There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars and on the earth distress among nations confused by the roaring of the sea. People will faint from fear of what is coming. Now when these things begin to take place, stand up. Raise your heads. Your redemption is drawing near. —Jesus (Luke 24.25—28)
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As you read this, a winter storm of biblical proportions is blasting large swaths of our country with snow, sleet, and ice. Two hundred million of us will be affected.
Millions will lose power and heat and (worst of all) internet service. Cars and trucks will get stuck. Flights will be canceled. Dozens will die. I’ll run out of bananas before I can get to Food Lion again.
That’s all bad, for sure. But it’s hardly “biblical.”
You want biblical? This is biblical: The catastrophic flood in Noah’s day, the pulverization of Sodom and Gomorra in Abraham’s day, and the 10 plagues of Egypt in Moses’s day—blood, frogs, flies, lice, locusts, pestilence, hail, and darkness. The slaughter of the firstborn. Every horrible thing imaginable other than disco blaring out of gigantic speakers.
You want biblical? That’s biblical!
Those were the days, my friends. God smote bad people. No one got away with lying, stealing, cheating, boasting, or playing God. (“Only I can fix it.”) If you did any of those things, you broke out in boils—at the least.
In Noah’s day, violence was rampant. Boom! Smite humankind. In Abraham’s day, cities were corrupt. Boom! Smite Sodom and Gomorrah. In Moses’s day, Pharaoh abused power. Boom! Smite Pharaoh’s land.
Of course, that God has long retired. The God of love took over. I’m glad. But to tell you the truth, sometimes I miss the God of smiting.
It seems to me there are just too many people getting away with murder, big lies, and abuse of power these days. There just aren’t enough prosecutors, courts, and judges to crack down on all of them.
Where’s the God of smiting? Actually, we don’t need that kind of god, or that kind of king, or that kind of autocrat smiting people.
We have democracy on our side.
Look around.
People flood the streets of Minneapolis protesting the murder of an innocent woman by a federal agent. Whistle blowers expose corruption in high places. World leaders lock arms and stand against a tyrant.
That, my friends, is courage of biblical proportions.
That’s Jesus standing up and resisting the tyranny of Rome. That’s Jesus standing beside the falsely accused woman. That’s Jesus loving his enemies to death.
Another storm is gathering.
Stand strong.
