“The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple.” (Psalm 19: 7b)
The stocky boy lay on top of me and stuck his arm under my legs, twisting my back in a painful wrestling move. I tried to turn away but he kept pulling me near. We were writhing on the ground surrounded by a 360-degree arc of jeering, wild youths. There must have been a dozen of them, heckling and baying, almost scenting blood. I desperately wanted to be free of it but no one would let me go.
Suddenly I managed to pull to the side and then thrust my body upwards, somehow reversing positions quickly so that I was above my opponent. Facing the other boy, I grabbed the sides of his head with both hands and then smashed my forehead down onto his own forehead as hard as I could. He yelped very loudly in agony at the force of my headbutt. As the other lads crowded in, laughing at their friend in pain, I was able to slip through their legs and escaped, exhausted, miserable and with my own head throbbing.
Wrestling. Bullying. Scenes reminiscent of William Golding’s ‘Lord of the Flies.’ Rites of Passage in real life, so to speak, soused with unrelenting devilry. Rituals of machoism, which are platformed on brutality. How many boys have to endure such stuff? I hated it.
I can’t put my hands up and say I was innocent. There was a brief time when I acted the bully before being bullied myself. Many years later, I am so glad that I found a true “right” of passage through Jesus Christ reaching into my life. I say “right” rather than “rite” because there are no legalistic tick-boxes with Christ. No rituals or pressure to impress him. I can be my true self.
That doesn’t mean weakness. It just means that I am identified through the strength, achievement, forgiveness and support given by Victorious Jesus. He is the Conqueror of evil and forever-Saviour of the world. How many other accolades and titles can we give him? He deserves it all for the kindness, compassion and peace he’s shown us.
Jesus once told his disciples to put away their weapons because he had the authority to command 12 armies of angels to fight for him. But the longstanding purpose of salvation required the surrender of his life or it wouldn’t happen. The Lord didn’t have to choose the path of being executed, but it was based on his own free-will decision. An act of strength clothed in weakness, which snared Satan eternally and proved just how terrifyingly powerful the Living God really is. As the Lord once said, recorded in John 10: “No one can take my life from me. I sacrifice it voluntarily. For I have the authority to lay it down when I want to and also to take it up again. For this is what my Father has commanded.”
Every boy, bully or bullied, needs to know these truths and accept the gospel in simple, receiving hearts! The “right of passage” in Christ involves him taking us on a journey of insufficiency to a place of rest through his shed blood; unlike the rites of youth involving testosterone-fuelled, muscular contests. Doesn’t Jesus say in the Beatitudes, ‘Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the Earth?’ I am not sure how well I can claim meekness but I do believe the gospel offers solid hope for those who have suffered at the hands of others. Indeed, it also offers forgiveness to those guilty of violence. I have been on both sides of that equation and I am glad God has rescued me from it all.
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