Is It My Fault? by Lindsey A. Holcomb

Author:Lindsey A. Holcomb [Holcomb, Lindsey A.; Holcomb, Justin S.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-8024-8561-8
Publisher: Moody Publishers
Published: 2014-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

This repeated motif of Jesus’ withdrawal is too important to ignore: Jesus is taking precautions to avoid premature confrontation. When the time comes for the showdown in Jerusalem, He will not hold back. But for now He has a wider ministry to fulfill. If controversy is forced on Him, He will respond vigorously, but He takes care to avoid initiating it.

This is the same instruction Jesus gives to His followers: to avoid violence whenever possible. For example:4

• “Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces” (Matt. 7:6).

• “If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, leave that home or town and shake the dust off your feet” (Matt. 10:14).

• “When you are persecuted in one place, flee to another. Truly I tell you, you will not finish going through the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes” (Matt. 10:23).

Some other examples of Jesus avoiding abuse are found in John’s gospel:

• “‘Very truly I tell you,’ Jesus answered, ‘before Abraham was born, I am!’ At this, they picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds.” (John 8:58–59)

• “Again his Jewish opponents picked up stones to stone him … Again they tried to seize him, but he escaped their grasp.” (John 10:31, 39)

• “So from that day on they plotted to take his life. Therefore Jesus no longer moved about publicly among the people of Judea. Instead he withdrew to a region near the wilderness, to a village called Ephraim, where he stayed with his disciples.” (John 11:53–54)

Theologian D. A. Carson notes on these texts that “Jesus repeatedly escapes arrest, until the appointed hour of the Father arrives (7:30, 44; 8:20; cf. 18:6).”5 In similar fashion, we all have our “appointed hours” of suffering and death, but these are in God’s hands, not ours. When we do face suffering, however, we can know that it is God’s desire that we be protected. And this protection can involve our own initiative in fleeing harm, as Jesus did.

Just like Jesus’ choice to hide Himself from physical threat was part of God’s way of protecting Him, so a woman’s choice to escape from her abuser is part of God’s loving protection.

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