Hazael stared, open-mouthed at the man before him. The Jewish defier of kings, the worker of miracles, the mighty mouthpiece of God, shook, hands over face, weeping like a woman.

“Sir, why do you weep?”

“Because I know the harm you will do to the Israelites,” Elisha answered. “You will set fire to their fortified places, kill their young men with the sword, dash their little children to the ground, and rip open their pregnant women.”

“How could I ever do such a great thing?” Hazael asked, amazed. “I don’t have that kind of power.”

Clearly a magnificent accomplishment in that ancient officer’s eyes, but today we rank it atrocity and dismiss it as the proclivity of a primitive culture. If that’s so, why then do we condemn adultery, but justify anger? Prosecute embezzlement, but wink at avarice? Punish murder, but ignore resentment? If we grade sin to mark our progress towards righteousness, does refraining from enough bad stuff makes us good?

So, what happened the last time you realized that your minor flaws branded you a gross sinner in your host culture’s eyes?

2 Kings 8:9-14; Ephesians 2:8-10; Matthew 5:21-30; Romans 3:9-18; Romans 7:14-25