Do you ever sense that there is just this perfect storm brewing? Like there's this tension in the air that you can almost smell? It's lurking just below the surface, if you really stopped to look you could see what was coming. If we did this more often we would find ourselves in a much better position to stand through it.
That is what is going on in the time of Jesus. You have the oppressive Roman occupiers, Herod's corrupt pseudo-government, the thieving Sadducee temple aristocracy with the priesthood in their pockets, you've got the Pharisee's with their hidden agenda's and religious pressure tactics and then you've got the Essenes who've just retreated into caves. This is not to mention all the spiritual powers at work behind the scenes within all that and the fallout it has on the general population.
Where is God in all this one might ask. He is carrying the weight of it in Himself, that's where. 'I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is accomplished!' says our Lord. Here we see the 'Prince of Peace' declare war on the all the powers of darkness. He is marching straight into the eye of the storm to take the full weight of all of it upon Himself, to judge and to save. 'I came to throw fire on the earth and I wish it were already alight!' The 'Prince of Peace' knows His message is going to bring division because nothing stirs up anger and hatred and division amongst those opposed to God, sinners, like a message of true peace and reconciliation. Just try talking about heaven and earth coming together as God's ultimate goal for His good creation in Christ (Ephesians 1v10).
So what word does Jesus have for those who would be saved through this? Make amends with whoever is accusing you before you get caught up into it and have to pay every last penny. This would be the case for little Jerusalem...the rebellion continued on and sure enough in came the magistrates, the judges, the officers, the imprisonment which only stirred more violent rebellion until Jerusalem paid every last penny in 70ad and the whole city became just an extension of its own flaming garbage heap, Gehenna. Oh, Jerusalem, if only you had known the things that made for peace, you of all!
In the midst of all this though, there is still an opportunity to turn from destruction and follow God's way of salvation through it. There is still hope and a way forward. Notice that this does not mean it's not going to happen, evil must be confronted and as Christian's we will find ourselves marching straight to the center of the evils on earth with the message of heaven and allowing them to run their course upon us for the sake of others...evil will exhaust itself, death after all is all it's got...and on the other side of that, there is resurrection and new life.
'These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.' says our Lord.
'I've seen too much hate to want to hate, myself, and every time I see it, I say to myself, hate is too great a burden to bear. Somehow we must be able to stand up against our most bitter opponents and say: We shall match your capacity to inflict suffering by our capacity to endure suffering. We will meet your physical force with soul force. Do to us what you will and we will still love you.... But be assured that we'll wear you down by our capacity to suffer, and one day we will win our freedom. We will not only win freedom for ourselves; we will appeal to your heart and conscience that we will win you in the process, and our victory will be a double victory.' -Martin Luther King Jr. ... A Christ-mas message...
May we, in our time, have the eyes to see, the ears to hear, the courage to confront and the wisdom to reconcile. In Jesus name, Amen.
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