"Irony"

 

“Irony”

 

Irony is a literary device in which what might be expected doesn’t happen and the unexpected does. Noted practitioners of this craft include Shakespeare, Ibsen and Dickens. Interestingly a number of biblical accounts reflect unexpected outcomes. Just today (March 29) Karen and I read the Exodus 2 story of Moses’ birth, how his life was saved when Egypt’s princess found him floating in the Nile and how his quick-thinking sister’s actions led to his mother’s caring for him at public expense. As a present-day example, a couple in one of our churches was the only bidder to transport their children to a Christian school in keeping with state education regulations so they were paid to drive them there, much to the annoyance of a humanistically-inclined School Board member. In both these cases God used civil law to accomplish His purposes. And don’t forget how Paul used his right as a Roman citizen to speak to a hostile crown (Acts 21:39-40).

What are some other ironical stories in Scripture? Perhaps the most familiar is David and Goliath in which a young shepherd-turned-soldier killed a 9+ foot warrior with a stone and sling (1 Samuel 17). Then there’s the often overlooked record of how a young Jewish woman named Esther saved her people from possible extinction at the hands of Haman whose pride led to his being hanged on the very gallows he built for her guardian Mordecai—read the book that bears her name. And how about a ragtag group who followed Jesus, ran away when the going got rough, saw him alive after His crucifixion and led in the establishment of His church which is still alive and well after 2000 years? How can all this be explained? Maybe William Cowper put it best in the1774 hymn:

“God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform…

Judge not the Lord by feeble sense, But trust Him for His grace…

His purposes will ripen fast, Upholding every hour…

Blind unbelief is sure to err, And scan His work in vain;

God is His own interpreter, And He will make it plain.”

In my judgment, however, the most ironical truth is this: “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:21, emphasis added). That includes me—and you! In the 1949 words of songwriter Beatrice Bush Bixler, “What mercy, what love and what grace!”

 

Grace and Blessings!

Jim McMillan