Once again, I find myself probably
siding with the “bad guys” when I try to put myself into the
historical situation.
Imagine yourself in that same
situation. You've grown up in a culture knowing that you are one of
God's “Chosen people:” a special group of people chosen by God to
be the means through which He communicates with the world. A promise
is given of a messiah who will come and restore a nation that is
trampled on by it's enemies to it's former glory. Like in the days of
David and Solomon when Israel ruled the world. And all those
un-special, un-chosen-of-God, people who have repeatedly conquered
your nation will finally be back where they belong: subjected to you!
It can be hard to imagine this line of thinking because strong
nationalism of this type is currently out of vogue in the U.S.
But once you've managed to get yourself
to the proper frame of mind, imagine next that some stranger, comes
to your synagogue and says that this messiah has come and gone. He
died, was raised from the dead, and then he left earth by just
floating up to the clouds. Riiiiiight.... How convenient that he just
so happened to disappear after his supposed “ressurection.” And
of course the kingdom that he was supposed to set up is now a
“spiritual” kingdom, in which is shared equally with the
Gentiles.
Uh-huh.... Yeah-- thanks, but no
thanks.
So what have I learned from this
exercise? 1) I'm reminded that I'm not someone special chosen by God
because I'm awesome. I'm just like the bad guys, and it's only by
God's grace that I'm aligned with the kingdom of the Spirit. 2) I'm
reminded that those who reject the gospel, the “bad guys,” are
not mere one dimensional charicatures. They are regular people,
meaning they are immortal creatures bearing the image of the Creator
himself, destined for either profound glory or eternal darkness. They
are immeasurabley valuable and complex. And none of them are to be
dismissed as mere charicatures.
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