Expect the Unexpected

We all have expectations of how others should act. Mary, Martha, Lazarus and Jesus Christ were friends. When Mary and Martha called on Jesus to heal Lazarus, their brother who was dying, they expected Jesus to come soon and heal Lazarus. When Jesus didn't come right away, they didn't understand.

In the movie The Flowers of War a Chinese father assists the invading Japanese soldiers as a way to get his daughter to safety. The daughter doesn't understand her dad's involvement with the Japanese, and she thinks his involvement is evidence that he is a bad person.

Doing the unexpected does not necessarily mean doing something unkind. Jesus Christ delayed His visit to Mary, Martha and Lazarus because He wanted to show that what He had been saying (Jesus Christ is God; God can raise the dead; and God can give eternal life) was possible and true. Jesus' delay allowed Jesus to raise a dead and decaying person (Lazarus) from the dead to new life, showing God is truthful and powerful.

When it seems that the Japanese are going to rape and murder the daughter in The Flowers of War, the daughter is discouraged about being rescued and decides to lead herself and other girls to commit suicide.

The devil specializes in creating circumstances to discourage people. A Japanese proverb says, "An evil act runs a thousand miles." Chinese authorities are trying to discourage people from protesting China's one-child policy. Zhang Yimou, the director of The Flowers of War, is being threatened by Chinese authorities with a fine of nearly $27 million for allegedly fathering seven children. After Chen Guangcheng filed a 2005 lawsuit against local officials practicing forced abortions and forced sterilizations as part of China's one-child policy, he went to jail and house arrest. He only got out of house arrest by escape and by negotiation between the U.S. and China. Many boys and girls haven't gotten out and have been killed by forced abortions, and many parents have been involuntarily sterilized.

The advocates of discouragement are not destined to ultimately win. Christian Minister and Human Rights Activist Desmond Tutu says in part of "An Easter Message:"

"Nothing could have been deader than Jesus on the cross that first Good Friday. And the hopes of his disciples had appeared to die with his crucifixion. Nothing could have been deeper than the despair of his followers when they saw their Master hanging on the Cross like a common criminal. The darkness that covered the earth for three hours during that Friday symbolized the blackness of their despair.

And then Easter happened. Jesus rose from the dead. The incredible, the unexpected happened. Life triumphed over death, light over darkness, love over hatred, good over evil. That is what Easter means--hope prevails over despair. Jesus reigns as Lord of Lords and King of Kings. Oppression and injustice and suffering can't be the end of the human story. Freedom and justice, peace and reconciliation, are his will for all of us, black and white, in this land and throughout the world. Easter says to us that despite everything to the contrary, his will for us will prevail, love will prevail over hate, justice over injustice and oppression, peace over exploitation and bitterness."

Awesome leaders are born in adverse times. Not long after Jesus Christ was born, Herod ordered that the male babies of Bethlehem, Israel, be killed. Christian Minister and Civil Rights Activist Martin Luther King, Jr., was born in 1929 during the American Great Depression.

Even though more than 330 million boys and girls have lost their lives to abortion in China since the implementation of China's one-child policy, and more than 55 million American babies have been killed by abortion since Roe v. Wade, God is up to something good. Unexpected heroes in The Flowers of War rescue the suicidal daughter and girls. Fred Hammond started out as a baby on whom an abortion was attempted; today he is an adult Gospel singer. Don't let the devil suck you into discouragement. Continuously stand up for life, love and freedom. Un dicho (a proverb) dice, "El que persevera triunfa." (Whoever perseveres, triumphs.") An Ethiopian proverb says, "Anticipate the good so that you may enjoy it." God lives inside of creyentes (believers) giving us the power to live 1 Corinthians 13:7 Amplified Bible which says, "Love bears up under anything and everything that comes, is ever ready to believe the best of every person, its hopes are fadeless under all circumstances, and it endures everything [without weakening]."

What are some stories of enduring love and the unexpected? Write to:

Michele F. Jackson
P. O. Box 2106
Woodbridge, Virginia 22195

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