The Ides of March
A Paraphrase of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar:
Soothsayer to Julius Caesar: Beware the Ides of March!
(Act I, Scene 2, Line 109)
…
Later, Caesar to the Soothsayer: The Ides of March have come.
Soothsayer: Yes. But they haven’t gone yet Caesar.
(Act III, Scene 1, Lines 1196- 97)
…
Caesar, mortally wounded by a knife attack initiated by 60 Roman Senators, says to his friend Brutus: You too?
(Act III, Scene 1, Line 1286)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
It has been a long standing joke with me that I do not have a superstitious fear of Friday the 13th but I roll all my dread into one day of the calendar: The Ides of March. And it came from having to read Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar in good old Turner High School, high above the broad Kaw Valley...
I do find it of passing interest that the 13th day of March in 2015 was a Friday and separated by only a day from the Ides. Oh, the panem et circenses that the priests to the gods of marketing have anointed the NCAA Basketball Tournament “March Madness.”
Perhaps there is a madness to March. The sons of Perfidious Albion certainly thought so in the idiom of Mad as a March Hare!
But I digress.
March 15, 44 B.C. Julius Caesar was assassinated by a group of rebel Senators - seeking of all things, the bulk of power in the Roman Republic be returned to the Senate and taken from Julius Caesar whom the Senate had previously declared Dictator for Life. Go figure, eh. Such fickle senators! Glad we don't have any like that in America!
The assassination of Julius Caesar was the spark that turned the long simmering “Roman Crisis” from crisis to civil war. (For those needing a refresher in Roman history, take a gander at the Wikipedia link “Roman Crisis.”)
Of the civil war, Shakespeare puts these words into the mouth of grieving Mark Antony, grieving over the dead body of Julius:
Fierce civil war will paralyze all of (Italy) the States of the Union. Blood and destruction will be so common and familiar that mothers will merely smile when their infants are cut to pieces by the hands of war. People’s capacity for sympathy will grow tired and weak from the sheer quantity of cruel deeds*. And (Caesar’s) Obama’s ghost, searching for revenge with the goddess Ate by his side, just up from Hell, will (cry) in the voice of (of a king) Christopher Plummer, (“Havoc!“ and unleash the dogs of war) “Cry ‘Havoc!’ and let slip the dogs of war.” This foul deed will stink up to the sky with men’s corpses, which will beg to be buried.**
Out of the ashes of the Roman civil war rose the Empire. Octavian (aka Caesar Augustus - the one who ordered a census of Judea round about Christmas time), Julius Caesar’s adopted heir, rose to sole power. He took revenge for his adopted father’s assassination by, among many other things, killing 300 Senators and Knights around 40 B.C.
So…
A couple of random thoughts/provocations.
- A doctor friend of mine told me the story of getting coffee one morning recently - it was around the time of Netanyahu’s address to Congress. My friend said as they approached the coffee stand there was a sign that if you could answer the question of the day correctly you would get 50 cents off your coffee. The question of that day? How many American Presidents have been assassinated in office? It was a multiple choice question: (I forget the choices but when my friend said them I guessed HIGH - like Nine) In truth, the answer of sitting presidents assassinated is four: Lincoln (16th POTUS), James A. Garfield (20th), William McKinley (25th) & JFK (35th).
My friend says the man in line in front of them read the question, apparently knew the answer was four but ‘sneered’ the answer, “...should be five.” Now, my friend, a graduate of the Kansas University School of Medicine, with resident training at both KU and the Menninger Clinic, took the man’s “sneer” to mean Mr. Obama should be number five. And they said they were so sickened by the idea that a person, an apparent professional, dressed as they were, would imply such a thing in public, that they left without getting coffee. My friend was truly upset.
I smiled at their upset and questioning, shrugged and said: “Yeah, it’s all over the Internet, especially with Evangelical Christians on Facebook. I have never seen hatred like this for one man by those identifying themselves as “Christians” in my life.” This further upset and confused my learned healing friend. “But why?” they pled.
“Beats Hell out of me but it looks like the U.S. Constitution has replaced the Bible as the guiding principle for a lot of people. Even if they don’t really have the first clue about what either document means. But look on the bright side my agnostic friend, if there is a God, as I believe there is, when Judgment comes, there’s gonna be a whole lotta sorry people that think their ticket to heaven is punched "Express" to get in and it won’t be. They’ll be bewildered, facing a very angry Jesus. He’ll face them down and say, ‘Away from me, you doers of iniquity, I never knew you.’ It will not be a fun day. And I understand Hell, like California, does not have seasons.” My learned friend laughed.
(Wouldn’t hurt for you, dear fellow disciple of Christ, to read the parallel versions of Matthew 7:23 because the passage, actually starting in verse 22 is about people claiming to be Christians. Matthew 7:22-23 and Matthew 25, the parable of the Sheep and the Goats, I think, are the most terrifying scriptures in the New Testament. But that’s just me.)
- A fellow minister of the Gospel, commenting on Facebook, again round about the time of the Israeli Prime Minister’s address to Congress, commented that he thought the Civil War, Civil War II had already begun. It's just that the bloodshed hadn’t started yet. To which many of his FB friends happily agreed with him. Sadly I would have to agree with him. I just can’t stomach the notion of being a partisan for the Prince of this World but that’s just me.
Which leads me to ask of you who claim to follow Christ, to be the slaves of God, to be ambassadors for God, to be aliens and strangers in this world, to be new creations, partakers of the Divine nature, who believe in the inspiration and inerrancy of Scripture, when the bloodshed starts, whose side are you on? When some false minister, corrupted by the Prince of this World but believing themselves and their motives “righteous,” cries, “Havoc!” and let slip the dogs of war, you going to be shooting at me or should I shoot at you? Just so I know. You know?
I would suggest that before you “Christians” spoiling for a civil war get all fired up (more than you already are - What, did some bad guy sneak on the reservation and give y'all fire water?) that you read up on the Bosnian War and the Bosnian Genocide. And if you can’t find it in the clean Encyclopedia Wikipedia then you should remember that in many Bosnian towns, where Muslims, Catholics & Eastern Orthodox Christians lived as close, happy neighbors that when the dogs of war were unleashed - the rules of society completely gone - neighbor pillaged, raped and killed their neighbors. Behavior not commanded by Jesus in the Scriptures.
So...just for my own info, are you going to be looking to pillage, rape and kill me and my wife OR should I be looking at you? Just so I’ll know. You know?
Or...will you share of your food and money until you have no more? WIll you provide shelter to those who need it regardless of the flag they fly? Will you willingly lay down your life for whatever reason? (It’s a reasonable question for the Zombie Apocalypse too.)
Anybody feeling a sharp stick in your heart? Certainly hope so.
Well, happy Idus Martii (Ides of March)! It has come - but is not quite over yet. Well, maybe Down Under it’s the 16th, (and by now, the UK and Europe and points East...)
See ya on the 16th? Hope so. Until then,
May the peace of Christ be with you,
† Scott, V.D.M., ev___________________________________
* Maybe Shakespeare knew his Bible. Reminds me of a passage that few in church pay much attention to: II Timothy 3:1-5 (AMP). Might want to check it out.
** With slight modification, committed by the Snarky Prophet without permission, from Crowther, John, ed. “No Fear Julius Caesar.” SparkNotes LLC. 2005. http://nfs.sparknotes.com/juliuscaesar/ (accessed March 4, 2015). The SPECIFIC SECTION, unadulterated by the Snarky Prophet should be viewed here.
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