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Revenge
Shake. Shake. Shake.
Polly shakes a red and green bottle up and down, a cunning smirk playing on her lips. As she shakes the bottle, in big deliberate motions, drops of orange Tabasco sauce sprinkle all over the ceramic plate, sitting on the counter in front of her, drenching the pork sausages that lay in its centre.
“This’ll fix her,” Polly thinks, as her smirk deepens into a smug smile.
Standing beside her, watching Poly’s peculiar behaviour, Manuel furrows his brow.
“Eh, Poly,” he says in broken English. “This Mrs Chase meal?”
Polly shakes her head.
“Not quite,” she says. “It’s for her dog.”
“Qué?” Manuel says, his eyes looking puzzled.
“Mrs Chases’ dog bit me,” Poly explains, and as she has made her stay here unpleasant for all of us, I have fixed her dog a meal.”
Then, with a triumphant smile, she lifts the plate of sausages and places it in Manuel’s hands.
“Bangers à la bang,” she says, a look of glee twinkling in her eyes.
Attacked
Revenge. Who hasn’t yearned for it? Waitress, Polly Sherman, of Fawlty Towers fame, desired it of Mrs Chase and who did Polly rope in to help her with her cunning plan? Her dim-witted co-worker, Manuel. But is that the best way to settle a conflict?
On Monday evening of April 15th 2024, a youth alledgedly attacked a bishop with a knife, also wounding a priest who stepped in to help him. The incident happened at Christ the Good Shepherd Church, “an Assyrian Church of the East” congregation located in New South Walse, Australia. Police believe the attacker’s motive was Islamic terrorism as, shortly after the attack, he expressed displeasure about comments the bishop had made, on another occasion, regarding his prophet, Muhammad.
That shocked the nation, but Australia felt equally disturbed as it received reports that a crowd had formed in front of the church, rioting and yelling out phrases such as “an eye for an eye.” The rioters also threw heavy objects at the church doors and windows and chanted, “bring him out” over and over, as the crowd believed the attacker was still inside the church. This behaviour shocked the nation, as rioting and calling for vigilante justice is in stark contrast to the way the Bible tells Christians they should handle religious persecution and other such acts of violence. Making matters worse, the crowd refused to disperse, despite church leaders calling for calm. Because of this, paramedics and police officers were trapped inside the building for several hours. Sadly, during the riots, some police officers even received serious injuries. The next morning, two female representatives of the church, apologised for the behaviour of the angry multitude that night, stating they felt embarrassed about what had happened, that the church as a whole had forgiven the attacker and that the crowd had included people not part of their congregation.
Confused
How did this happen? Why did apparent followers of Jesus retaliate in that way when the Bible says we should turn the other cheek and not avenge ourselves but rather allow God to repay justice?
There are many possible reasons that could explain the events that unfolded that night, including that not all groups who call themselves Christians are Christian. For instance, some denominations say they preach the Gospel, but when you look more closely at their beliefs, you find they teach a works-based interpretation of Christianity instead of the real version. True Christianity offers sinners grace, mercy and salvation from their sins as a free gift, but some churches teach a retributive form of Christianity where you must pay for your own sins through penance and purgatory, and if that’s your view of Christianity, perhaps, showing forgiveness, grace and mercy won’t sit with you as well as dealing out your own form of punishment does, in an attempt to purge your attacker from their sin. Surprisingly, the website of Christ the Good Shepherd Church doesn’t have a statement of belief, so we can’t verify if this lays behind the reaction of the angry crowd that night - that, perhaps, they’re not really a Christian group at all.
Or, perhaps, Christ the Good Shepherd Church does teach truthfully, and perhaps they are genuine believers, but certain members of the congregation have misunderstandings about particular passages found within the Bible such as that verse in Leviticus 24:17-22 which calls for a life for a life and an eye for an eye. Some people misunderstand this Bible verse as a call for revenge, but really this verse is a command for Christians to ensure justice. It’s not a command to seek vengeance and act like vigilantes, but a command that a guilty party should not receive a punishment that is either too severe for the crime he has committed or too soft. So, perhaps members of this angry crowd require more teaching on certain aspects of the Bible and that’s why the riots erupted.
Immature
But, whatever the cause, the angry mob, that gathered that night, definitely displayed immaturity, with one rioter, when questioned by a journalist about his behaviour, stating,
“We have to defend our religion,”
But does Jesus really need defending?
When Judas betrayed Jesus into the hands of an angry multitude, Jesus’ immature disciples asked Jesus,
“Lord, shall we strike with the sword?”
Then, one of the disciples struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his right ear, but Jesus answered and said,
“Permit even this.”
Then, Jesus touched the high priest’s ear and healed him.
So, I would say, no. A man who can heal a cut ear does not need defending. Rather, the disciple who cut off the high priest’s ear showed immaturity. Despite spending three years in the presence of Jesus, he still believed violence, in that circumstance, was warranted. It seems he forgot that Jesus had power over storms and power to feed thousands of people with five loaves and two fish and power to heal invalids of all kinds of sickness and disease. A person like that doesn’t need our defence. But we sure need Jesus, and Jesus can turn this ugly episode that occurred following the Islamic terrorist attack that night around. Not only can Jesus restore an ear, He can also restore the public’s faith in that hurting Assyrian church, perhaps in the way that Zacchaeus did, through acts of restitution. Restitution can’t make up for our sin. There are some things we can never take back. We can’t erase our sin or earn our forgiveness, but restitution shows that if we could go back in time and take our sins a way, we would and that can soften people’s hearts.
Unstoppable
Nevertheless, no matter the riots that occurred that night, they cannot stop the spread of the Gospel nor the conversion of unbelievers to Christianity. Because despite, the immature disciple striking the high priest and cutting off his ear in the garden where Judas betrayed Jesus, it did not halt the Gospel and over the years hasn’t stopped many thousands of people from surrendering their lives to Jesus. Nor will this episode in Wakeley, New South Wales. It can only lead to growth. Growth in the maturity of the congregation and perhaps even growth inside of the heart of that alleged Islamic assailant who, despite hearing of the brawl that detonated outside the church he attacked that night, received prayer from the bishop, who actually sustained the knife injury, immediately after the attacker knifed him, which the media described as “remarkable courage and forgiveness.” And it’s my prayer that members of that riot will start displaying more of that – courage and forgiveness.
Romans 12:19
Luke 22:47-51 NKJV
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