The recent shoreline scene of orange-clad followers of Jesus kneeling before the severing power of metal still haunts me.The pure horror of that line of sword-wielding terrorists rips at the fabric of my faith. Where is justice? There must be vengeance! But as I think those thoughts, a question comes as if out of nowhere and at the same time as if out of everywhere. These are followers of Jesus. Who would Jesus behead if He had the chance?
But then I pause long enough to realize how absurd the picture becomes when the terrorists are replaced in my imagination with a vengeful Jesus grabbing one of their swords. As my emotions are still demanding “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth” and “hate your enemy”, Jesus dramatically drops the sword and speaks, “That’s what you’ve always heard. That’s what you’ve always thought. But I say to you…”
Then I hear His next words…
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