the mountain of christ
My husband and I just finished watching the PBS Masterpiece mini-series of “The Count of Monte Cristo”. Alexandre Dumas employed irony when his main character Edmond Dantes renamed himself the “Count of Christ’s Mountain”, since his pursuit of vengeance is the antithesis of what Jesus died on Calvary to accomplish. Jesus’ mission was reconciliation, not punishment or conquest. He was a king, but he was a king who arrived humbly by birth in a stable and entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, riding on an ass.
Last week in my comments about the US attack on Iran, I quoted Psalm 120:7, “I am for peace, but when I speak of it, they are for war.” There are in fact many other psalms where the writers call upon God to enact vengeance. But those are songs that allow humans to vent emotions of anguish. They are asking God to enact justice rather than exacting revenge for themselves. The Bible isn’t coy about knowing how we feel when wronged. It stinks, and we want to lash out. But Jesus was clear that we should not take our baser feelings out on one another: “Your ancestors have been taught, ‘Take an eye in exchange for an eye and a tooth in exchange for a tooth.’ However, I say to you don’t repay an evil act with another evil act…love your enemy, bless the one who curses you, do something wonderful for the one who hates you…For that will reveal your identity as children of your father.”
Edmond Dantes doesn’t believe that, even when warned by his prison friend and mentor Abbe Faria that as you plan revenge it is best to dig your own grave first. Dantes pursued and exacted a slow, deliberate vengeance on the men who had him falsely imprisoned. He learned the hard way, that the satisfaction of revenge was tempered with guilt and by the loss of love and joy.
So, back to our attack on Iran—was there an imminent threat to the United States? Or was this a preemptive strike to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear warheads? Or was it a further act of vengeance that Israel is exacting on Iran and the Arab world for October 7th…one that we have been sucked (or suckered) into? I really don’t know. But what I can see is that chaos and destruction has been unleashed and is spilling into many countries in the Mideast, and once that genie is out and rampaging, it is very hard to put it back in the bottle.
In a Bible study commentary on the gospel of Luke, Hope A. Blanton and Christine B. Gordon write: “Satan offers an alternative that will seem to help accomplish our goal or meet our legitimate need, but will do so while leading us away from dependency on and obedience to God.”
I am hoping that our next president will be a man of peace. Not appeasement, because that is folly as well, but real peace. I hope that by the time we get there, it is not too late. But as Alexandre Dumas said through his mouthpiece Abbe Faria, I will “Wait and hope.”
Love, Liz
Photo by Brian Blindauer
