Often thought to be the Peter Parker Principle this is a statement that Spiderman’s Uncle Ben made to him prior to him becoming Spiderman and prior to Uncle Ben’s death.
This is actually an ancient adage, at least as old as the first century BC; an allusion from the Sword of Damocles. The formulation has been used by journalists, authors, and other writers; and in politics, monarchic rhetoric, law enforcement, public safety, and in various media.
It is also similar to the biblical verse in Luke 12:48, "From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked." (Another translation: "To whomever much is given, of him will much be required; and to whom much was entrusted, of him more will be asked."
We see in Luke 10, where Jesus sends out 72 of his followers to proclaim the message of the gospel to the towns in the region. This is the first time we see the breadth of Jesus ministry and the enormous following that has grown as a result of His personal ministry to others. There were clearly more than 12 disciples. In verse 17, we see the return of the 72 and how excited they are that the power imbued to them through Christ was so powerful and authoritative that the demons they encountered were subject to them. In verses 18-20, Jesus, however, warns them that overconfidence will lead them to not realize the real mission and calling and that they should be careful about any bragging but should simply rejoice that their names have been written in heaven.
In Revelations 19:15, Jesus cautions that those whose names are not written in the book of life will be cast out and not allowed in to heaven. Jesus is saying, yes, I have given you power and authority to reach others but with that comes responsibility to work the harvest as I have outlined. In verse 2, He definitively declares, “the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of harvest to send laborers in to His harvest.” This declaration makes it clear that we should first be praying for more laborers but secondly that we recognize this is His harvest and not ours. When I hear terms like, “winning souls for Jesus” or a ministry shows a certain number of “salvations or baptisms,” I think we need to be careful to realize that the harvest is not ours but His. It is easy to get puffed up about a ministry, a church or some other religious thing but we are called to go out to the fields and work for God’s harvest not as a work of our own.
Caleb Kaltenbach, is a Pastor at Shepherd Church in Los Angeles and founder of The Messy Grace Group where he helps churches love and foster community with LGBTQ individuals without sacrificing theological convictions. He's the author of Messy Truth, God of Tomorrow, and Messy Grace (where he discusses being raised in the LGBTQ community, following Jesus, and how loving others doesn’t require shifting beliefs).
Caleb tells the story of how as a child his parents divorced and eventually both his parents entered the gay community. He was raised by his mother and her partner and would often attend gay pride rallies and events with his parents. On one occasion a man threw urine and feces on he and his parents at a gay pride march. He asked his mother why he did that and his mothers said, “because Christians hate gay people. “ He went on to attend a church and eventually entered the pastorate and in his book, Messy Grace: How a Pastor with Gay Parents Learned to Love Others Without Sacrificing Conviction, he talks about how he had to come to grips with the “Christians” he had seen growing up and he decided he did not want to be that type of Christian. He says in his book, "God loves all people, gay, straight, sinner, saint and everything else and you don’t need to compromise your theological stance to love others."
Jesus says, pray that workers come to the harvest that He sets out for us. I believe that prayer should be for His called workers. Not the church, not the denomination, not the sect of Christianity that holds a standard of hatred but a standard of compassion without sacrificing conviction. God sends us out in to this world to bring the gospel message many times outside our own level of comfort. Much is demanded from us as messengers of the Gospel. Conviction and life change comes from Christ and is not ours to enforce. With the power of Christ and the Holy Spirit, comes great responsiblity by the calling of grace
Much love
Preach