The Power of God

The Allegory of the Cave is an allegory used by the Greek Philosopher Plato in his work The Republic

Imagine prisoners, who have been chained since their childhood deep inside a cave: not only are their limbs immobilized by the chains; their heads are chained in one direction as well so that their gaze is fixed on a wall.

Behind the prisoners is an enormous fire, and between the fire and the prisoners is a raised walkway, along which puppets of various animals, plants, and other things are moved along. The puppets cast shadows on the wall, and the prisoners watch these shadows. When one of the puppet-carriers speaks, an echo against the wall causes the prisoners to believe that the words come from the shadows.

The prisoners engage in what appears to us to be a game: naming the shapes as they come by. This, however, is the only reality that they know, even though they are seeing merely shadows of objects. They are thus conditioned to judge the quality of one another by their skill in quickly naming the shapes and dislike those who play poorly.

Suppose a prisoner is released and compelled to stand up and turn around. At that moment his eyes will be blinded by the sunlight coming into the cave from its entrance, and the shapes passing by will appear less real than their shadows.

The last object he would be able to see is the sun, which, in time, he would learn to see as the object that provides the seasons and the courses of the year, presides over all things in the visible region, and is in some way the cause of all these things that he has seen.

Once enlightened, so to speak, the freed prisoner would not want to return to the cave to free "his fellow bondsmen," but would be compelled to do so. Another problem lies in the other prisoners not wanting to be freed: descending back into the cave would require that the freed prisoner's eyes adjust again, and for a time, he would be one of the ones identifying shapes on the wall. His eyes would be swamped by the darkness, and would take time to become acclimated. Therefore, he would not be able to identify the shapes on the wall as well as the other prisoners, making it seem as if his being taken to the surface completely ruined his eyesight.

The dark cave: A life without the light of the world, Jesus Christ at the center.

The chains: Sin, immobolizing our spirits and fixing our heads in one direction so to be transfixed by the shadows dancing on the wall: material possessions, exotic experiences and sensual pleasure. And we are conditioned to judge the quality of one another by our skill in acquiring these things.

In the celebration of Easter we are celebrating the power in the resurrection of Jesus Christ to release us from the chains of sin and to fill us with strength to stand up, turn around, and walk out of this cave into the light of a new life in Jesus Christ.

A self-destructive penchant for evil giving way to an actual and authentic desire to obey God for His glory.

The driven, insecure, obsessive workaholic father CHANGED to find meaning and purpose in serving Jesus and loving and caring for his wife and for His children.

The abused misunderstood teenager enslaved in obsessive, compulsive addictions set free and CHANGED into a vibrant other's centered spirit-filled lover of Jesus Christ.

The anxious, depressed, defeated and trapped functional widow CHANGED into a woman invigorated, hopeful, and strengthened to pray for her absentee, far too busy husband and to believe that she is loved, remembered and appreciated by her Father in heaven.

The power of the resurrection of Jesus Christ to change us.

Quote: Ephesians 1:18-20

What has been going on in your life? Are you confused with the circumstances and events of the last few months or years? Do you wonder what God is doing and how he could allow these things to happen?

Friendships lost, financial strain, an accident, a worrisome diagnosis, conflicted relationships, work stresses and challenges, ....darkness, shadows, puppets on the wall, mocking you, a world of shadows yet our world...grasping, conditioned to judge the quality of one another by our ability to rise above the shadows and yet become known for something.

When the eyes of our hearts are opened to our calling in Christ Jesus the circumstances and events in our lives become the bricks forming the wall of God's bigger purposes in our lives.

The power of God demonstrated in Christ's resurrection gives us hope in this life.

And so we can say with Paul Romans 8:28-29 "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him,^[a] who^[b] have been called according to his purpose. 29For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers."

In all the circumstances, events and people in our lives He works to mold and shape us into the image of His son.

And so we can look through the horizon of our immediate circumstances to what God is doing and KNOW the hope to which we have been called IS being accomplished by God's incomarably great power for us who believe demonstrated first in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Sweat, pain, endurance, preparation, practice, nervous energy, time away from family, focus, a race, an event, a competition: the applause faded into silence, a trophy now collecting dust. Reading real estate reviews, walk throughs, comparing prices, juggling finances, endless phone calls, offers sent back and forth, this is it, the purchase of a house: now the property tax assessment arriving in the mail, the mold forming on the deck, the roof now needing repair.

At times we spend too much money on shadows, arranging and rearranging finances, we devote time and energy for a moment in the sun.

The puppets cast shadows on the wall, and the prisoners watch these shadows. When one of the puppet-carriers speaks, an echo against the wall causes the prisoners to believe that the words come from the shadows. Echoing through the corridors of this world is the echo of materialism. Materialism, the puppet, forms a shadow on the wall of our lives, it speaks, trying to convince us that IT is life.

Every day we must turn around and face the Son, Jesus Christ, to which materialism is but a mere shadow and we must claim again the truth that the power of God in Christ's resurrection secures for us an inheritance in the next life that will never perish, spoil or fade.

As one commentator said, "Precisely what this inheritance will be like, is beyond our capacity to imagine, but the Scriptures do give us at least some inklings of what we are to inherit in the eternal kingdom. We will see God; we sill rest from our labors; we will be richly rewarded for our good deeds; we will experience unspeakable joy; and all the sorrows of earth will be forgotten."

The power of God in Christ's resurrection secures for us an inheritance in the next life that will never perish, spoil or fade.

Conclusion

Jesus: in the cave: thick suffocating darkness; the pale corpse of his body now chained in sin and death; the shadows of demons dancing on the wall celebrating, celebrating.

Jesus, we are sorry!!

Warmth now returns to the corpse, angels descend, the demons casting dancing shadows on the walls evaporate, Jesus, Jesus stands up: Satan, sin, and death, conquered, CONQUERED! CONQUERED!

Jesus,rolls back the stone and He walks into the sunlight.

Quote: Ephesians 1:18-20

Jesus Has Risen!

He Has Risen Indeed!!