Today’s Scripture Reading (February
22, 2013): Psalm 36
It seems to
be the question of every action movie – so much so that we hardly think anything
about it. It comes right after the big battle between the protagonist and the
antagonist – between the hero and villain. In that moment when the hero finally
wins, usually at that moment when the hero could have just as easily lost, and
the villain falls, the question is simply - is the bad guy really dead –
because we all know that bad guys are really hard to kill. And it is a little
amazing how often that we think that the villain is dead, and he rises to fight
once more.
Apparently
it is an ancient fear – maybe one that is built into the very fabric of our being.
It has been the themes of the ghost stories we have told around the campfires
for generations; the fear behind all of the ancient horror’s. It is the army
that cannot be killed. But David sees a different vision. In his vision the
evil ones lie down and they never get up again. And it is not just a vision a
future that might be, in David’s eyes, it has already happened.
And it has. One
of the most beautiful visions of the cross is that it is the final battle, and
the enemy’s most crushing defeat. It was at that moment when victory for the
enemy should have been close at hand, but instead the almost unthinkable
happened. From the cross, the moment of our defeat became the moment of our
victory. Satan was defeated, and with David we see the moment that Satan will
lie down and he will never rise from again. It is a moment that we see as if it
has already happened – it is a certainty that it will happen.
Lent
continues, our march toward the cross and the Friday that we call “Good.” And
it is good because it is there that the enemy is defeated – and our enemy will
never rise again.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Psalm
37
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