Day 19: Blood in the Sanctuary

I heard in the news a few weeks ago that a pastor got shot in his own church. We aren't surprised to hear of a murder on the streets, but in a sanctuary? The nerve! Couldn't the murderer show some respect for a holy place, or at least for a holy person? Where is a body safe, if not in a church?

There is a story of a similar event in 2 Chronicles 24. There was a famous priest Jehoiada who had a long life and used his influence to help the kingdom of Judah be faithful to their God. He helped the latest king, Joash, hold a huge fundraiser to repair and remodel the temple. He helped Joash, who survived a family massacre attempted by his grandma, become king. He encouraged the army to kill Grandma, but insisted that they kill her outside of the temple. He lived a long life, then died.

And before long, the newly repaired temple was abandoned as the officials in the kingdom led the king and the people back to other sacred places and rituals. Prophets were sent to help the people turn back, but they were ignored. So the son of the famous priest Jehoiada was filled with God's spirit to say the tough things to the people. His name was Zechariah, and he was killed in the temple. It wasn't a random shooting, it was a conspiracy by the king and officials of the kingdom. It wasn't by gunshot, but by stoning. It was a bloody scene. And as he died, he said: "may the Lord see and avenge!" And the priests and pastors learned then, not even the temple is a safe place from those who are determined to shed blood.

That story is important because Jesus mentions Zechariah and assumes that all of his listeners know this story, I'll talk more about that in my next post.

Zechariah wisely called out to the Lord to avenge his bloodshed, but it is interesting that many witnesses thought they were the Lord's instruments for vengeance. The bloody stories of Israel and Judah's monarchy makes it seem like whole concept of blood vengeance has been expanded so that anyone who is outraged about a death can take the role of blood-avenger into his own hands. King Joash, a few verses later was killed by his servants while he was lying in bed already injured. They did it to avenge Zechariah's death. Into the next chapter, those servants get killed by Joash's son, the first thing he does as king, to avenge his father's death. And so it goes. It is an old, old rule: If a man sheds blood, by man his blood will be shed. But at this rate, it seems like everyone in the palace will die a violent death, either by murder or by vengeance of a murder. How to break this cycle?