The View from the Vicarge - August 2009

The L o n g Silence
– a short story for the holidays
At the end of time, billions of people were scattered on a vast plain before God’s throne. Some groups talked heatedly. ‘How can God judge us?’ ‘What does he know about suffering?’ snapped a young woman. She jerked back a sleeve to reveal a tattooed number from a Nazi concentration camp. A black man lowered his collar. ‘What about this?’ he demanded, showing an ugly rope burn. ‘Lynched for no crime but being black. We have suffocated in slave ships, been wrenched from loved ones and toiled till only death gave release.’

Many other people recounted stories of suffering. Each had a complaint against God for the evil and suffering he permitted in his world. How lucky he was to live in heaven where all was sweetness and light; where there was no weeping, no fear, no hunger and no hatred. All agreed that God seemed to lead a pretty sheltered life.

So each group sent out a representative. There was a Jew, a black woman, an untouchable from India, an illegitimate child, a victim from Hiroshima, a sweatshop worker, a prisoner from a labour camp. In the centre of the plain they consulted.

At last they were ready to present their case. It was very daring. Before God could qualify to be their judge, he must endure what they had endured. So the decision was made: God should be sentenced to live on earth – as a man! But, because he was God, they set certain safeguards to be sure he could not use his divine powers to help himself:-

Let him be born a Jew.
Let the legitimacy of his birth be doubted, so that no one will know who his father really is.
Let him champion a cause so just, but so radical, that it brings down upon him the hatred and condemnation of the establishment.
Let him try to describe what no man has ever seen, tasted, heard or smelled … Let him try to communicate God to men.
Let him be betrayed by his dearest friends.
Let him be indicted on false charges, tried before a prejudiced jury, and convicted by a cowardly judge.
Let him be terribly alone and abandoned.
Let him be tortured.
Then let him die a humiliating death alongside common criminals.

As each leader announced a portion of the sentence, there were shouts of approval from the people. But after the final statement, there was a long silence. No one uttered another word. No one moved.

For suddenly all knew … God, in Jesus, had already served his sentence.
(Author unknown)

Shalom

Revd Derek Witchell
01296 682320