The Perspective Beyond Hatred

Have you ever seen hatred applied so forcefully against a person... that it doesn't matter what good things that person says or does, he is just wrong. He is hated. He is maligned. His very presence on the pages of history is a disgrace, and the fact that he is pumping air in and out of his lungs, the fact that his heart still beats... is a tragedy.

I hope the above paragraph shocks you. But I don't think it will. Because I've seen this hatred all too often, and still see it. And you have, too. I'll leave it there.

In John 11:45-57, some of the Jews who are present at Lazarus' (now empty) tomb and who have witnessed a four-day, all-dead dead man (see The Princess Bride terminology from yesterday's blog post) scooting his way out of the cave as he struggles to free himself from his straight-jacket strips of linen -- go to the chief priests and the Pharisees in Jerusalem. They gain an audience with the religious leaders and they tell them all about this miracle.

Think about this: the Man who called a four-day-old dead guy, an all-dead dead guy, to come out of a tomb, living and breathing... 

That Man is wrong. He's hated. He's maligned. It doesn't matter in the least to the chief priests and Pharisees that there is overwhelming witness of the power of God, that there is evidence of a mind-blowing miracle that calls them to believe in the divinity of the Son of God.

They still hate Him.

To be crystal clear, the two men I have brought up thus far in this blog post as being hated individuals are as different as night and day. One is the Son of God. The other is well-known to be a flawed human.

Both -- in the eyes of their enemies -- can do nothing right, no matter how much right they do.

The chief priests and the Pharisees call a meeting of the Sanhedrin in response to this miracle of Jesus'. "What are we accomplishing?" they ask. "Here is this Man performing miraculous signs. If we let Him go on like this, everyone will believe in Him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation."

See, they don't get it, just like Pilate doesn't get it in the next few chapters of John. The chief priests and the Pharisees are thinking... Insurrection. Sedition. Treason. Loss of political power. Where have I see these words recently? Oh, right. Headlines from this past week. No biggie.

They are thinking that they are getting ready to find themselves on the losing end of this weird, ugly mixing of church-and-state. They believe Jesus will up-end their grip on their religious leadership and that they will find themselves on a downward spiral from their places of power in the church, in their nation, and with Rome.

Jesus is the original church-and-state Separator. "My kingdom is not of this world," He tells Pilate in John 18:36. "If it were, My servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now My kingdom is from another place."

But the chief priests and Pharisees are so blinded by their hatred of Jesus, that they look past the (may I say, blatantly obvious) evidence of this heavenly kingdom Jesus is bringing, and they accuse Him of sedition and treason -- the only accusation they know will bring down the censure of Rome. It doesn't matter whether it's true or not. It gets their job done.

In a twist of events, the high priest Caiaphas brings up the concept of the "greater good." "You do not realize that it is better for you that one Man die for the people than that the whole nation perish." 

Listen to this: "[Caiaphas] did not say this on His own, but as high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation, and not only for that nation, but also for the scattered children of God, to bring them together and make them one."

So from that day on, they plotted to take His life.

I don't even know how to capture this in words, but I'm going to try. 

Satan had a plan, and he played the Pharisees and teachers of the law like marionettes on strings. "We've got to kill this man."

God also had a plan, a much greater and far-reaching plan than Satan could even conceive of, and He used a man who hated Jesus to correctly prophesy Jesus' death. Jesus' death fell in line with Satan's plan, Jesus' death fell in line with God's plan, but God's plan far outstrips Satan's plan.

Here's a diagram to illustrate the concept. In the grand scheme of plans, God's plan boxes in the enemy's with mind-blowing and eternal finesse every. single. time.

And so, as events move forward, Satan uses his marionettes to carry out his plan, and God allows it to happen, because His greater plan is for the salvation and redemption of all mankind through the shed blood of Jesus, the perfect, sinless sacrifice, on the cross.

Have you ever listened to the old song by Carman called The Champion? 1980's synthesizer overuse or not, do yourself a favor and listen to it. 

God's plan always prevails. It always wins. Remember how Joseph, son of Jacob, endures years and years of mistreatment, slavery, loss of family, loss of freedom, everything that is dear to him. And yet, in the end when he gives his testimony, his review-of-life to his brothers -- who in their blind hatred, have tried their best to destroy their own flesh-and-blood brother -- Joseph says with ringing sincerity: "You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives" (Genesis 50:20).

In the madness and insanity of this past week -- past months, past years -- let's consider this Scripture as a call for perspective.

Instead of allowing ourselves to be blinded by hatred, how about we try to find the good things in the very people we've hated?

We might be surprised to find that God, with His sovereign planning abilities (see diagram above in case of confusion), has been at work the whole time. Huh. How about that.