FORGIVENESS, NOT VENGEANCE

Then the Spirit of God clothed Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest, and he stood above the people, and said to them, “Thus says God, ‘Why do you break the commandments of the LORD, so that you cannot prosper? Because you have forsaken the LORD, he has forsaken you.’” But they conspired against him, and by command of the king they stoned him with stones in the court of the house of the LORD. Thus Joash the king did not remember the kindness that Jehoiada, Zechariah's father, had shown him, but killed his son. And when he was dying, he said, “May the LORD see and avenge! (2 Chronicles 24:20-22)

Two others, who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with him. And when they came to the place that is called The Skull, there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And they cast lots to divide his garments. (Luke 23:32-34 ESV)

In the first passage, Zechariah speaks harsh words of God to Joash, who is displeased and commands the prophet's death. This despite the fact that Zechariah was the son of Jehoiada, the priest who did so much for Joash. As Zechariah was dying, he utters a curse on Joash.

In the second passage, Jesus is crucified because people were upset with his words, his claims. This despite the fact that Jesus was the son of God, the one who did so much for the very people now calling for and carrying out his son's murder. But instead of a curse, Jesus utters words of forgiveness as he dies.

I feel gratitude and awe welling up in me, and am reminded of the day I finished my first reading of the entire Bible.

SMALL

There are some hardships that strike you in the face with the appalling truth of how small you truly are.

Strangely, there are some blessings that do the same.

HIS MIRTH

  Joy, which was the small publicity of the pagan, is the gigantic secret of the Christian. And as I close this chaotic volume I open again the strange small book from which all Christianity came; and I am again haunted by a kind of confirmation. The tremendous figure which fills the Gospels towers in this respect, as in every other, above all the thinkers who ever thought themselves tall. His pathos was natural, almost casual. The Stoics, ancient and modern, were proud of concealing their tears. He never concealed His tears; He showed them plainly on His open face at any daily sight, such as the far sight of His native city. Yet He concealed something.

  Solemn supermen and imperial diplomatists are proud of restraining their anger. He never restrained His anger. He flung furniture down the front steps of the Temple, and asked men how they expected to escape the damnation of Hell. Yet He restrained something. I say it with reverence; there was in that shattering personality a thread that must be called shyness. There was something that He hid from all men when He went up a mountain to pray. There was something that He covered constantly by abrupt silence or impetuous isolation. There was some one thing that was too great for God to show us when He walked upon our earth; and I have sometimes fancied that it was His mirth.

- the closing words of "Orthodoxy" by G.K. Chesterton

SEEK ME, LET THEM GO

Jesus answered, “I told you that I am he. So, if you seek me, let these men go.” (John 18:8 ESV)

In the beginning of John 18, Jesus does everything he can to be captured:

• he went to a garden where he often took his disciples, including Judas, knowing what would happen
• he "came forward" and met his captors
• he initiated the conversation by asking, "Whom do you seek?"
• he answered by simply confirming that "I am he"
• when his captors were astounded at his answer, he asked again, "Whom do you seek?"
• he answered again by confirming that "I am he"

He did not cower, nor did he waver. Jesus confronted his death, head-on -- even further, he chose death, and is the only one ever to do so.

Earlier in John, Jesus spoke again and again of being sought by his disciples, who he said wouldn't be able to go where he was going. But here in John 18, Jesus is sought and found by his captors. He allows himself to be sought and found by them in order to be thrust to a cruel end.

Why?

To free his disciples -- physically, yes, but in the greatest sense as well.

Jesus knows the enemy's pursuit to kill him, the only one who can threaten his evil reign. He knows that he's the only one worth pursuing, by his friends and his enemies. So, to accomplish his purpose, I AM allows himself to be caught in order that his people would have freedom, speaking as if to the enemy himself.

The Gospel is a mighty lion caged within this one verse, ready to be unleashed by all who care to understand.

I WILL SEE YOU AGAIN

So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you. (John 16:22 ESV, emphasis added)

In John 16, Jesus spends many of his words warning his disciples of hardships to come. In verse 22, he speaks of their sorrow when he must leave them for a little while, but he also offers comfort.

I noticed something peculiar about the way Jesus phrased this comfort -- the words in bold.

When I think of a lover leaving his beloved for a short while, I hear him telling his darling something along the lines of, "You're sad now, but you will see me again, and you will rejoice." It would be a bit odd if he were to say, "You're sad now, but I will see you again, and you will rejoice."

After all, what would his vision of his beloved have to do with her joy?

But it seems to me that this is the wrong way of looking at this. Instead, I'll conjecture that when Jesus says "but I will see you again," he is betraying his humility and humanness in a wonderfully subtle yet moving way. The emphasis in his comfort is that he will see his disciples again, not that they will see him.

When the lover assures his beloved that she will see him again, the emphasis, the weight is placed on him -- on his face being seen.

However, when the lover assures his beloved that he will see her again, the emphasis, the weight is placed on her -- on her face being seen.

Jesus is fully justified in placing the emphasis on himself and himself alone, yet he doesn't. His emphasis was, is and will always be on us, his beloved, together with him.