Film Friday Robert McCall doesn’t sleep well, so he goes to an all-night diner to read his book and drink his tea. Once there he meets Teri, a young woman being controlled and prostituted by brutal gangsters. Robert is a caring guy and cannot stand idly by as he sees Teri being used and mistreated.
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So he steps in to rescue her, and suddenly Robert is no longer the gentle guy in the diner, now he’s a man fighting for justice and unafraid to do battle with the bad guys, in favour of the oppressed Teri. Kindness drives him to set captives free. In the time of Jesus people were waiting for a man of justice. Someone who would break the chains of oppression. They knew well some writings of the prophet Daniel (recorded in chapter 7 of his book) – ‘13 As my vision continued that night, I saw someone who looked like a son of man coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient One and was led into his presence. 14He was given authority, honor, and royal power over all the nations of the world, so that people of every race and nation and language would obey him. His rule is eternal—it will never end. His kingdom will never be destroyed.’
It won’t be long before another Christmas rises over the horizon to meet us. A time when this man of justice appeared, but not as a powerful giant slayer like Robert, instead a vulnerable child, starting out on a gritty life. When this child grew up he would help a whole bunch of prostitutes not unlike Teri, and lots of others who were suffering hard lives. Jesus rescued plenty of precious people, folk who were oppressed and powerless. And continues that mission today. Not with the kind of weapons that Robert used, but with the power of his compassion and humility. It’s hard for us to get our head around who Jesus was, Philippians chapter 2 gives us a glimpse into the extraordinary way he shunned earthly power and ambition… he was humble, we’re told, and he walked the path of obedience that led to his death on a barbaric cross. A death he could so easily have avoided, and yet that miraculous sacrifice was too important, too vital for the lost souls of this world. He refused to fight it or to shun it, but instead chose it. For the likes of Teri, for the likes of you, for the likes of even me. A true man of justice.
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We quite often come across people with problems. The question is how far are we prepared to let love drive us in helping to solve them. Jesus went all the way.
Apart from the cries for help we hear personally there’s the cacophony of screamed appeals assailing us through our TV and computer screens. We lack the will to help them all. The risen Jesus does embrace them.
Failure and guilt seem written into our spiritual DNA. I guess Jesus takes care of that, too.