I’m usually not well-informed regarding international news, but for whatever reason, I’ve really been following the Benazir Bhutto assassination. The thing that I’ve been fascinated with was her choice to return to Pakistan in spite of the nearly inevitable consequences of her arrival. Last night, Wolf Blitzer and assorted security experts were astonished by her lack of concern for personal safety as she continually left the “bubble of security” to mingle with the crowd and appear through the sun roof of the car in which she was riding.
Again and again, I couldn’t help but think of how this mirrors, at least on the surface, the political implications Jesus’ return to Jerusalem, “When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem (Luke 9:51).” Now, I don’t want to go any further down the road of drawing parallels between Bhutto and Jesus; that’s not my point. I’m just saying her choice to return to Pakistan in spite of the nigh inevitable consequences parallels Jesus’ decision to go up to Jerusalem in spite of what was in store for him there. Bhutto’s decisions simply gave me a modern parallel of Jesus setting his face toward Jerusalem.
As I pondered this, I once again realized the incredible strange reality of the gospel accounts of Jesus. CNN’s coverage of Jesus’ political execution wouldn’t have ended with the cross and extended pondering about the future of Israel. It would have probably died down a bit, only to take off three days later with the strange claims of his followers, “He is no longer dead, he is risen!” Imagine that. What in the world would the Situation Room do with that kind of news?
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