People-power is the only kind of power that makes a difference in the world. Power flows through and among people who love one another.

Even Jesus was powerless without people. His most potent power came through his relationship with others. After returning from the isolated wilderness test, his ministry begins with an invitation to relationship. He extends his hand to fishermen and says, “Follow me.”

But wait a minute. How can you say that Jesus was powerless without people? What about the miracles?

He could feed 5,000 people with a couple loaves of bread. He says to a paralyzed man lying on a mat, “Take up your mat, and go home.”

And the man walks home carrying his mat. He says to a 12 year old girl who has died, “Little girl, rise.” And the girl sits up.

That is power, isn’t?

It may be power, but it is not world-transforming power. A Jesus-miracle is second-rate. What makes it second-rate is that it is transactional rather than transformational.

Transactional power is power that involves an exchange, but no change.

Jesus fed 5,000 people. The next day they were hungry again.

Jesus healed the paralyzed man. He goes home with new legs. He even goes home forgiven. But he does not follow Jesus. He does not involve himself in the purpose of God. He goes home to pursue his self-interest, albeit, a little more efficiently than he did before.

The 12 year old girl gets her “so-called life” back. (I wonder if 12 year old girls were as catty and cliquish and full of attitude in Jesus’ day as so many are today?)

Don’t get me wrong. Transactional power has some value. The hungry, the paralyzed and the dead certainly appreciated the miracle. It is just that it is second-rate. Feeding, healing and raising the dead was not Jesus’ primary purpose. Oh, sure, he was glad to do it. But it is not what he was really about.

He was about the transformation of the human experience. In Biblical terms: What Adam and Eve destroy in the Garden, Jesus comes to restore.

After Jesus feeds us, after Jesus gives strength to our legs, after Jesus brings us back from the dead, he now addresses the real challenge: To teach us to love one another as he loves us.

In Christ, the Holy Spirit imparts the transformational power of Jesus.

Do we really want to know the power Jesus? It comes as we learn to love one another, even as we learn to be loved by Jesus.