Retaliation

Image by Free-Photos from Pixabay 

Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows. (Isaiah 53:4)

Today’s post is somewhat personal, perhaps a bit of a tangent, but please indulge me…

We lost a member of my church yesterday, a woman my age whom I had known for over twenty-five years. She taught several of my kids in Sunday School. I often sat in the pew just behind her and her husband, and we had a “special” connection in that we had each battled cancer. 

It was in late March. Church services had just been cancelled due to the coronavirus. I had gone to the church on an errand and she also happened to be there. Known for her industry and faithfulness, she was often there, cleaning, working on something for church. We talked for several minutes in the parking lot. Good conversation. God is good, as she had a doctor’s visit just a couple days later and learned the cancer was back. They moved swiftly into treatment, but things did not go well. With the virus quarantine and her becoming so ill so swiftly, that visit in the church parking lot was the last time I saw her.

I have the usual emotions, the shock and sadness, the sympathy for her husband and daughters. Grief. With cancer deaths, however, I often experience one more feeling – anger. I am angry at that disease, taking so many good people before their time. So how does one handle this hodgepodge of emotions?

“Take it to the Lord in prayer,” the song says. 

What would Jesus do?

In Matthew 14 – actually, all the gospels record this story – we have the account of the beheading of John the Baptist. John was family to Jesus, a cousin, and beyond that John was the one who “got” Him, who saw Him for who He was. They must have had not only a family connection, but a spiritual one as well. His horrid death at the hands of a drunken ruler must have deeply grieved Jesus. The gospels record that immediately after He heard the news he withdrew with his disciples to a remote location. 

When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place. Matthew 14:13

But something happened to hijack His private grieving time.

Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns. (vs 13)

A large group of needy people actually got to His private location before He did. I once heard a sermon where the speaker admitted he used to wonder why Jesus didn’t retaliate for John’s murder. And then he realized He did: When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick.Matthew 14:14

He followed that up with the miracle of feeding the five thousand. Jesus retaliated by walking in compassion, healing the sick, feeding the hungry. He hit the kingdom of darkness and He hit it hard.

Maybe I use too many military allusions here, but when I think of my friend’s death, I think of picking up the sword of a fallen comrade-in-arms and carrying on the battle. 

We will hit the kingdom of darkness and hit it hard. We will continue to stand in the gap.

Margaret