And I am devastated.
Happens to me every time.
Found myself, as I was right there in the story, saying to myself, “Glad I’m not Judas. What a fool.”
Glad I’m not Peter…gutless denier of Jesus.
Glad I’m not Abenader….
...or the Governor (Pilate)...
….or Herod…
…or the falling-over drunk guy (at 9am) in Herod’s cesspool…
…or the "toothless vermin" (quote from movie), who’d infested first century Palestine…
…or the High Priest…
…or the Jewish Leaders…
...or Barabbas...
...or the mob screaming for Jesus to be crucified...
…or the Roman guards, who, while at work one day, beat Jesus mercilessly and, quite literally, ripped the flesh from his body…
…and seemed to enjoy it…
...or the unrepentant criminal hanging on the cross next to Jesus...
Yeah…sooooo glad I’m not them.
Yeah, right. Deluded fantasy, dude.
A mentor of mine once told me, “Dave, I’d rather be broken by the hardest of truths than lulled to sleep by the most treasured of illusions.”
That's still a good word, Jeff.
To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable:
“Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’
“But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’
“I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” — Luke 18:9-14
What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord. — Romans 7:24-25
Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display His unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on Him and receive eternal life. — 1 Timothy 1:15-16
On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus.
"Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
“What is written in the Law?” He replied. “How do you read it?”
He answered: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
“You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”
But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’
“Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”
The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”
Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.” — Luke 10:25-37
Whenever I read the parable of The Good Samaritan, I want to be the Good Samaritan and play that part in the story. And quite often, I am most humble to write (written with a touch of sarcasm), that is exactly the way I see myself.
But that is NOT who I am.
No...I’m the man lying in the ditch.
The one who's been robbed blind, beaten, and left for dead.
Sometimes—and regrettably so, I'm the man who put the man in the ditch. And, at times, I'm both the man in the ditch and the one who put him there. The effects of sin are so far reaching and so devastating to us and everyone around us.
I'm in desperate need of Jesus and the redemption that only He can bring.
I’m going to go take a quick shower and then head over to Duke Chapel for a while and just spend some time thinking about all that Jesus won back for us when He issued forth that profoundly mysterious cry at the end of His life: “It is finished.”
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