day no. 15,986: tyranny is always easier to recognize in a rear view mirror

“Arrogance now stands secure and gives judgement against us.; it is a time of calamity and raging fury. But now, my sons, be zealous for the law, and give your lives for the covenant of your fathers. Remember the deeds they did in their generations, and great glory and eternal fame shall be yours.” -- Mattathias, 1 Maccabees 2:49-51

Defying tyrants is obeying God, yet tyranny is almost always more easily recognized in a rear-view mirror. We toast those who took those risks back then, but then reward those who do so in our midst with nothing better than backchat, second-guessing, and slander.

Luke 11:47-48

Woe to you! For you build the tombs of the prophets whom your fathers killed. So you are witnesses and you consent to the deeds of your fathers, for they killed them, and you build their tombs.

It is easier to honor those who have the aid of the ages to prove their honor. It is far more difficult to honor one in your midst without the headlamp of hindsight. Today's tyrants feed off of yesterday's tyrannies. They use past mistakes to fuel their current ones.

Luke 4:24

And he said, “Truly, I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his hometown."

Prophets are not remembered for cowing to the people anymore than men of honor are for catering to the timid. Both look back and honor their ancestors by being the kind of men in the moment that their kin were back then. We do no justice to our forefathers by being present pansies. We respect them by doing what they did. We best respect the hardihood of our ancestors by doing the hard things in front of us now.

John 8:39-41

They answered him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham's children, you would be doing the works Abraham did, but now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did. You are doing the works your father did.”

We don't honor our forefathers because we're not related to them. We come from different stock and give different strokes to different folks.