There have been two times in my life where I can remember exactly where I was and what I was doing. The first was in 1963 I was in our High School auditorium listening to a US high school band that had been invited to play at the school. The principle came on the stage, quieted the band and made the solemn announcement of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. The second event was September 11, 2001. These events to me represent a paradigm shift not just in world affairs, but injected a sadness into the very fabric of society.
There doesn’t seem to be a day goes by that some part of the world is in political turmoil, strife and sorrow. Many try in vain to find solutions.
And yet what so often happens in our societies we have dismissed and driven Jesus away , and as such we are totally at the mercy of our rulers, whoever they may be and whatever the ideology on behalf of which they purport to govern. Outside of Gods Kingdom, power becomes all embracing, with nothing to moderate its demands or mitigate its cruelty. In our times the Stalin’s, the Hitler’s, the Mao Tse-tungs, the Osama bin ladens and even some societies proclaiming to be Christian have demonstrated this reality.
The only antidote to the poison from Caesar’s laurel crown comes from Jesus’ crown of thorns. He alone can deliver us from the monstrosities of power. In the most difficult of times Christians have turned not to Universal Declarations of Human rights and other pronouncements, solemn undertakings, Covenants and Charters, demonstrations, but to the man wearing a crown of thorns, decked out in a red robe of absurdity and with a court of jeering soldiers. There alone the sting of power is drawn and its pretensions are exploded, and the princes of this world, whatever their ideology may be, have no recourse but, like Judas to flee into the night.