A Bigger Rescue, Tim Knipp 5/3/14

Immersed in imagination,
      we pretend;
              powers and beauty
                     at our command.
What did Jesus play?
        What fantastic stories
inspired his childish heart?
        Was Gideon an action figure
He aspired to imitate?
      Did He wear an
            Elijah cape
      and leap from rock
to shattered rock?

Tucked in 
    chalky, rocky hills,
surrounded by fertile,
        emerald plains
           tilled and harvested
    by despised Occupiers,
didn't storytellers
      recount the tales
of God's past deliverance?
       Didn't they long
             for a hero
who would avenge 
           their wrongs?

On a quiet Sabbath,
      Jesus delivered His manifesto
in the hometown temple:
          He has sent me 
             to set things right.
    Today it has begun,
           but it will not be
               as you imagine. 
No, it will be a 
          bigger rescue
       than vengeance
                can provide.
Remember those other stories,
       the ones where God
          called the outcast,
                   the enemy,
           to repentance?
My Father loves
           even the Occupier
             (the abuser, the bigot -
           those you consider beneath
       your contempt).
               His heart is bigger
     than you can imagine."

Jesus came to rescue
     us all
           from our addiction 
        to Self -
    from the Occupier
within our own hearts
      and from the ultimate
            enemies 
         of all mankind:
death and the devil.

Our small entrapments
     are painful,
           but temporary
       in light of eternity.

Lord, help me remember this
        when broken relationships
      pulsate with pain;
          when illness incapacitates
or loneliness enshrouds.
Help me to see
the bigger 
plan.