Lesson 031608

EXHAUSTING EVIL!
      Brigitte Gabriel grew up as an only child of elderly parents in southern Lebanon. In fact, at the time of her birth her mother was fifty-four years old and her father was sixty! The first ten years of her life were idyllic. She was in a Christian home where her parents reminded her again and again that their love for her was higher than the sky, deeper than the ocean, and bigger than the whole wide world.
      Then at the age of ten everything changed for her and her family. Southern Lebanon, for all practical purposes, had been taken over by the Palestinians who used it as a base for attacking Israel. And, as you can imagine, Brigitte and her family were caught between the two and ended up living in a bomb shelter. They couldn't leave their village without being killed by the Muslims who guarded the check points. But to stay meant running the risk of being blown to bits by heavy artillery. After three years of living in their bomb shelter she writes:
      The silence that followed Chuck's disappearing footsteps made us feel that death was in our midst. Fearing we were going to be slaughtered that night, I didn't want strangers to see some poor dead girl in wrinkled old clothes who would be dumped in a hole. I wanted to look pretty when I was dead. Knowing that there would be nobody to prepare me for burial, I asked my mother if I could put on my pretty Easter dress. They might rob me of my life, but they would not rob me of how I wanted to look before I was gone forever. My dress was light blue with white roses all over it and beautiful lace around the neck and arms. I stood in front of the mirror crying as my mother combed my long hair and tied a white ribbon in it that matched the roses. I pleaded with her: "Please. I don't want to die. I'm only thirteen." My poor mother. Here was her only child, whom she had waited twenty years for, and all she could do was help grant her last wish to have some dignity in death. The sense of hopelessness and fear in my pleading must have been breaking her heart. She asked me to stop crying and assured me that Jesus would take care of us.
      Here I was in the pretty dress that I had worn to happy occasions and Easter services, and now I was shaking in fear sitting in the dingy bomb shelter with the crashing and exploding noises outside. We huddled in the corner on our bed. Mama and Papa prayed to God to protect us. All I could do was cry.
      This was the explosive opening of what was going to be a long night. How long would be determined by whether the Palestinians reached us and how long our troops could hold out. Papa said, "Brigitte, you are young. We have lived a long life. We are old and are going to die soon anyway. We can't run if they come to kill us. But we will create a distraction while you run toward Israel and never look back." I started crying harder and said, "How could you say that? How can I leave you? I have nobody but you. Why do I want to live if you are gone?" My father begged me to listen to him. I just prayed that it would never get to that point. We spent the night dreading that we would take a direct hit or that death would come bursting through the door to slit our throats.1
      N. T. Wright in his book Evil and the Justice of God describes evil in this way:
"Evil is the force of anti-creation, anti-life, the force which opposes and seeks to deface and destroy God's good world of space, time and matter, and above all God's image-bearing human creatures."2
      Evil, as Brigitte Gabriel knows first hand, is very much a part of the world's landscape. We may not be able to see the demonic activity behind what is happening in the world but we see its minions and the results of their hatred. On our local news stations we see buildings reduced to rumble, we see homes destroyed, we see a local marketplace littered with bodies, we see lives literally torn apart by suicide bombers, and we see families beaten down by grief and hopelessness.
      To the detriment of the world, and that includes you and me, our first response to this outbreak of evil that we've been witnessing for the past 30 years was to ignore it. To pretend that it didn't exist. To convince ourselves that with the spread of democracy the world was getting better and better. In other words, since our own hearts are "deceitful above all things" we've given a pretty poor response to evil. But to ignore evil simply gives it more room to operate.3
      Unlike us, God never ignores evil. He deals with it! In fact, he's been dealing with it since the beginning because evil isn't a philosophical problem - it's a practical one. For example, in Genesis 6:6 - 8 we read:
      The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain. 7 So the LORD said, "I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth-men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air-for I am grieved that I have made them." 8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD.
      Verse six, as you can see for yourself, is one of the saddest verses in the Bible. God saw the wickedness of mankind and it grieved him. Noah, however, stood out from everyone else as a righteous man. So in response to what he saw God literally poured out judgment on all the earth while saving Noah's family and enough of the animal world to keep it in tact.
      The story of the flood which seems to be shared by all cultures in some form serves as a reminder that God hates evil and what it does to his creation. It also tells us that God can take steps to stop it in its tracks as he did with Noah's generation and as he did with the generation that built the tower of Babel.   Of course, he doesn't always choose to stop it in its tracks. Sometimes, for whatever reasons, he lets evil play itself out as he did with the Amorites as suggested in Genesis 15:16.4
      In light of all this I want to share with you what happened when Jesus went to the cross and how he handled it. By the time Jesus hung on the cross, or rather by the time he died on the cross, he had exhausted evil. Satan and his minions had thrown everything they had in their arsenal at him, including death, and when it was all over but for the shouting, had found themselves not only exhausted but defeated.
      Here is what the world and/or Satan threw at Jesus during his earthly ministry. First, the historic gospels tell us that the political might of Rome was always in the shadowy background ready to step in and settle any disturbance fostered by any wannabe Messiah. In fact, when Jesus was brought before Pilate, as in Matthew 27, the shrewd reader senses that this is the unveiling of the real confrontation that has been taking place all along. He or she senses that this is where things are resolved - one way or another. Pilate, as we know, opted to give the world what it wanted - the death of Jesus.
      Second, the historic gospels tell the story of the corruption of Israel. This nation should have been the light of the world. It wasn't! Instead, the religious rulers pursued a kind of holiness that simply made matters worse. Furthermore, they were intent on maintaining a corrupt system and as far as they were concerned Jesus was simply making them look bad. So instead of taking a hard look in the mirror they chose to shatter the mirror.
      They had a chance to choose Jesus as their king. Instead, wanting to be like other nations I suppose, they chose Caesar as their king. (See John 19:15b)
      Third, the historic gospels tell us the story of how Satan and his minions opposed Jesus every step of the way. These forces of evil, of course, operated in and through all the human agents mentioned previously but they didn't settle for simply working through humanity. Satan laid one trap after another for Jesus while his minions, often through human agents but not always, harassed him day-in and day-out.
      Fourth, the gospels tell us the story in which the line of good and evil didn't run between Jesus and his disciples on the one hand and everyone else on the other. No, the gospels tell us the story of how the heart of evil revealed itself in everyone except Jesus - including his disciples. Peter got in the way on more than one occasion, Thomas grumbled, while James and John enlisted their mother to get the best seats in the house for her two sons. And Judas said to the religious rulers - "show me the money."
      Fifth, the gospels tell us the story of how the crowd wanted Jesus as their king for all the wrong reasons. They wanted someone who would put three square meals in front of them everyday. They wanted someone who would overthrow Rome. They wanted Jesus on their own terms. Then too, the crowd was easily swayed by the media and in the end it was the crowd who encouraged the power brokers to do what they knew had to be done.
      In short, the gospels tell us the story of how the crucifixion of Jesus was the result of how all the various manifestations of evil converged on the Son of God.   They tell us of how evil did its best to do away with the one man who was standing in the way. They tell us how God's plan through the seed of Abraham finally played itself out within the nation of Israel.
      Now here is what is interesting, the gospels also tell us, or rather show us, how Jesus willingly suffered for you and me. Then Peter, in I Peter 2:23 - 25 underlines exactly how Jesus handled the abuse heaped upon him. We read:
      When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. 24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. 25 For you were like sheep going astray, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
      Peter, after giving a few more examples of submissiveness, then tells us to handle suffering in the same way. In I Peter 3:13 - 16 we read:
      Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? 14 But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. "Do not fear what they fear; do not be frightened." 15 But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, 16 keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.
      Note, Peter tells us to respond to those who bring grief into our life simply because of our faith with gentleness. I suggest to you that this is exactly how Jesus exhausted evil. There is a power in gentleness that disarms others to the point that they either change their attitude toward us or they simply give up and walk away in shame. Why?
      First, when we lead with gentleness, others don't fear our strength. All too often people in power use their position to beat up on people. But when these same people meet a gentle leader they will be drawn to him or her.
      Second, gentleness nurtures trust and confidence. When Boaz initially approached Ruth in the book of Ruth his gentleness, as evidenced by his words and deeds, caught her off guard. But at the end of their initial conversation she said, in 2:13:
      "May I continue to find favor in your eyes, my lord," she said. "You have given me comfort and have spoken kindly to your servant-though I do not have the standing of one of your servant girls."
      Third, as seen in Matthew 11:28 - 30, gentleness opens the door to protection and bonding.   In these verses Jesus said:
      "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."
      Gentleness is a safe harbor for those who have been abused by the world. A child whose father or mother is harsh or overly critical drives the child away from them. But those parents and/or grandparents who have a gentleness about them set the stage for a close relationship.
      Fourth, gentleness defuses anger and hostility. Solomon put it this way in Proverbs 15:1. We read:
A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.
      We live in a tension-filled world, a world where evil seems to threaten us whether we live in the United States or elsewhere. It's easy for anger to flare up when people are under stress. But the Bible assures us that there is a power to gentleness that not only diffuses anger but leaves it exhausted.5




      1       Brigitte Gabriel, BECAUSE THEY HATE - A Survivor of Islamic Terror Warns America, St. Martin's Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010, 2006, pp. 56 - 57.
2     N. T. Wright, EVIL AND THE JUSTICE OF GOD, InterVarsity Press, P.O. Box 1400, Downers Grove, IL 60515-1426, 2006, p. 89.
3       Ezekiel 14:14 touts Noah, Daniel, and Job as righteous men. But Noah had somewhat of a problem with alcohol, Daniel spent time in the confessional booth, and Job had the bad habit of arguing with others - including God. In other words, when I speak of evil I am not excluding myself. All of mankind is the problem and yet God has worked through mankind to deal a death blow to evil.
4       Speaking to Abram God said, "In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure." The implication is that within the larger story of Abraham and his descendants there are subplots. But God keeps an eye on these rogue nations and deals with them at the proper time.
5     I wish I could take credit for these insights on gentleness. But I gleaned them from the following book: Dr. Norm Wakefield & Jody Brolsma, MEN ARE FROM ISRAEL, WOMEN ARE FROM MOAB, InterVarsity Press, P.O. Box 1400, Downers Grove, IL 60515, 2000, pp. 111 - 114.PETER: THE MAN AND HIS LETTERS                                  3/16/08    1