The Hulk Lies Down with the Lamb

By Rev. David Petersen

I wish I was like my wife, Jacqui. She hits her thumb with a hammer and she crumples into a little ball of pain. I hit my thumb and I try to put my fist through the wall. For Jacqui, the fact that she is hurt is all the more reason not to ask anyone else to suffer. For me, pain always transforms into rage. Somebody hits me in the shin with a hockey puck and I want vengeance. Everything turns red. It hurts, I’m mad, and the world is going to know it. It is as though striking out at someone else will transfer the pain to that person. But it never does. It only increases my pain, brings others into the cycle, and leaves holes in the wall. I want to turn into the Hulk. I want to be big, powerful, violent, and out of control. Now, I’ve never actually acted on this rage, but still, it is in me. It is sin. It is ugly.

Violence is the inheritance of the Fall. Cain killed Abel. Ever since, the kingdoms of men have been kingdoms of violence. Our own country was founded on rebellion. In 1772, when the Boston Assembly threatened to secede, England was not yet ready to give up the revenue and rule of the colonies. King George sought by force and the threat of killing men to keep the colonies for his country. American patriots wanted it for themselves. They took up arms against the king’s men, and risked losing their lives in the process. If either side would had refused to fight, the winner would have simply taken the prize. It was violence that convinced King George to let the colonies go.

Still to this day our government maintains a strong military and a willingness to use deadly force, even on foreign shores, to protect our interests. It is gruesome, but true. America remains America by violence and force. If we gave up that God-given right of the State to bear the sword, then we would no longer be free. Saddam Hussein, Osama Bin Laden, or somebody else would roll in and take the prize. That is the way it is in the kingdom of men. Violence rules.

The Kingdom of God is different. It is a Kingdom of Grace ruled by sacrifice and weakness. The Lord Jesus Christ made His triumphant entry into Jerusalem not on a war-horse accompanied by an army, but on a donkey, accompanied by fishermen and children. He conquered Jerusalem and the entire world, by being defeated and executed. God’s Kingdom confounds the wisdom of men. It was not won by God forcing His will on men. Instead it was won by God allowing men to do their worst to Him.The Kingdom of God suffers violence.

Jesus Christ has made us His subjects by dying in our place and rescuing us from damnation. Men did to Him what the Law demanded of them. Justice was served. But having reconciled all of mankind to Himself, having made full payment for the sins of all men, Jesus still will not force Himself on us. He rules in the hearts of His children through forgiveness. That forgiveness is the peace that passes all understanding. It divides us from the kingdoms of men. It makes us weak, like Him. But when we are weak, we are strong.

This Kingdom comes to us when “our heavenly Father gives us His Holy Spirit, so that by His grace we believe His holy word and lead godly lives here in time and there in eternity.” The Holy Spirit is given to you in Holy Baptism, in eating the body and drinking the blood that has set you free, in the removal of your sins through the absolution, and in hearing His word. Those things make you a citizen of God’s Kingdom, beneficiaries of the violence He has suffered for you. We bow and kneel in the Divine Service because Jesus is our King. We are His subjects. He is ruling over us by delivering what He has won, by forgiving, loving, and strengthening us.

Soon the violence will end. And you, O Christian, will never again be hurt, afraid, or angry. The Kingdom that comes now in word and sacrament will come then in full glory, and peace will rule.

The Rev. David Petersen is pastor at Redeemer Lutheran Church in Fort Wayne, Indiana.