Great Powers Clash

The Right Reverend Marshall MacClellan / March 30, 2026

Many of us in the military have been steeped in the National Instruments of Power (Diplomatic, Information, Military and Economic), especially as we engage with and seek to influence nations like Iran or China. These four capabilities, properly exercised, can motivate allies, influence competitors and defeat enemies. Now, as the U.S. and Israel engage Iran with these instruments, we may be winning in one instrument of power (Military), but our goals could be degraded by not properly managing the economic instrument of power in the Straits of Hormuz via gas prices at home. Dominating in all instruments of power usually guarantees a victorious outcome; usually…

I appreciate how St. Matthew gives us a glimpse of the clash of heavenly powers that collide on Easter morning. In the Gospel narrative, one can see all four instruments of power being exercised by the devil and his earthly allies to in an attempt to defeat Jesus Christ and His followers.

We know the setting: The Roman Procurator and Jewish national and religious leaders - normally in a tense stalemate or smoldering conflict - now Diplomatically aligned to crush Jesus’ claim to Lordship as well as His followers. Information warfare was leveraged between the chief priests and the guards to squash the message of an empty tomb and replace it with “the disciples stole the body”, a story that was retold to Pilate to keep the soldiers out of trouble. Rome’s elite shock troops (Military) captured Jesus, crucified Him and were up armored and stationed at the tomb; the door secured with a stone and Roman seal. Money (Economic) to pay Judas to betray Jesus and soldiers to cover-up an empty tomb flowed from chief priests to any and all who needed to be influenced or silenced. Every earthly instrument of power was precisely leveraged to destroy Jesus and His followers.

That Easter, in the mist and sorrow of the early morning, the women who followed Jesus from Galilee approached the tomb to anoint and honor their mangled, murdered Master. Their sorrow and grief were mingled with the fear and failure of the eleven disciples huddled in the upper room.

Today, in a similar power crush of the Christian witness in the West, I have seen in my lifetime, Holy Scripture banned from schools (1961), Prayer stripped from the classroom (1962), the Ten Commandments stripped from courthouses (1980), marriage redefined in society, the unbridled sexualizing of society and gender confusion pushed in civic and religious life. In addition, our Anglican identity (JAFC) and heritage have been attacked as we seek to be faithful, classic Anglican clergy and laity. All instruments of power seem to align to crush us, and we can connect with the feelings and experiences of those women and the fearful, confused disciples.

Now, watch as God’s instruments of power flash onto the scene recorded in Matt 28:2-6. God has His own military shock troops, and their commander is the resurrected Jesus, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. God’s information operations started not with top ‘influencers’ but with the least and lowest in economic society. Easter reminds us that God, in Christ, has defeated all earthly powers arrayed against Him. He has and is now exercising, His heavenly instruments of power in and through us. We are Christ’s diplomats:

“…God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us.” (2 Corinthians. 5:18-21 ESV).

 You are diplomats for Christ, exercising a ministry for a God who commands the forces of Heaven that cannot be defeated, with the information of the Gospel that cannot be silenced, funded by the resurrected Jesus, King of Kings and Lord of Lords who owns everything. In Christ you are unstoppable and undefeatable.

The Collect for Easter

O God, who for our redemption gave your only begotten Son to die upon the Cross, and by his glorious resurrection delivered us from the devil and the power of death: Grant us grace to die daily to sin, that we may live with him in the joy of his resurrection; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, now and for ever. Amen.