Both/And

Luke 9:1-2 - And he called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal.

As people, we love to divide things into categories with labels: Republican and Democrat; spender and saver; day person and night person; the list could go on forever. What we often imply or assume is that one side is good and right and the other side is bad and wrong. Some times that is the case, but often we hurt ourselves by giving an either/or option rather than a both/and.

So much of Jesus’ ministry and instruction to his disciples is both/and. As we read in the previous passage, Jairus’ daughter’s ultimate resurrection and healing was a result of both Jairus’ human action AND Jesus’ divine, miraculous work. Luke 10 opens with the first commissioning of the twelve disciples. Jesus gave them a clear AND mission: They were to meet real physical needs (through healing) AND spiritual needs (through their preaching). They were to use natural ability (in speaking) AND supernatural ability (in healing). To be able to do this they needed both the ability (“power” in vs 1) and the right (“authority” in vs 2).

A lot of conflict in the world (and church) today stems from an either/or mentality rather than a both/and perspective. Do we need to meet people’s urgent physical and practical needs? Yes. Do we also need to change their thinking and belief systems to enact lasting change? Yes. Either by itself is not enough. Social justice is important, but we only create an attitude of dependency and entitlement without a change of thinking and systems. The message of good news is absolutely critical, but it must often be seen to be believed. Jesus’ ministry constantly integrated BOTH. So should ours.