Sorry: how we get sweet revenge

Here are some unplugged thoughts to go along with our churches current series Games People Play. Here are some assumptions that I hold as I share my thoughts.

We ALL play these games.
We STILL play these games.
The WE I am talking about is Christians.

The week one message was Sorry: the game of sweet revenge. The message did not really unpack the anatomy of revenge… you know the unwritten “rules” of the game. So, since I’m a bit of revenge-seeker I thought I would enlighten you on some of the strategies I use to get revenge. [It’s not that I’m proud of it… in fact it something within me that I am trying kill…nevertheless it is there (see Romans 7)].

Actively: This is the most aggressive, in-your-face move. There is no skirting around this issue. This is when you take justice into your own hands. Like when you send that fiery e-mail. Or you get tired of your neighbor parking in front of your mailbox… so you park in front of his. And remember this is revenge… you feel you’ve been wronged and so the motive is to get back what was rightfully yours. Is that so wrong?

Passively: This is still revenge, but is much more polite (a strategy popularized in the Deep South), because you hand off the dirty work to someone else. It’s like calling the cops for trespassing, because your other neighbor is putting their garbage can on your property. Or going the tattle-tale route at work on small minor corporate issues (to get HR or the boss involved) because a peer isn’t following dress code. If you take this passive-aggressive route, then you can still look your victim in the face, smile sweetly and offer them a glass of sweet tea.

Directly: The direct route takes guts, so it has fallen out of popularity. Here you use the issue in which you feel wronged to enact your vengeance. So if your neighbor is responsible for scratching your car… you go and scratch their car. If they have disrespected you in public, then you disrespect them in public. This is the fight fire with fire approach.

Indirectly: More savvy players use this approach. In this scenario you choose a completely unrelated issue through which you enact your revenge. For example if someone has snubbed you from the invite list to an invite only party… you can share a few juicy morsels at the water cooler on how poor they are with their finances. Surprise is a key element in the indirect attack.

When it comes to the best revenge strategists in the Bible… I’d have to give the nod to chief priests in Jesus day. Reading the gospels can sound a bit like the Soprano’s. Like in John 12 when people start believing in Jesus after hanging out with his back-from-the-dead friend Lazarus. So they draw up a hit plan for Lazarus. You gotta give it to those chief priests… they’d go to extreme measures to protect the people from renegade rabbis.