is how he carries himself in Jesus’ absence. 

He doesn’t say, “Do you know who my brother is?  Do you know what my brother did? I am James, the brother of Jesus.”

Raised under the same roof, they had to abide by the same rules and share the same food. James wore Jesus’ hand-me-downs.  

James knows family photo Jesus, family trip Jesus, high school, homework, bedtime and curfew Jesus. He knows Jesus all too well.

Do you know what it takes for a sibling to call his brother his Lord? But I digress.

We say that we know Jesus like we know our neighbor across the street. We wave to her on Sunday. 

We know where to find him if we need to borrow the leaf blower. We know Jesus like we know where the grocery store is. Too often, our familiarity is not familial but transactional.  

Jesus is our elder brother, but he is often treated as a distant relative. Because we don’t need to talk to him or see him every day.

But, when there is a need for power, then we cozy up to him. Because we know exactly what Jesus would do!

But James no longer knows Jesus “from a human point of view” as expressed in Paul’s letter to the Corinthians. Jesus is not his mother’s son or his big brother but his Lord. 

Power reveals who we really are. What a sight Jesus must have been for James. Because we know all too well what happens when people get a little bit a power.