Happy Easter!
When I was younger I didn’t understand why Easter was considered a more important holiday (to Christians) than Christmas. It’s funny but I can’t even remember now what my confusion was; it certainly seems a much bigger deal for someone to come back from the dead than to be born.
I have wrestled with one of Jesus’ commands. In Matthew 5:39 Jesus famously said, “But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.“
This passage really caused me angst, because as a young libertarian I actually wrote LRC articles about “the Resistance.” In other words I tried to get modern freedom writers to picture themselves as comparable to the French Resistance when their country was occupied by the Germans. Play it!
In fact, I used to autograph my books by writing, “Keep resisting! –Robert P. Murphy”
But I don’t do that anymore. Now I write, “Keep learning!” and since that sounds so cheesy I am thinking of switching to, “The truth shall set you free.”
The reason for the switch? Look at what Jesus did. He didn’t resist evil, even though He could have called legions of angels down to ward off his kidnappers. He showed that you cannot thwart God’s will. “Oh, but if we don’t fight back, they will torture and kill us!!!”
And Jesus can say, “So what?”
What should have been the Devil’s ultimate victory–he tricked us into murdering a guy who was literally spending His days healing the sick and bestowing words of wisdom–was transformed into the Devil’s ultimate defeat.
Why does God allow bad things to happen? Because He is so ingenious that He can snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. He has managed to turn humanity’s moment of greatest shame into our salvation.
Jesus is risen!
