But there is forgiveness with you, so that you may be feared.

 

Thursday, August 24, 2023


Psalms 130; 131; 133

2 Samuel 22:17-31

Acts 19:21-41


Observance: Bartholomew, apostle and martyr


But there is forgiveness with you, so that you may be feared.


When it comes to film-star action heroes, none manage to be quite as enviably masculine as Jason Statham. In the aptly-named Wrath of Man, the fourth collaboration between him and director Guy Ritchie, he is at his broken-nosed, square-shouldered, gruff-voiced best. It is a film perfectly matching story-line with actor: Statham spends the movie on a mission of revenge, hunting down the armed robber who ended the life of his teenage son in a robbery gone wrong. But nothing captures the emptiness of human vengeance as well as the ending shot of the film: as our hero drives off having successfully hunted down the villain, the camera pans up, showing a city at night.


If our Lord marked our iniquities, who could stand, asks the Psalmist. All our lives, every human interaction, stained by the countless rash words and selfish deeds, would end. There would be no tomorrow for the watchmen to look out for.


God’s forgiveness is God continuing the story. God made us to be eternal beings; death is ugly and counter to God’s plans. So while receiving our just desserts would make sense from a purely legalistic point of view, it makes for a terrible story, and God’s story is that of His everlasting kingdom.


If the tough man on his mission of vengeance is the Hollywood idea of masculinity, God’s idea is better. Getting over, moving past, granting forgiveness: this is a far more difficult task to accomplish. Christ giving Himself on the cross in order to satisfy both justice and mercy is the most admirable display of virtue we could ever witness. The man who forgives others has a depth of character which inspires fearful respect; the God-man who forgave by giving Himself for the sake of His people demands fearful respect. More than that; love of absolute devotion. No wonder David rests in the Lord like a weaned child with its mother.



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