We are not so different
They, waiting for the promised Messiah to deliver them from their colonial powers
Hoping for the day exploitation, oppression and brutalisation would be no more
Praying and preparing for revolution
Forward to the new Jerusalem!
Thousands of years later the scenery is unchanged
Still we wait for the Messiah to deliver us from our colonial powers
Still we hope for the day exploitation, oppression and brutalisation will be no more
Still we pray and prepare for revolution
Forward to the new Jerusalem!
It’s like dejavu
I wonder what it felt like to realise that Jesus was the Messiah
This person that seemed not that different from them
Who preached loving your enemies and praying for those who persecute you
I wonder how it felt to realise that this was it
That there was no one else
No armies on horseback with vengeance in their swords
Just Jesus
This man who had power but was always using it in the wrong places
To heal lepers and unclean women
To give bread to the hungry
“Jesus, you’re thinking too small”
They must have thought
“You could bring this whole thing to the ground!”
Yet he continued to waste his time playing with little children
I wonder what it was like for Peter, who looked into Jesus’ eyes and was unable to deny that he was the Christ
To realise that the Messiah looked a lot different than he had anticipated
But somehow, his spirit recognised redemption standing before him
I wonder how it felt to see redemption die
Crucified by the hands of those he should have defeated
It doesn’t seem like much of a victory
And it leads me to wonder what victory means
What redemption means
What a faithful response should be to this world where evil seems to have free reign
Cause I can’t deny that when I look into his eyes I too see redemption
And I see the new world built on foundations of justice and peace and love
The new world whose bricks are the healing of lepers and unclean women
Whose pillars are bread for the hungry
Whose concrete is time wasted playing with children
And perhaps the new world will only ever exist in his eyes and in our minds
But if our redemption lies in the building, we cannot but continue to build