two worlds collide

Two worlds of mine have recently collided.  I am almost done with a book on the history of World War II.  And even though the book does not talk much about the holocaust (as it is a book on military history), you cannot help but hate the man in the book named Hitler.  It is not even hard to hate him without reading about the holocaust.  He was a fearful leader with few - if any - morals.  His hatred does not just come out toward Jews, but toward Russians, and anything he deems a worthy scapegoat.  There is even a wartime paradox as he allies with the Japanese.

My world of hate yesterday collided with the world of resurrection – Easter.  The world of resurrection is the Kingdom of God, and if we are to live the resurrection, then the kingdom of God has come.  If I am to live the prayer of “your kingdom come” then I must live a radical and loving life.  A life that is so radical that it can even love and forgive someone as vile as Hitler.  For if God not only sent Jesus to earth, but died and rose, then that is love that is extended to everyone.

Of course it is still easy to hate Hitler.  There is no sign he felt remorse, regret, or had any actions of reconciliation in anyway.  But, two worlds have collided.  The one we live in, and the Kingdom of God.  It is a world in which Jesus sat with sinners, talked to Samaritan women at wells, and did the impossible.