Of Beheading Kings and Loving People

I learned something interesting this last week. The French Revolution was a time in which the people of France rose up against the upper classes and monarchy of France. There were a lot of factors that led to the revolution, although historians are still unsure exactly why it happened. But it did. And this revolution lead to the “reign of terror,” during which 17,000 citizens of France were executed. In 1793, in the same month that Marie Antoinette was beheaded, a mob gathered in front of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, calling for the heads of more kings. Across the front of the cathedral were the busts of 28 kings. Assuming the busts represented French kings, they tied ropes around them, pulled them off the church, drug them to a guillotine, and beheaded them. The amusing part, however, is that those kings were not French kings at all. They represented the kings of Judah from the Old Testament!

How often do we do something similar. I’m not saying that any of us go out and behead statues of kings but how often do we jump to conclusions about something or someone without knowing all of the facts? Most arguments and fights occur when we fail to understand where the other person is coming from. Jesus told His disciples in the upper room shortly before His crucifixion: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:34, 35). Let’s try to gather the facts before jumping to conclusions and learn to love the way Jesus loved. This is the greatest way to witness to the world around us.