G20 Preview: Station of the Crossed

Psalm 105:18 says about Joseph, “They bruised his feet with shackles, his neck was put in irons…” This is a preview of the Lord Jesus Who likewise was sold for the price of a slave, who was then bound with iron chains which bruised His hands and His feet. Isaiah pointed forward to this very thing when He said in chapter 53 that the Messiah would be “bruised” for our iniquities. Here is the picture of Jesus Christ in John 18, His feet and hands and neck bruised with shackles, because this Lamb of God is about to take away the sin of the world.

From: “Why Was Jesus Bound” via The Gospel Blog.

I had a chance to see Occupy Wall Street in person today. Amidst all kinds of impressions (including how small it really is), I was struck by the steady calm and persistence of the place. Because OWS views itself as it’s own village and a vital, if admittedly far-from-perfect social laboratory much more than it sees itself as a political demonstration, I don’t think they’re going anywhere anytime soon.

And the photo?

Actually, it’s not New York, at all. Instead, the picture captures a demonstrator mock-tying himself to gas station hoses in Nice in anticipation of the G-20 Summit at the end of the week. The connection is that, with the momentum of the U.S. Occupy actions, I believe the 99%, persecuted and trapped in the bonds of financial inequity as they are, have a chance (some bit of tiger, notwithstanding) to convey a higher moral purpose in coalescing they way they are.

I’m keenly interested in what kind of acknowledgement and recognition the world-wide protest movement will attract in up-up-scale Nice from those well-heeled world leaders. It will be a shame, of course, if the demonstrations (or, the media narrative) becomes so violent that the demonstrators are simply demonized. Because, at this point, I believe the weight of the chains are that palpable.

(photo: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images caption: A protester mockingly ties himself up with filler hoses at a petrol station as thousands of demonstrators take part in an anti-G20 demonstration through the streets of Niceon November 1, 2011 in Nice, France. Anti-G20 demonstrators are gathered in Nice ahead of the arrival of the world’s top economic leaders for the G20 summit in Cannes on November 3rd and 4th. The leaders are expected to debate current issues surrounding the global financial system in the hope of fending off a global recession and finding an answer to the Eurozone crisis..)