The Bat Shattered

The bat shattered.

The batter twisted his body with uncoiled power, and with all his strength, took aim at the advancing ball.  The ball and bat made contact, and the super-high-speed camera caught the dozen or so fragments of wood in mid-air, spinning and separating, floating and falling to the earth.

It was a foul ball, so he was given another chance.

For a fraction of a second, the ball and bat collided with some eight thousand pounds of pressure.  It’s no wonder the bat shattered.  Eight thousand pounds.  Four tons.

Two powerful, seemingly unstoppable forces meet.  The flawed bat shatters.  The ball is discarded for a new one.

The power of man met the power of God.  The power of man asked for political appointments, bickered over totem pole placements, sent in the military, killed the innocent to maintain the status quo, and has worked ever since trying to cover up the resurrected and resurrecting reality.

The power of God named the grasping, lording powers, then defined and demonstrated divinity by rinsing the toe jam away from his followers’ feet.  The hammers hit the nails, and God-abandoned, the God-man in all His divine powerless power…  shattered?

No. 

Death uncoiled its immense, crushing weight atop the twisted, tortured body of our Savior for three long, dark days.  And then, with the first rays of a Sunday sunrise, the first and flawless one saw death shatter.  Instead of being discarded in the grave, instead of disintegrating into splintered, decaying dust, the loving one lives, and we are given another chance.

For this is what the Lord himself said, and I pass it on to you just as I received it. On the night when he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me."  In the same way, he took the cup of wine after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant between God and you, sealed by the shedding of my blood. Do this in remembrance of me as often as you drink it."  For every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are announcing the Lord's death (and the power of God) until he comes again.

Offering Meditation:
Is the power of God working through top-level negotiations, megaton bombs, high-salary heroes, political rallies, and winning lottery tickets?  Sure—God can use anything.  But the power of God is found in the changing of diarrhea diapers, the invisible prayers of the homebound, and the sacrificial gifts—no matter how small—of those who no longer need the flawed, fragmented power of man.