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0:20 All right, we have made it to the end of a two-week run, two weeks, ten episodes, all about one poem, The Odyssey by Homer, and all of the biblical themes therein. 0:30 And today we're going to close out. 0:32 We're going to crescendo with the most violent chapter of the Odyssey, and what, you know, really all of you have been waiting for, and that is the slaughter of all the suitors. 0:40 So I'm going to go ahead and tell you this from the beginning, though. 0:43 This is one where I think Homer gets it wrong and Scripture corrects him. 0:48 So after being worn down by the suitors and not knowing that Odysseus is, you know, in the room, Penelope issues a challenge to the suitors. 0:56 Anyone that can string Odysseus' bow can have her hand in marriage. 1:02 And, you know, Odysseus' bow was well known. 1:05 No other man had been able to string the bow, much less shoot it. 1:09 And on this night, it was a feat that none of the suitors could manage either. 1:13 So this is when Odysseus finally reveals himself. 1:16 He strings the great bow and then he turns it on Antinous, the same man that hit him with a stool back in Book 17. 1:25 Odysseus puts the arrow right through Antonus' throat as Antonus is taking a drink of really what is Odysseus' wine. 1:34 So then Odysseus addresses the rest of the suitors by saying this Dogs, did you think that I should not come back from Troy? 1:43 You have wasted my substance, have forced my women's servants to lie with you, and have wooed my wife while I was still living. 1:51 You have feared neither God nor man, and now you shall die. 1:56 And then, guys, what follows is just complete and total destruction. 2:00 Odysseus kills all 108 suitors, uh, twelve disloyal maids are hanged. 2:06 Odysseus tells his old nurse standing among the bodies, Heaven's doom and their own evil deeds have brought these men to destruction. 2:13 They have come to a bad end as a punishment for their wickedness and folly. 2:19 So, guys, did you catch that? 2:21 Odysseus reframes this as heaven's judgment, as if he himself is the instrument of justice from the gods. 2:29 And look, there's some truth in that these men deserve judgment for what they had done, but who's the one holding the bow? 2:36 Odysseus is. 2:38 He's the aggrieved party, he's the plaintiff, but then he's also playing the role of executioner. 2:44 I mean, in Odysseus' world, divine justice and personal vengeance fuse into a single act. 2:50 And again, this is the hero of the epic poem's finest hour. 2:54 This is the epic conclusion of the epic poem, and no one seems to think there's any problem with it. 2:59 But the God of Israel, Yahweh, draws a much sharper line. 3:04 So we see this in Deuteronomy 32, verses 34 and 35. 3:09 Is not this laid up in store with me, sealed up in my treasuries? 3:14 Vengeance is mine, and recompense for the time when their foot shall slip, for the day of their calamity is at hand, and their doom comes swiftly. 3:24 And the Apostle Paul quotes almost world for word, he quotes this in Romans 12, verse 19: Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord. 3:39 And this is not a polite suggestion, guys. 3:41 God isn't saying that the suitors in this scenario didn't deserve judgment. 3:45 Of course they did. 3:46 He's telling you who gets to hand down that judgment. 3:50 And it isn't the man that was wronged. 3:52 It's God every time. 3:55 Vengeance is his, he will repay. 3:59 And this is where the Holy Bible and the Odyssey really diverge. 4:02 Homer's world that he created runs on an honor code where the aggrieved party is obligated to be his own instrument of justice. 4:10 That's why Odysseus can kill a hundred plus suitors and still be considered a hero and not a war, you know, a war criminal, right? 4:16 And the Bible looks at the same impulse and says, essentially, it's completely understandable why you feel that way. 4:23 It's a deeply human feeling, but also it's forbidden. 4:27 It's not forbidden because justice doesn't matter. 4:29 It's because none of us are qualified to be judge, jury, and executioner in our own cases. 4:35 Only God is. 4:37 Now, most of you are not going to string an incredibly stiff bow and put an arrow through your enemy's throat, but almost every one of you is carrying some version of the suitor hall in your own life. 4:49 You have a name or maybe several names that you are keeping a score against. 4:55 This could be your ex who cheated on you and blew your entire family up, your business partner that stole from you, your friend that lied to you and betrayed your trust, your father that hurt you and left, your children that don't respect you and disregard you as their father. 5:12 You see, quietly most of us have been, Odysseus, in the hall a multitude of times. 5:18 We've rehearsed what we would say if we could talk to that person that hurt us so deeply. 5:22 We, you know, rehearse the violence that we would deliver to somebody if society would allow for it. 5:27 And we think about how satisfying it would make us feel to make them pay for what they've done to us. 5:34 And scripture doesn't say that our anger is illegitimate. 5:37 Like some of it might even be righteous, but delivering the vengeance is off limits. 5:43 Vengeance is God's. 5:53 So people that harm you are indebted to you. 5:56 They are. 5:57 They owe you. 5:58 And you are in charge of the debt ledger. 6:01 And you need to fill out that debt ledger with all the things that that person or that group stole from you. 6:07 They could have stolen your innocence, they could have stolen your marriage, they could have stolen your children, they could have stolen your money, they could have stolen your influence, they could have stolen your right to peace and quiet. 6:17 So Joby actually says this in the book. 6:28 See, God, they owe me. 6:31 They have done me wrong. 6:33 Truth is, you're right. 6:34 They have. 6:36 No argument there. 6:37 You have proof. 6:38 Proof that you have been sinned against. 6:40 I'm gonna skip down a little bit here. 6:42 I'm going to highly encourage you to lay that ledger down at the feet of the king and cancel the debt. 6:50 Tear up the ledger. 6:52 But you say, how? 6:53 That means they just get away with it? 6:56 No. 6:58 You're just giving them up to God to let him do with them as he would. 7:03 You're letting him exact his justice and giving up the right to exact yours. 7:09 If you decide not to lay it down, not to tear it up, let me tell you what's going to happen. 7:14 It will ruin you forever. 7:17 You'll never be able to walk in the freedom that Christ purchased for you because it's like a 10,000-pound anchor dragging you down, lodged deep down in your soul. 7:27 Here it is. 7:28 Cancel the debt and walk in freedom. 7:31 Or hold on to it and live in a prison of your own making. 7:35 Freedom or slavery? 7:38 Your choice. 7:40 So, guys, I couldn't say it any better, so I'm not going to try. 7:42 I'll just echo this as we wrap. 7:45 Freedom or slavery. 7:47 Your choice. 7:49 Alright, guys, thank you for your attention these last two weeks. 7:52 Stay sharp.