Behold, I am coming like a thief!

originally posted by: HardHead

originally posted by: Utnapisjtim
When reading the following story, I came to think about the words in the title of this thread, which is from Revelation 16:15.

In 1929 there died in Jerusalem, at the age of ninety, a chassid by the name of Reb Raphael Wiltz (or Wolf) of Skoli, Galicia. He left a manuscript of memoirs in which he records that in 1881 he visited Shpole, in Russia. While there, he questioned a number of aged local residents about a curious tombstone, next to the grave of Rabbi Aryeh Leib of Shpola - known as the Shpoler Zeide ('grandfather'), on which was inscribed, "the grave of the holy martyr, Yossele the thief."

Read the story about it at ascentofsafed.com. I don't know much about the people behind the site, other than that they are apparently Jewish, but the story is a good one and shows how great courage and faith can be found even among thieves. To make the story short, 'Joe the Thief' decided to raid the local church for all it's icons, silver, gold and gems. He was however caught and sentenced to be boiled alive in a barrel of burning tar. The priest offered a way out for Joe and promised him a long life and all kinds of gifts if he only converted to Christianity. However, not willing to sell his soul to the priest, he refused, and chose rather to die a Jew than to live a Christian, or as the proverb goes: "Better to die on your feet than to live on your knees".

Thought it was a good story that could serve to show that through courage and faithfulness Heaven is within reach, even for a man who comes as a thief in the night to rob a church. The name of the priest is long forgotten, but the name of the thief will live on. Joe the Thief became a martyr, the priest forever the fool.

Maybe the priest is a fool but so was the thief. Even the Jews knew not to steal.

Well, there's no place in Heaven for cowards, or so the story goes. And like the title of this thread says, Jesus identifies himself with thieves...

I think his punishment was way too harsh but during those bad times I believe they did this to the thief to simply make an example of him so others would not follow.

Stealing from a church was and still is considered a terrible act of blasphemy.

So says the church. The bible, however, forbids idols as one of the worst kinds of blasphemy. Question is whether we adhere to a blasphemous church-- or what the same church defines as the divine word of God.