Workday Soul Snack 8/4 ... Sullied but seen
"Surely this was a righteous man ... " Lk 23:47
This is a significant surprise, this condemned man is honoured by the capturer. A disfigured and dead, itinerant Jewish carpenter is correctly recognised by an unlikely Roman soldier as righteous!
In contrast, every minute of every day (I suspect) across this vast globe the name of this saviour is sullied. Absolutely constantly people continue to get their only saviour wrong.
The righteous Son is ridiculed. So few apprehend the only saviour. So few able to see His light breach their darkness. Yet, this most surprising of witnesses does.
Hanging amidst 2 other genuine criminals, this one can still 'shine'. Abandoned by His father, betrayed by His chosen friends and surrounded by the supernaturally thick darkness of evil, is when He truly does shine.
Now, justice is desperately absent. Now, evil has preceded good. Now, His submission calls for trust. Yet amidst this abomination and triumph of evil His goodness is glaring. Darkness still losing in this divinely orchestrated tragedy.
This Jesus will always be righteous. He does not retaliate accuse or slander. pain is no promoter of ill will in Jesus. Humiliation, no seed for resentment. A bright light, even in deepest darkness will always be seen. (see also Jn 1:4-5)