Is Revenge a Dish Best Served Cold?

'Revenge is a dish best served cold' is a saying attributed to a French novel of the 18th Century, but frequently quoted in the 21st. It probably came out of stored vocabulary once again following the events of the last month in Israel and Iran. The reasoning is that if you are wronged, attacked or slighted by an enemy, you should keep them waiting, stewing and fearful, not knowing when or how you might take your revenge. The presumption is, however, that revenge is a good and desirable thing, something that will satisfy both honour and the clameur to hit back when assaulted.

Not wanting to be drawn too far into the political morass of the Middle East, I just want to take a moment to ponder the question 'should revenge ever be on the menu?'. For the Christian, - the follower of Jesus of Nazareth, the answer has to be 'no'. The advice Jesus gave to his disciples was radical: ‘You have heard that it was said, “Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth. But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also"' (Matt. 5:38-39). If this was not enough of a stinger, Jesus sent a sidewinder too - ‘You have heard that it was said, “Love your neighbour and hate your enemy.” But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you' (Matt 5:43-44),  

One man who had in his youth been a devoted Jewish intellectual and zealot, and had attacked members of the infant Christian faith without mercy, Saul of Tarsus (later Paul the Apostle), warned scrapping church members about their behaviour. 'If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other'.

Nelson Mandela had more reasons than most to take revenge on his persecutors and enemies. Jailed for treason in 1962 he served decades in harsh detention facilities, constantly abused and humiliated. Yet, after 30 years he was freed to become South Africa's first black president. He is reputed to have said: “Resentment is like drinking poison and then hoping it will kill your enemies.”

Whilst I know that in war all of the above become so difficult, perhaps even impossible, yet in the daily commotion and sometimes dreadful assaults of our busy lives, we can choose whether we seethe with an unhealthy longing for revenge, or learn to 'turn the other cheek'. This is stuff that we cannot achieve alone. We need the spirit of the risen Christ to be in us, to change and empower us, to live that kind of radical life where, for us at least, revenge is neither served hot nor cold - it's completely off the menu.
 

Just Looking

I don't blame Peter and John for running straight to the garden tomb where Jesus had been laid just three days before. Some women had reported to them that the body was no longer there! They even claimed that he had risen from the dead! If that were true, then everything in their lives - and in ours - must change. They had to find out more.

I read the account by John in his gospel of his race to the tomb of Jesus that first Sunday morning.  He says that he outran Peter, arrived at the tomb first.  But he didn't go in, instead he lingered at the door, peeping in while impetuous Peter rushed past him.  For reasons of his own John called himself 'the other disciple' and I began to wonder why, and why he held back while others were hurtling headlong into this miracle.

John was close to Jesus, one of the inner gang of three, Peter James and John.  He knew that Jesus loved him. Yet, at that critical moment, he hesitated and held back.  Here's why:

1. He Realised the Implications.  He knew that if what the women had reported was true his life would never be the same again.
2. He Hesitated to Commit.  Don't we all sometimes?  I know I do.  A lot of people today are in relationships where they are afraid to commit.  They fear a solemn covenant like marriage.  Or they can't face the idea of giving up their old way of life.
3. He Understood What the Final Outcome of all this would be.  He knew that if he committed and went in, he faced a life of ridicule by his friends and maybe his family. There would be persecution by those who would say he was mad.  (He did end his life in a hard labour colony).  But above all that, he realised that if Christ was risen, and had overcome death, then he was about to enter the most marvellous, magical and momentous truth - he too, the other disciple - might live for ever! 
   

So, with trembling heart and small steps into the dark, the other disciple went in and became the Apostle John. Much later he wrote the words of Revelation 1:17 & 18.  'When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: "Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last.  I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.'

If you are peeping into the kingdom of God today, perhaps even on your annual visit to church, or watching a service by Livestream, and wondering what you should do, I encourage you to go on in, and become in a very real sense 'an other disciple' today.

A Tomb with a View

There is a tomb with a view at the centre of the Easter story. A place of cold grief and bitter tears. A real tomb for a really dead man, not just somewhere for a swooned imposter to await rescue by his fellow conspirators. This is God's tomb, where the Son tasted death for me. This is the devil's best, an attempt to wipe out the catalogue of miracles and mercy that Jesus wrote in Galilee and substitute his own pathetic offering of "always look on the bright side" and "did God really say..?" doubt.

It doesn't really surprise me that Jesus rose from the dead. He is the Lord of life after all, the creator of all that lives. What is amazing is that the broken body of Jesus lay shattered in this grave for as long as it did. There are all kinds of ideas as to what Jesus might have been doing during those days and nights, but for me the great miracle of Easter is that God entered human broken-ness at its lowest and darkest. Smashed by evil men, bloodied, crushed and discarded, - "this is my body, broken for you".

And the view from the tomb of Jesus is magnificent. Its light casts a quick flicker of hope over a place of suffering and pain, Golgotha or Calvary, and slowly expands towards the brilliant dawn that is already starting to change the colours we see only through our tears. Yes, this is God's tomb, but much more than that - it is MY tomb as well. For, in the words of the Apostle Paul, "I have been crucified with Christ" (Galatians 2:20). The old me is dead and buried, and just as Jesus breaks forth from the tomb outside Jerusalem, so I am set free by Christ from self, from having to impress others, even from the fear of death itself.

I am grateful that God knows what it feels like to suffer and die, and be laid in a tomb by weeping loved ones. I am glad that he understands my pain, and yours, and that he comes to us on our 'silent Saturdays' and dark nights of the soul. But I'm also rejoicing that the tomb is no longer in use as a grave. The Lord of life and glory could not be held by those chains of death. 

And here's an offer you won't see in many catalogues - it can be YOUR tomb as well! "Oh thanks Eric" I can hear you say "that's all I need on top of everything else I am suffering". But that's the whole point, this tomb is the place where you can lay your sufferings down, and your achievements, and stop trying to impress God and others. You can be identified with Jesus in His death also, and rise with Him to a completely new life! It may be Easter Saturday, but hey - Sunday's coming! 

Love Wins!

It's only the second week of February but the early signs of Spring are all around us here in Guernsey. Bulbs which have been hiding under the dark cold ground for months are starting to bring colour, vibrancy and hope to our wind blasted gardens and hedgerows. These early signs of Spring are really heartening, giving us the sense that better days lie ahead. The cold dark season we are in will not last for ever. The seeds of renewal may lie hidden, but their power to break through is irresistible. 

It's important to have hope in the darkness, expectation instead of dread, and a sense that the future God has planned for us will be so much better than the barren winter barely passing. In our wider world there is such sadness. As I write, the death of a prominent Russian opposition leader, Alexei Navalny, has shocked and saddened the western world. Images of his bereaved wife and children add to the sense of profound sorrow being felt by millions. There is a cold, barren emptiness in a large swathe of Eastern Europe as the war in Ukraine rages on, and lives are being lost in the battle against tyranny. Elsewhere, in Israel and Gaza there is such huge sadness as we witness the wanton death and destruction being wrought and their impact on ordinary men, women and children on both sides. Can there be any bulbs of hope beneath this dreadful soil?

As Christians, our hope is in God. He is not finished with us yet and is working out his plan in these end-times through all the earth, whether in East or West. There may be times in our lives when we fear that our cause is futile, our case hopeless. I felt that over the long years of my chronic illness. Sometimes it just feels like the weight and fire-power of our enemy is overwhelming. The price of hanging on and persevering can seem too high. Don’t give up! God is on our side. The enemy of our souls may gloat over temporary or even long-term advances against us, but the end of the story is clear. Love wins, God wins, goodness triumphs over evil! Hang in there!