bargains

Last weekend I watched the Twilight Zone. Do you know of this old, sci-fi show? The show I watched was about a dark, pretty girl named Jezebel.

The heart of Jezebel was captured by a young man who made promises of his undying affection toward her, and then broke them. He scorned her love for the hand of a fair young woman, Elle. At a barn dance, the engagement of Jezebel’s lover and Elle was announced and the cold sting of rejection penetrated Jezebel’s heart with bitterness and betrayal. Jezebel flees the party in search of respite and a way to win her lover back. She finds Granny Hart, a witch. The witch hears of the heartbreak of young, naive Jezebel and offers a remedy, but Jezebel is poor and has nothing of monetary value to offer the witch. The witch begins to turn her away, but Jezebel is desperate and agrees to pay any price, any price, for the love of her man. So the witch gives her a potion and she drinks it. The vileness of the potion racks her body, but it achieves its purpose and Jezebel regains the adoration of a lover who had hitherto forgotten her. Now he cannot take his eyes off of her and begs her to give her hand in marriage. But the price was high. At midnight, Jezebel learns what she paid as she is transformed into a witch and is loosed of her soul. Her soul contains her ability to love and since it is now lost, she cannot love the man she paid such a dear price to have.

This show intrigued me. I think this story is also our story. It is my story. You see this theme resurface again and again through the pages of our storybooks. A young, naïve creature makes a bargain with a sinister being without realizing the cost. The price she pays is high, much higher than she imagined. More than once, I’ve made a bargain I was sorry to pay. I’ve recreated a scene first played out in a garden long ago. I remember the moments when I decided to take the fruit, despite the knowledge that it held bitter nectar.

The remembrance of these moments forces me to recall the separation between me and God. Jesus came to earth and built a bridge between this world and heaven. I think I am crossing that bridge. But, there are times when I perceive the dull ache in my heart. Last weekend I felt that ache. The longing that is often pushed to the back of my mind broke through the surface and demanded to be recognized. I couldn’t deny it or try to talk myself out of it. I could only acknowledge it and walk into it.

Matt. 26:14-16 Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, “What are you willing to give me if I deliver Him to you?” And they counted out to him thirty pieces of silver. So from that time he sought opportunity to betray Him.
Matt. 27:3-5 Then Judas, His betrayer, seeing that He had been condemned, was remorseful and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.” And they said, “What is that to us? You see to it!” Then he threw down the pieces of silver in the temple and departed, and went and hanged himself.