the day Christ died

Every artists sings of it, every movie tells of it, every heart longs for it. It is the story of our lives. Love is the thing we are looking for.

And here is where it is found. At the cross. When power empties itself, when God speaks on the cross, (do you hear the irony here...God subject to a cross), He whispers the final words which command the darkness. And here is what they say to the depths of the deep dark sea of despair:

"This far no further, 'it is finished'; time to lay the rifles down."

And if we still haven't found what we are looking for it is because we don't have eyes to see or ears to hear the song of 'the emptied monarch who is a crucified King'. The One of power who looked not to His own interests of power, (could He not of conquered both Rome and Israel?), but instead lays down power 'for the sake of others'...even his enemy whom He blesses with 'father forgive them for they know not what they do', they, most certainly, know not what they are rejecting and on the contrary have no concept of what they are blessing and giving their 'yes' to. If they live by this sword, power, the rifle, they will one day die by the same. Indeed Benjamin Martin of 'The Patriot' has it right, 'Why trade one tyrant 3,000 miles away for 3,000 tyrants one mile away'. Indeed.

Emptied has considerable Biblical relevance as explained in the kenosis 'emptied self' passage of Philippians 2. The concept is described by Paul:

¹If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, ²then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. ³Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. ⁴Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. ⁵Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:

⁶Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
⁷but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.
⁸And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross!

We will not allow swords to be beat into plowshares. We dream of Camelot but in the end we burn the city, we rebel for the sake of survival, we refuse Camelot. We refuse the Kingdom of God where a lamb can lie down with a lion. If the oppressive powers that killed an innocent man on a Friday we call good still rules the day, then we have yet to see the light. The dark storm that covered the land on that most holy (set apart) hour must shroud us still.

Here is the path of peace...the blessing of forgiveness...from the heart of James Taylor...

There are rifles buried in the countryside for the rising of the moon
May they lie there long forgotten till they rust away into the ground

Who will bend this ancient hatred, will the killing to an end
Who will swallow long injustice, take the devil for a country man
Who will say "this far no further, oh lord, if I die today"

Send no weapons no more money. Send no vengeance across the seas
Just the blessing of forgiveness for my new countryman and me

Missing brothers, martyred fellows, silent children in the ground
Could we but hear them could they not tell us
"Time to lay God's rifle down"

Who will say this far no further, oh Lord, if I die today.

And when He died, words were whispered, and here is what we must hear...it is finished.