A Modern Horror

A Modern Horror

Readers, take warning. It is as horrible a story as I have read anywhere, all the more so because it is found in Scripture – Judges 19. If you must, read it cautiously, in the daylight. It is an ancient modern True story illustrating what happens when we lose the connective tissue – when we all do what is right in our own eyes – when we acknowledge the rule of no one. The story ends with a graphic – a grotesque – image, driving home the point: “This is what we have become. This is now who we are.” We are fragmented, torn, at odds with one another – the center has failed – we treat each other as enemy strangers, and worse. It would be nice to report that Israel, confronted with such clear evidence, repented. But that is not what happened. Instead, revenge drove the division stupid deep, lasting for generations – proving, again, that if I can’t answer, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” in the affirmative, my brother is at greatest risk from my hand.

The parallels are not exact – but they are close enough. For each name reaching social media outrage because of the coincidence of a cell phone video, there are many more unknown, unnamed – but the number of, and the heart-breaking, infuriating, regularity of those that do break the surface of our consciousness shout to the nation, “This is what we have become. This is now who we are.” From the top down, we are fragmented, torn, at odds with one another – the center has failed – we treat our brother as stranger, as enemy, and worse. We decry bullying – but then bully the bullies! And often, in our spasms of justice, we are reduced to paroxysms of self-justified revenge – which is met with yet more tearing, more dis-integration.

It is to just such horror that Jesus came as peacemaker – seeking, in the surrender of His own life, to reconcile us, first to God, but then to each other, and to ourselves. They are not different reconciliations – they are all of a whole – one not complete until all are complete. This is why Jesus linked our forgiveness to our forgiving – our loving of God to our loving of brother. And not just the brother who was victimized, but the brother who victimized him. And the brothers who stood and watched – or who looked the other way – or who are heart-hardened. That must be why love is not an option, but a command. It is hard, hard work. It may kill us. That often happens to peace-makers. Perhaps that is why they are called the children of God. Perhaps that is why he suggested we bring our own cross – and take it up daily.