Revenge, the Bible, and The Count of Monte Cristo

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas is one of my favorite books. Dumas, a French author, is better known for writing The Three Musketeers, which, although more famous and perhaps more exciting than Monte Cristo, isn’t written as well and isn’t nearly as thoughtful of a book.

The plot of The Count of Monte Cristo is incredibly intricate, but in short, it is about how the life of a young sailor named Edmond Dantes is ruined by a conspiracy of four men who each have something against him (one man is jealous of his position on the ship, another is jealous because he likes Dantes’ girlfriend, another is threatened by knowledge that Dantes possesses, etc.). Dantes is sent to prison, where, through extraordinary measures he manages figure out the plot that had brought about his downfall and also discovers the secret location of a treasure of unimaginable value. Ultimately, Dantes escapes from prison, claims the treasure, and now, with untold wealth at his disposal and taking on the mysterious persona of the Count of Monte Cristo, vows to claim vengeance on those who wronged him.

The Count possesses a near godlike ability to bring his schemes and plans to fruition, and he begins to take down his enemies one by one. However, despite his success, the Count gradually realizes that he takes no real pleasure in the downfall of his enemies and that no amount of vengeance can bring back the life he once had. Ultimately, he realizes that the best course of action is to forget about revenge and move on with his life.

Many of us struggle to learn the learn the same lesson—as tempting as revenge seems to be, it doesn’t deliver what it promises and ultimately leads us worse off than before.

We live in a world of revenge; it’s something we see all the time. We’ve seen the stories of road rage on the news where drivers get upset because another car cuts them off and so they respond by ramming into the car. In the midst of a political season, we see politicians constantly escalate the level of personal attacks they make against one another, each determined to have the last (and most vicious) word. Even in church, you’ll find one Christian who is offended by another, and in response, refuses to ever work with that person again or gossips about them behind their back.

Here’s the problem with that, though: the Bible repeatedly affirms that vengeance should have no place in the Christian’s life, and that vengeance, instead, belongs to God. First, some famous words from Jesus on vengeance from Matthew 5.38-42:

“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you.”

Not surprisingly, the Apostle Paul has a very similar take in Romans 12.17-21:

“Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.’ To the contrary, ‘if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.’ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”

It has been said that holding a grudge is like drinking poison yourself and hoping that the other person gets sick. It’s also true for revenge (which is an outgrowth of holding a grudge against someone). If you have a grudge against someone and are tempted to look for vengeance, let it go. Revenge won’t make your life better, and it won’t make you happy, but it will damage you spiritually. In the words of Paul, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”

Pardon, not Acquittal: Jesus and the Woman Caught in Adultery

The woman caught in adultery as portrayed in The Passion of the Christ¹

One of my favorite passages in the Bible is generally referred to as “Jesus and the Woman caught in Adultery” and is found in the beginning of John 8:²

“Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them. 

The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst they said to him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?” 

This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. 

Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground. 

But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. 

Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” 

She said, “No one, Lord.”And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.”

There are several aspects of this passage that make it stand out to me.

The True Colors of the Pharisees

Here the Pharisees, the supposed keepers of the Law, slip up and show themselves to be less concerned with the integrity of the Law than they are in trapping Jesus in a difficult situation. You see, the Law of Moses did require that a woman caught in adultery be put to death, but it also required the same punishment for the man (Leviticus 20.10; Deuteronomy 22.22).

Since the woman was “caught in the act of adultery,” the Pharisees clearly knew who the other guilty party was, and by not bringing him forward for punishment, showed that they weren’t too concerned with what the Law said. Instead, they were trying to trap Jesus between a rock and a hard place, forcing him to either disregard the Law of Moses, or be the one who pronounced the woman’s death sentence (and thus, likely cause problems for him with the Roman authorities).

Writing on the Ground

Twice in this passage, it specifically mentions Jesus stooping down to write with his finger on the ground. It’s an interesting detail that is included, and helps the scene come to life for the reader. Scholars and commentators have pounced on this little detail over the years and offered various interpretations of it.

Some have suggested that Jesus was writing out the 10 Commandments; others have argued that this was an explicit reference to Jeremiah 17.13, where those who forsake God are “written in the dust”, and that Jesus is making a specific judgment against the Pharisees. I once read a short story called Las Palabras in la Arena (Words in the Sand), in which the words Jesus writes are actually the specific sins of the scribes and Pharisees who have brought the adulterous woman.

All of these suggestions (and others have been made as well) are interesting and, I guess, possible, but ultimately, we aren’t told what it is that Jesus writes on the ground. Personally, I’ve always been inclined to think that perhaps Jesus didn’t write anything of consequence on the ground at all, but just the act and the pause it produced helped to diffuse the energy and volatility of the situation and made the Pharisees more prepared to hear and respond to what Jesus says.

Pardon, Not Acquittal

The story of Jesus and the Woman caught in Adultery ends on a high note, as Jesus’ response to the Pharisees leaves them speechless and causes them to leave the scene, one by one:

Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” 

She said, “No one, Lord.”And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.”

What Jesus says here is incredibly important—Jesus pardons the woman, but He doesn’t say that her sin doesn’t matter or that it isn’t a big deal. Instead, he specifically addresses the sin—by telling her to “sin no more,” He indicates that He knew that she was indeed guilty of adultery and that she needed to change her life.

Which leads to an important idea that is central to the Gospel—Jesus offers us pardon, not acquittal. He doesn’t come to us and say, “Your sin is not a big deal; no crime has been committed, you are innocent.” Instead, He says, “Your sin is significant; it must be paid for, but you don’t have to pay the price.”

Our sin is such a big deal that Jesus paid the price for it on the cross; because of that sacrifice, pardon can be offered to the adulterous woman, and to the rest of us as well.

• • •

1The Passion of the Christ portrays the woman caught in adultery as the same person as Mary Magdalene. This is depicted often in Christian art and church tradition, but there is no biblical support for it.

2This might seem like an odd statement, since a lot of early New Testament manuscripts do not contain the story of the woman caught in adultery at all (most modern translations either set the passage off in brackets or include it in a footnote), and some scholars would argue that this story should not be in the Bible at all. It seems likely to me that this story wasn’t originally in the Gospel of John, but I agree with this author who believes it belongs in the Gospel of Luke.

Forgiveness in Marriage

In Will God Run?, Charles Hodge’s series of sermons on the Parable of the Prodigal Son, he points out that one of the main reasons that marriages struggle and often fail is because husbands and wives have a hard time forgiving one another (emphasis his):

“I think this is one of the underlying causes of unhappy homes and divorce. Maybe this should top the list. Husbands and wives outwardly forgive, but they don’t forget. They say, ‘Yes, you sinned against me, but I’ll forgive you.’ But they have built a skeleton closet in their house or they have a filing system. And the next time that husband or wife does something bad (and it’s really bad if it’s that same thing that has been forgiven) the mate runs over and pulls out the ‘old bones’ and beats the guilty over the head! ‘See, I forgave you. You did it again. Get out.’ 

Consequently, over a period of time and years these things grow because husbands and wives cannot forget. A marriage is destroyed. Again, husbands and wives can say things to each other and about each other that they would not say to their worst enemy! Husbands and wives think, say, and do things to each other that nations as enemies would not do in a world war! Homes can be saved only when husbands and wives will forgive and forget.”

Will God Run?, p. 68

I think these are great words. I’ve written before on the idea of forgiving and forgetting, and again, this isn’t something that comes to us naturally—it involves the swallowing of our pride, and the conscious decision to follow the teaching and example of Christ.

“Forgive And Forget”

At the onset of a new year, perhaps this post is timely.

In Jeremiah 31.34 (and this passage is quoted again in Hebrews 10.17), God says, “I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”

A while back, I read a good thought on this passage:

“Since God is omniscient, ‘forgetting’ is not an intellectual matter with Him. It is a functional issue. Of course He knows what we did, but when we repent, He can act just like it never happened.”¹

I think this idea is helpful as we wrestle with the difficult task of forgiving those who have wronged us in some way. Biblical forgiveness isn’t some sort of amnesia where you literally cannot remember the evil that someone else has done to you; rather, it is the conscious choice of will to act as if we cannot remember it. This is how God forgives us, and is how we must forgive others in turn.

What a comfort and what a challenge that is in light of the admonition of Ephesians 4.32: “Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.”

• • •

1Danny Boggs in More Strength for the Journey: A Daily Devotional Guide, 271.

Life After LOST

I can remember back in the fall of 2005, during my last year in Searcy, when my then-girlfriend-and-now-wife started watching Season One of LOST via Netflicks and would let me borrow them when she was finished.

From the very first episode I was hooked, and now, over four years later, LOST is one of the only shows I have watched all the way through, and it is one show I will truly miss. There have been episodes (and even entire seasons) that I could have lived without, but on the whole, LOST provided a healthy mix of action, escapism and the occasional profound spiritual insight. And when you factor in that this was the first show that Caroline and I really shared together, well, it adds a special level of poignancy for me.

In this, my LOST “tribute” post, I thought I would offer some reflections on the series as a whole. If you don’t watch LOST, well, this probably won’t help you understand the obsession, so you might just want to skip this post.

*IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN THE FINALE YET, YOU SHOULD NOT READ BEYOND THIS POINT.*

Clever Details

A major strong point of LOST all along the way has been the attention paid to detail, and how often these details refer back to other events from the series. There are countless examples of this throughout the series, but I’ll just point out a couple.

Very early in the series (maybe even the first episode), Locke explains the game of backgammon to Walt, describing it as “two sides, one light and one dark.” Much later on in Season Six, young Jacob and his brother find and play a similar game, and then come to embody those opposing sides as good and evil.

In the first episode, the series begins with a closeup of Jack opening his eye following the plane crash. The last episode completely mirrors this, and the series ends with a closeup of Jack closing his eye as he dies for the sake of others. This clever framing wasn’t surprising at all, and was very typical of the way LOST alluded to itself (or other events from history, literature, etc.).

Jack

From the very beginning of the series, I have always been a huge Jack fan. Jack is intelligent and well-meaning, but the burden of responsibility he feels for the lives of others and his obsession with fixing the problems of others cause him constant problems (I identify strongly with Jack in this regard).

Jack is also very flawed, damaged by an unhealthy relationship with his father, and a constant struggle to find purpose in his existence (this theme grew as the series progressed).

That Jack was able to step up and be the leader in the end who ultimately “fixed” everyone’s problems by giving his life was, to me, very satisfying.

Jack and Kate

I was never a fan of the Jack/Kate/Sawyer love triangle, and I was afraid that Kate and Sawyer would end up together in the end. Jack ending up with Kate and Sawyer being with Juliet was the only way to go in my opinion.

Theological Implications

One thing I’ve always enjoyed about LOST is its overtly religious nature. Characters wrestle with deep spiritual issues, and while I certainly don’t agree with all of the implications that LOST makes, I think it “gets it right” a surprising amount of the time for a Hollywood-produced TV show. A few examples:

The themes of forgiveness and redemption are absolutely huge all throughout the series. After helping to rescue the Oceanic 6 from the island, Jack realizes that it was the wrong thing to do and becomes determined to return to the island so he can atone for his mistake and make things right. Sayid realizes that he has done the wrong thing by siding with the Man in Black and tries to make up for it by taking the bomb away so the others can have a chance to survive. Ilana allows Ben to join up with her group even after he kills Jacob. Jack isn’t able to move on toward the Light until he can resolve his issues with his father through the fantasy relationship with his own son. The list goes on and on, but the main idea remains: forgiveness and redemption are hard, but they’re also important. They come with effort and sacrifice, but it’s worth the effort and sacrifice.

For much of the series, LOST seems to be locked in a wrestling match between the ideas of fate and free will, but in the end, the series is clear: while forces that we have little or no control over might orchestrate our appearances in certain situations, ultimately, we choose what we do in those situations. You might potentially be in a circumstance for a reason, but that means nothing unless you choose to do the right thing. We have the ability to make choices, and those choices determine who we are.

Another point that LOST drives home is that there is more to life than this—what we do on earth isn’t the totality of our existence. What we do here is certainly important—it defines our character and influences what happens afterward (or at least, maybe it does—LOST was a little unclear on that point)—but it’s not all there is. In our materialist, if-you-can’t-observe-it-with-your-senses-it-doesn’t-exist world, this is an important and surprising message.

Finally, I thought that LOST really hammered home the reality of good and evil. A lot of people in our postmodern world try to deny the existence of good and evil, or at least deny it in an absolute sense—something might be evil to me, but that doesn’t necessarily make it evil to you—everything is relative. The character of the Man in Black absolutely affirmed the existence of evil—pure selfish malevolence without any regard for the welfare of others. Admittedly, sometimes the Man in Black appeared to be okay, but that’s true of evil as well; it can mask itself as good.

Final Thoughts

LOST certainly wasn’t a perfect TV show. It presented a lot of plot questions that it never gave satisfactory answers to. Some characters that seemed integral to the plot were killed off, sometimes without any real explanation or any further treatment, while other characters disappointed us at times with their stupid behavior. Entire seasons seemed unnecessary (looking at you, Season Two).

But there was a lot to like as well. In this fantastic, incredibly unrealistic story there was a lot of stark realism. Real life often does pose more questions than answers. People who we know and come to love disappoint us with unexplainable behaviors. Other people who we think will play a major role in our lives just disappear as we lose contact with them.

At the end of the day, LOST told a neat story, got you to care deeply about its characters, and forced you to confront some of the deep concerns of life.

Sounds like a pretty good TV show to me.

Tiger Lets Us Down

Few people have fallen as far as quickly as Tiger Woods has the last couple of weeks.

What started as a simple car accident has grown and morphed to the point that Tiger has lost endorsements and has taken an indefinite leave of absence from the sport which he has come to completely dominate over the last several years.

America is absolutely obsessed with the fall of major celebrities, and the press coverage centered on this issue since it happened has been overwhelming. Much of the coverage has focused on how surprising this whole turn of events has been—how we apparently didn’t know Woods like we thought we did.

And I admit that I was a little surprised myself, especially as the number of women who came forward claiming relationships with Woods continued to grow. After all, it’s one thing for a person to commit a one-time indiscretion (apparently, this is the new term for adultery—the basic problem with cheating on your spouse is that it’s not very discrete), and another thing for someone to carry on several extra-marital affairs at the same time.

So Tiger Woods let us down (and more importantly, let his family down) in a very public and painful way.

But I think the story of Woods serves to illustrate a very important point—people always let us down. If you know someone long enough, they’ll disappoint you in some way. Hopefully it won’t be in as painful of a way has Tiger has disappointed his family, but it always happens. Given time, people will always disappoint us, because people are imperfect, and they make mistakes.

Don’t put too much faith in other people. That’s not to say that we shouldn’t put any faith in people or that we should avoid relationships which require us to trust one another. Instead, realize that other people mess up just like you do, and be open to forgiveness when (not if) they disappoint you.

And put your true faith in the One who never lets us down, and is the same yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13.8).