Volume 29, No.15
April 11, 2004
Pretenders To The Throne
He had nothing — except nerve.
In 1906, shoemaker Wilhelm Voigt was released from a German prison after
serving 15 years for robbery. Broke and without a passport or identity card,
the career criminal was desperate so he resorted to a devious, audacious plan.
Voigt bought a secondhand military uniform, went to a nearby army barracks
and waited for just the right moment. When a corporal and five privates came
marching by, the impostor stepped in and started barking orders. In no time, he
had the troops marching down a road where they picked up five more men and
commandeered a bus.
In the town of Kopenick near Berlin, Voigt marched his men into the town
hall. He pretended to inspect the accounts, then arrested the mayor, took over
the telephone lines and helped himself to a sizable sum from the treasury.
Sending all his troops to escort the mayor to military headquarters in Berlin,
“Captain” Voigt quickly disappeared.
Nine days later, the fugitive was captured and arrested. Things looked bleak
but, for no obvious reason, Voigt was suddenly pardoned by German leader Kaiser
Wilhelm. Whatever the reason, the kaiser set free a man who’d spent 27 of his
57 years in prison. The impertinent impostor was later immortalized in a 1932
German movie, The Captain of Kopenick, which was remade into a film that won the
1957 Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.
At one time or another, each of us is like Wilhelm Voigt. We’re spiritual
impostors: habitual breakers of God’s law who put in our time but have no real
identity and can’t seem to go anywhere in life. So out of desperation, we mask
our true selves — the anxieties and insecurities — with a bluster and bravado
that gets us by. We look and sound like soldiers of the Cross. Sometimes we
even project a confidence that commands respect and loyalty, but it’s a sham.
That’s why, ultimately, everything we do is self-serving, no matter how good
it looks on the surface. Then, when we can’t keep up the ruse any longer, we
run or retreat into ourselves.
We run, but we can’t hide. Sooner or later, we get busted. Then the most
amazing thing happens when we come face to face with our guile and guilt. Jesus
takes even pretenders to the throne. There, the only One who can, pardons us
full and free, even though we don’t deserve it. If we accept the pardon, we too
are immortalized, all because our life story is reworked to include the happy
ending.
That’s only possible because Jesus died on the cross for our sins and came
back to life on the third day. All He asks in return is that we follow him,
daily. Not as impersonators, but as imparters of his love, sharing the good
news of forgiveness by telling the story of how we were saved from our sins and
ourselves.
You can’t follow a dead man anywhere but into the grave. If that’s where
Jesus is, in a dusty pile in some Palestinian plot, let’s give it up and pack it
in because life is short and we’re wasting precious time. Unless Jesus was
raised, Christianity is a lie with no redeeming value, in any sense.
But if, after three days, He made a snappy comeback, we can trust everything
the Bible says, know God’s will for our lives and find meaning and significance
for every day. The apostle Paul encountered the risen Christ. We must, too.
Then, with him, we can say, “Whatever I am now, it’s all because God poured out
his special favour on me — and not without results... yet it was not I but God
who was working through me by his grace.” (1 Cor. 15:10)
What a wonderful promise! Once our Father pardons us and prepares us for a
life of purpose, He works in us and through us and not without results. He’ll
make us what we need to be, if we’re willing. “How we thank God who gives us
victory over sin and death through Jesus! So my dear brothers and sisters, be
strong and steady, always enthusiastic about the Lord’s work, for you know
nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless.” (v. 57,58)
The risen Christ put in appearances. You don’t have to put them on.
By Rick Gamble, published in Cross Current, the weekly newsletter of the
Followers of Christ congregation in Brantford, Ontario, Canada. Reprint at will
in not-for-profit publications. To subscribe, contact
sgamble@bfree.on.ca