Lenten blog | March 31, 2026

Holy Tuesday | All  those nimrods

Throughout the year, the Southern New England Conference of the United Church of Christ reproduces the Daily Lectionary for use by churches.  These are the suggested readings for March 31st:  Psalm 71:1-14; Isaiah 49:1-7; 1 Corinthians 1:18-31; and John 12:20-36.  I would encourage you to read these short selections as part of your Lenten practice.

Maybe you have heard at one time or another the famous dictum:  “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”  World history is chock full of tyrants wielding power to only be overthrown by others with more power.  In our Bible study group, we have talked about the quick succession of conquering powers.  The Assyrians are overpowered by the Babylonians who are overpowered by the Persians who are overpowered by the Greeks who are overpowered by the Romans, and then the story goes on and on. 

In the mythical story of national origins found in Genesis, we read that “[Nimrod] was the first on earth to become a mighty warrior.” (10:8)  In modern North American English slang, the term “nimrod” is often used to mean a dimwitted or a stupid person.  Maybe a person does need to be a nimrod to believe that a reliance on power can be a sure and lasting foundation.  Kenneth Waltz is a political theorist and he once observed that “unbalanced power, whoever wields it, is a potential danger to others.”  Power is too powerful a temptation so an unbalanced power will eventually be misused.  Might makes right becomes its logic.  However, if it was logical, if it made sense, it would be convincing on its merits.  It would not need to rely on power to force compliance.  This is why it is the nimrod who presumes that power justifies anything and everything. 

This abused power will not last.  It creates enemies not allies.  It coerces rather than persuades.  It will eventually exhaust itself and when its power is no longer an unbalanced power, it will collapse.  And since world history is filled with insanity a subsequent power will fill that vacuum, and the whole insane cycle will begin again.  People will again suffer and die.  Ignorance and poverty will again thrive.  Resources will be wasted and generations will be lost.  And as power’s technology increases the real possibility of an end-of-civilization conflict increases.  To save us from this End-time Armageddon I wouldn’t wager on Jesus’ Second Coming; I would focus on Jesus’ first coming.

And in the midst of all this, today is Holy Tuesday.  In such a world, does it even matter?  I think it matters more than most imagine or bother to consider.  Jesus suffers and dies later this week at the hands of unbalanced power.  He would not succumb to its insanity.  When a disciple pulls out a sword and attacks an attacker in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus rebukes the disciple:  “‘All who take the sword will perish by the sword.’” (Matthew 26:52)  Jesus will not allow violence to be violence’s response because it will never, ever end.  Jesus wields this gospel wisdom against all the world’s nimrods.  Jesus offers an alternative to endless cycles of power grabs.  He will not condone violence.  Violence can triumph for a moment, but it will pass when another cycle of violence tramples the previous nimrod so that another nimrod can take its place.  Jesus rejects violence and war and no one can use Him to justify violence and war.

The wisdom of Christ, and He crucified, is a wisdom that offers humanity the chance to escape the insanity of doing the same stupid thing over and over again and still expecting a different result.  Christ was willing to accept the cross because Jesus accepted the wisdom of the cross, or as Paul so famously has put it:  “For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”  The power to extract ourselves from the absurd logic of unbalanced power, now this, this is the power of God, this is the cross, this is Christ’s last living gospel proclamation, this is the wisdom that stands in opposition to all the world’s endless line of nimrods.

Christians have always looked to Isaiah’s Suffering Servant as an image of Jesus.  Today we read:  “‘It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the survivors of Israel; I will give you as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.’”  May the light of Jesus, and He crucified, be a light and a wisdom to all the nations, to all the world, so that we can discover a better alternative to the one we have embraced throughout human history, and still today as the world seems poised to erupt in a horrendous spasm of violence.  So yes, Holy Tuesday definitely matters.

If you would like to join us for our online Bible study, please send an email to [email protected] for the Zoom logins.
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If you’d like, here is the link to the Southern New England Conference’s daily reading schedule:  www.sneucc.org/lectionary.