Here is something Kevin Dedmon said in a chapter from his contribution to a book entitled, Walking in the Supernatural.
After Peter and John healed the cripple at the Beautiful Gate, the onlookers were amazed at what they had just witnessed. There seemed to be an underlying sentiment that Peter and John were some kind of superheroes with special power that made them unique. Peter, most likely recognizing the attitude, responded: “Men of Israel, why do you marvel at this? Or why look so intently at us, as though by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk” (Acts 3:12)” Then, after a short sermon, he added: “His name, through faith in His name has made this man strong, whom you see and know. Yes, the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all” (Acts 3:16). Sadly, many people shy away from the supernatural gifts, thinking that they do not have the power to perform supernatural feats. The reality is that they don’t. None of us have the power to heal, save, prophesy, or set people free; nevertheless, God has commissioned us to go and do these things – to make the world a better place to live. What else can we do but obey? (Walking in the Supernatural, Destiny Image Pub., p.177)
First century Rabbi’s were approached by students who had extraordinary gifts of study and memorization in the Torah and who had a passion to learn and teach the Torah to others. The process was much like that of Jesus and his disciples. Disciples would live with their teacher for several years learning and observing his lifestyle. The traditional path was for the student to apply with the Rabbi who considered the request and then took the best and the brightest as students. In a sense, the student chose the teacher. Jesus reversed that order when he went after those who he would call to be his disciples and chose those who were not graduate students from the synagogue and who had probably shown no great capacity for theology.
The two processes were the same, however, when the Rabbi issued the invitation, “Come and follow me.” That phrase was not an invitation to come and study and receive information or more biblical knowledge so that the knowledge could be passed on to others. The phrase was meant to convey an invitation to follow the Rabbi so that you could not only learn what he knew but also so that you could live as he lived and do what he did. The invitation was literally a call to become the Rabbi. When Jesus called the twelve he meant for them to duplicate his life on the earth. When he called each of us, he meant for us to duplicate his life on the earth.
We have been called to do what Jesus did in whatever setting he has placed us. We are to be light to the world, dispensers of the love and grace of God, and tellers of truth. We are to point people to the Father and the Son and offer them the free gift of salvation. We are called to do that at the office, in our homes, on the sidelines of little league games, and at school. We are called to do that in line at the supermarket and with the wait-staff at restaurants. We are called to do that because Jesus did that. Nearly everyone would agree with the fact that as Christians (which initially meant “little Christ’s” in Antioch) we should minister to the sick and the poor, share the good news, be lights in a dark world, and so forth because that is what Jesus did.
But Jesus did other things as well – supernatural things. He prayed to the Father and mediated miracles – feeding the five thousand, raising the dead, healing every kind of sickness, and setting people free from demonic oppression. He did those things over and over as part of his lifestyle. Many would be quick to say, “Yes, but he was God….we are not!” It is true that Jesus was God but he walked on this earth as the Son of Man. Jesus certainly had a position of being God but laid aside all the special attributes of God to live as one of us. He lived as a man with a deep and intimate connection with God and an unwavering faith. He also sent out twelve and then seventy-two unremarkable disciples who did the very same things Jesus was doing. He then sent his Holy Spirit to indwell his church and to distribute gifts of miracles, healings, prophecy, faith, intercession, etc. to unremarkable people who then lived as our remarkable Rabbi had lived when he walked on this earth.
It’s amazing to me that we tend to pick and choose the attributes of the Rabbi that we think we should emulate. When he said, “Come and follow me,” to those he chose (including you and me) he was calling them and us to become him – to live as he lived and to do what he did. We do this because it is our call and because God, the Rabbi, and the Holy Spirit live within us so that we might replicate the life and the heart of the Son.
Of course, we do not have the power by ourselves to do these things – any of them. I have no power to be unselfish, to love the unlovable, or to forgive those who have abused me. The Spirit of Christ alone enables me to do those things. I have to power to grasp the spiritual truths of scripture unless the Spirit enables me to perceive those things. He also enables us to heal, deliver, raise the dead, intercede with power for the lost, prophesy, and so forth. One is not more remarkable than the other but all are required if we are to become Jesus, the Rabbi.
May we all hear his voice today as he calls us to come and follow him and may our prayer be that we will learn what he knows, live as he lived, and do what he did. As we commit to the process he will send us out to do what he did and will give us his power and authority to do so. If we will step out by faith, believing that he will always equip us for the assignments he places before us, we will see him live through us just as Peter and John did on the streets of Jerusalem. We will also be able to declare that it was not us but Jesus who did such a thing. Be blessed as you follow Him today!
