Troy

While the Evil One prematurely exalted, God Himself, saved the world…

The Wooden Horse (Fitzwilliam Museum M.45)

There is a famous legend of Ancient Greece about the city of Troy.  The city of Troy was protected by a wall that was twenty feet high.  Nobody could enter the city unless they were invited in through an open door.  The enemies of Troy attempted to invade the city, but because of the wall, they were locked out of the city for a period of ten years in a siege that looked like it would never end.  Then, one day, the General Odysseus had an idea to build a massive wooden horse and to leave the horse outside the gates.  Then , the army would act as though they were deserting their posts and leaving the siege by retreating.  Instead, thirty men from the army had hidden themselves inside that wooden horse.  The following morning, the Trojans believed that the siege was finally over.  And in delight they rushed out of hiding and dragged their wooden gift into the city and closed the gates behind it.  The next night, the thirty men who had been hiding inside the horse climbed out and opened the gates of the city for their comrades, who rushed into the city and destroyed the city of Troy…

And I have been thinking about that story today as I have been thinking about what it must have looked like to the Evil One on the day Christ died on the Cross.  He must surely have rejoiced thinking to himself that God was defeated and once and for all, humanity had incurred the wrath and disgust of God…  It must have seemed like the darkest fate for humanity.  Finally, the Evil One had victory…

But – just as the Trojans were mistaken when they had initially thought that they had won the war – the Evil One was also wrong.  You see, just as the city of Troy was defeated by what was to come after the apparent retreat, so too was the Evil One defeated by the Resurrection only three days after Christ’s death…

And Christ foretold this…  “‘A little while, and you will see me no more; again a little while, and you will see me.’ Some of his disciples said to one another, ‘What is this that he says to us’ ... Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy.’” (John 16:16-20).

And I have been thinking about this today.  For it seems that not everything is as it would seem.  And today, as I reflect on the miracle of the Resurrection – a miracle that we could never possibly comprehend – it seems to me that we are more blessed than we could ever know.  For while the Evil One prematurely exalted, God Himself, saved the world…

For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.