Occasional musings from a mind infected with cynicism, and hope.
Catching Elephant is a theme by Andy Taylor
Have you read the paper lately? Or perhaps, for the more technology enabled, have you read you web news portals recently? We are in the middle of one of these depressing news cycles. “War expansion in Libya.” “Dozens of Syrian protesters shot dead.” “Battle rages along Afghan-Pakistani border.” “Teen beaten inside a McDonalds.” Deficit reaches1.0, no 1.2, er 1.3, oops 1.4, how about 1.6 Trillion dollars.
There is real fear, and a general sense that things just are not right. What kind of place are we going to leave our kids? I also fear there is a general sense that people are losing hope, that we are feeling consigned to a not so great future. I have heard more than a few people say that it has never been this bad before. Is there any good news to be found anywhere?
Perhaps one ray of hope into this mess is that this is not the first period of time that people have felt this way. I think there were probably many people in first century Palestine who would have felt the same way. Things were bad. They wanted to have their own country, but Rome was firmly in control. Most of the people were deeply unhappy with the government, and especially the recent tax hikes. Those tax hikes were made worse by the corrupt and greedy tax collectors. These people did not want to pay, but they had to, because the Roman army could enforce the rules at any time
The way the Romans enforced the law was so cruel. Every week there were a number of death penalties handed out, and they carried out those penalties by hanging the guilty parties from a cross. Imagine walking to the well, or to the market, and being forced to walk past people bleeding and groaning, while they slowly suffocated while hanging where everyone could see. They killed robbers, murderers, political opponents, and even these Jewish nationalists on crosses. They even killed a guy who people said was the Messiah a few days ago. When will people learn to quit making such claims? Everyone knows that no Messiah would ever be crucified. The Messiah will liberate us from our enemies.
A Messiah would be powerful. A Messiah would be great. A Messiah would do things that no one else could do. He will liberate us. He would set us free. Just this morning someone told me that this so called Messiah had risen from the dead. Being a Messiah is one thing, but overcoming death was another thing altogether. Especially from someone who was crucified and beaten. Who would ever believe such a thing? Who?
