The Silence of the Lambs, Covid-19 Version, Part 1
In the twentieth chapter of the book of Luke, the powerful political authorities ask Jesus a very important question. These authorities were the hifalutin religious elders, priests, teachers, but they were political, just like they are today. If you don't know that, you aren't paying attention.
Well, sadly it is likely the same scant attention most people pay to this passage. Jesus is asked, "By whose authority are you doing all of this Kingdom stuff?" [His powerful words, His miraculous deeds, you know...] Jesus then asks them, "What do you think, John's baptism, was it from heaven or from some human origin?" These dudes knew what Jesus was doing: exposing their sanctimonious hypocrisy. They knew that if they answered from heaven Jesus would ask them why they don't give up their institutionalized pretense and follow Him. They also knew that if they answered from men, then the people would remonstrate because many whom those dudes needed for support wholly respected John the Baptist, and that answer would be considered thoroughly disrespecting him.
So their only answer: "We don't know."
And Jesus, the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world, was silent.
Well, he actually said, "Then I won't answer your question."
This was the first of many real-life silence of the lambs.
For you see, followers of Christ know that World devotees will live by the World. They don't have a conception of this Jesus fellow -- well, excuse me -- everyone has a Jesus, it just may not be the one described in Scripture. But that's just the point. When introduced to the Jesus who is God come in the flesh to give His life for one's sin, they just have no idea of what all this means.
So at some point, the follower of Christ who self-sacrificially gives and sows and dies so that another may have life will be a silent lamb.
The World does what the World does.
The people in it will behave exactly as the System tells them to, through a thousand different channels of information or indoctrination or seduction or anything to keep them feeling good about themselves and their pride and the smothering of their insecurities which never seem to want to be smothered for very long.
If you're paying attention, this is precisely what is happening with this coronavirus state of affairs.
There are multiple meanings in the title of very well-deserving Academy Award-winning Silence of the Lambs. The most prominent one has to do with the Jodie Foster character's rendition of a childhood episode when she was traumatized by lambs being slaughtered, just as much as she was when her law enforcement father was murdered.
In order to save a lamb she took one and ran away.
Maybe there is something I can do to protect them from the death.
The other critical facet of note in the film has to do with the main thrust of Cain's administrative duties. The other main character is a brilliant physician, the Anthony Hopkins character Hannibal Lecter, who enjoys dining on human flesh -- a terrific metaphor for human sacrifice. It is alive and well on planet earth in myriad ways -- any time a potentate of any stripe fulfills his divinely ordained duties by request of a reprobate populace demanding the service, he utilizes the tools of human sacrifice.
This is the way of the World -- it must be. The follower of Christ is not deterred from sharing The Life with the death swarming all around -- he is as Paul wrote, "as a sheep led to slaughter."
Jesus is The Shepherd. He told His followers, essentially, to be shepherds as well.
As this coronavirus hysteria continues unabated, I see so many talk about how noble and industrious medical personnel are in all of this. They are, definitely. But I wonder...
How many talk about the work missionaries are doing to share Christ with those who will die?
What about their work?
The amazing thing is, everyone is a die-er. Depends on whether or not the die-er will be resurrected into life or into judgment.
Seems like today was a day, this Resurrection Day, when a pretty good number of people recognized that truth in a major way.
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Well, sadly it is likely the same scant attention most people pay to this passage. Jesus is asked, "By whose authority are you doing all of this Kingdom stuff?" [His powerful words, His miraculous deeds, you know...] Jesus then asks them, "What do you think, John's baptism, was it from heaven or from some human origin?" These dudes knew what Jesus was doing: exposing their sanctimonious hypocrisy. They knew that if they answered from heaven Jesus would ask them why they don't give up their institutionalized pretense and follow Him. They also knew that if they answered from men, then the people would remonstrate because many whom those dudes needed for support wholly respected John the Baptist, and that answer would be considered thoroughly disrespecting him.
So their only answer: "We don't know."
And Jesus, the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world, was silent.
Well, he actually said, "Then I won't answer your question."
This was the first of many real-life silence of the lambs.
For you see, followers of Christ know that World devotees will live by the World. They don't have a conception of this Jesus fellow -- well, excuse me -- everyone has a Jesus, it just may not be the one described in Scripture. But that's just the point. When introduced to the Jesus who is God come in the flesh to give His life for one's sin, they just have no idea of what all this means.
So at some point, the follower of Christ who self-sacrificially gives and sows and dies so that another may have life will be a silent lamb.
The World does what the World does.
The people in it will behave exactly as the System tells them to, through a thousand different channels of information or indoctrination or seduction or anything to keep them feeling good about themselves and their pride and the smothering of their insecurities which never seem to want to be smothered for very long.
If you're paying attention, this is precisely what is happening with this coronavirus state of affairs.
There are multiple meanings in the title of very well-deserving Academy Award-winning Silence of the Lambs. The most prominent one has to do with the Jodie Foster character's rendition of a childhood episode when she was traumatized by lambs being slaughtered, just as much as she was when her law enforcement father was murdered.
In order to save a lamb she took one and ran away.
Maybe there is something I can do to protect them from the death.
The other critical facet of note in the film has to do with the main thrust of Cain's administrative duties. The other main character is a brilliant physician, the Anthony Hopkins character Hannibal Lecter, who enjoys dining on human flesh -- a terrific metaphor for human sacrifice. It is alive and well on planet earth in myriad ways -- any time a potentate of any stripe fulfills his divinely ordained duties by request of a reprobate populace demanding the service, he utilizes the tools of human sacrifice.
This is the way of the World -- it must be. The follower of Christ is not deterred from sharing The Life with the death swarming all around -- he is as Paul wrote, "as a sheep led to slaughter."
Jesus is The Shepherd. He told His followers, essentially, to be shepherds as well.
As this coronavirus hysteria continues unabated, I see so many talk about how noble and industrious medical personnel are in all of this. They are, definitely. But I wonder...
How many talk about the work missionaries are doing to share Christ with those who will die?
What about their work?
The amazing thing is, everyone is a die-er. Depends on whether or not the die-er will be resurrected into life or into judgment.
Seems like today was a day, this Resurrection Day, when a pretty good number of people recognized that truth in a major way.
__
Here is a link to all of these posts in April titled "The Silence of the Lambs" about the present Covid insanity.
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