In last week’s discussion of imprecatory prayer — praying, as did David in the Psalms, that God would curse, smite, or kill one’s enemies — I relayed the words of the martyr, Stephen, and of our Lord Jesus as they were facing death at the hands of their enemies. I wrote that it is their example, not David’s, that the Christian is to follow in the face of oppression or opposition.
As Stephen was being stoned by the Sanhedrin, he prayed, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!” And Christ, crucified by the Romans at the behest of the religious, implored the Father to “forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
The response from one Covenant critic and defender of the Christian’s right to what I called “the death prayer”?
“So what?”
Well, I suppose that’s slightly more respectful than “neener, neener, neener,” and quite a bit more insightful than “I’m rubber, you’re glue . . .,” but it struck me as, well, a little disappointing. On the other hand, it reveals much, and, I think, makes the point remarkably well:
An insistence on hearkening back to the warring King David for Godly examples of how to face one’s “enemies,” instead of looking to the Savior, results in not only a gross disregard for Scripture, but an even grosser disregard for righteousness.
And so what? It is, after all, only the Gospel of reconciliation at issue. Clearly, that’s just not a big deal to those who see the world with the jaded eye that comes from doing battle in the flesh, not in the Spirit.
THAT is a very big deal.