God is a thief.
God is stealing the world back.
That is the Gospel.
Jesus is binding the strongman and plundering his house.
Jesus is binding Satan and setting the captives free.
Jesus is stronger than the strongman, stronger than what binds the victims.
There is no line in the sand.
No chip on the shoulder to knock off.
There is no pitched battle.
These are guerrilla tactics, the tactics of a thief, stealing back everything, there is no stopping the plundering grace of God.
There is no playing fair or fighting fare, there is only binding, casting out and setting free.
That is the Gospel.
The Good News.
The house is being plundered as we speak, and hell is in an uproar, watching it all slip away.
Jesus the thief.
Jesus the binder,
Jesus the looser.
Jesus the plunderer.
Stealing our hearts.
Catching us with love.
Breaking our chains with peace.
It is crazy. How can love and peace bind the darkness and set the captives free from the grips of the violent and the abusive, the mockers and the scornful, the indifferent and the angry?
How can it be that forgiveness tramples the head of the serpent?
How can it be that nothing is stronger than the way of forgiveness and reconciliation in a world of bitterness?
What a crazy faith we practice! What an unconventional grace!
It really does take a thief to catch a thief.
God the thief, stealing the world back.
That unconventional grace is at work in the world through our lives.
A merry band of thieves, God’s children, Jesus’ and his mother, his brothers and sisters, those who do the will of God, people like us.
Covert agents of grace, stealing the world back from the same ole bad story of abuse, misuse and violence, those same ole bad reruns, repeating over and over, passed along from generation to generation, like a bad tweet gone viral.
Faith is ultimately a wager, that despite appearances, love always wins and forgiveness is the greatest power in the universe.
That is where we place our bet, not on tragic necessity, but hopeful invitation.
Into this world of that same ole story a new story is being told, of binding the strongman and stealing him blind. God is writing this story, uttering this word, as we speak with our very lives.