King Joash did not remember the kindness Zechariah's father Jehoiada had shown him but killed his son, who said as he lay dying, "May the LORD see this and call you to account." – 2 Chronicles 24:22

Today's Scripture Reading (March 17, 2026): 2 Chronicles 24

Liu Xiaobo won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2010. He did not attend the award ceremony; he couldn't, he was in a Chinese Prison at the time. Xiaobo was the first ethnically Chinese person to receive the Nobel Peace Prize and the third person to receive it while in prison. The illegal activity for which he was being punished was "inciting the subversion of state power," or as the Nobel Committee phrased it, "his long and non-violent struggle for Fundamental human rights in China." For most of his life, Liu Xiaobo had tried to speak truth to power. However, those in power often didn't want to hear what he had to say.

In our contemporary world, part of being in power is often more like a magic show than we really want to admit. Politicians often try to convince us that something is true that really isn't, distract us from the problems in society, and really celebrate what the politician believes is important. It is true in China and around the world as well. Welcome to life in the twenty-first century.

While the priest Jehoiada was alive, he was able to focus King Joash on the correct things, the things that mattered to God. Jehoiada lived a long and productive life, dying at the age of 130. But once Jehoiada was no longer with him, Joash lost that focus. Without the priest's help, he was shaped by advisors who didn't have the heart of God and instead pushed actions that went against God but served their own goals.

Zechariah was the son of Jehoiada, and he felt he had to do something about what was happening in the nation. Zechariah channeled his father's beliefs and attitudes; he tried to focus Joash as his father had, but he didn't possess the King's respect that his father had enjoyed. All Joash seemed to see was that Zechariah was going against the things that the King had grown to want to do. Joash's heart no longer belonged to God, and rather than return to God, the King decided to go all in on the corruption that surrounded him and kill the prophet God had sent to call the King to repentance.

Joash orders Zechariah to be executed, and he is killed at the very spot where his father, Jehoiada, had anointed Joash, making him the King. He had answered the kindness that had been given to him by Jehoiada with the cruelty that Joash gave to Zechariah, all because Zechariah had attempted to speak truth to power.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: 2 Kings 12