Wake Up, Look Up

Hello everyone, and thanks for listening to Wake Up, Look Up, a podcast where we connect events happening in real time to the gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm Zach Weihrauch, and in today's episode, we're asking the question, will you right your wrong? This is prompted by a powerful story I read in the New York Times about a prosecutor, Kelly Burke, who is now retired, in fact, now actually in a wheelchair, having almost died twice from serious bouts of cancer, a long time ago. Back in 1998, while Kelly Burke was working as a prosecutor, he prosecuted a guy named Jesse Askew Jr. Now Jesse Askew had committed armed robbery with an unloaded shotgun. So the appearance of a weapon, and actually was tried and convicted for the crime. Now this was Askew's fourth felony. Now the first three felonies were, they were crimes, they mattered, but they were kind of not serious, like breaking into a, park ranger station at night looking for things, that kind of stuff. And what, what Burke argued is that because this was the fourth felony and because it was, armed robbery, at least the appearance of it, Askew deserved the maximum sentence possible, which was life without parole. So for the past 28 years, Askew has been in prison. But here's what's interesting. years later, what Kelly Burke realized and came to own was that actually he didn't believe Jesse Askew Jr. Deserved that sentencing. That he wasn't being just, he was looking to appear tough on crime. He was realizing his motivation was his own political career and his appearance. He was a young prosecutor. He wanted to show people just how tough he was. And the more he thought about it and thought about it and thought about it, the more it bothered him. So he began to pursue justice for Jesse Askew Jr. In the form of a sentence for reduction. Now follow along here. This is an elected official who is saying, I made a mistake and is dedicating his life to fixing it. Even after he was retired, even as he battled cancer, Kelly Burke in his wheelchair was showing up at the courthouse saying, this is wrong, I was wrong. This needs to be righted. And after 28 years, recently citing Kelly Burke's remorse as a prosecutor, a judge reduced Jesse Askew Jr's sentence to 25 years, which resulted in his immediate release and a powerful moment of reconciliation and forgiveness and redemption. Look, when I read this story, I didn't see it as a legal story. I'm not a lawyer. I don't understand sentencing and all that kind of stuff. But what I read it as is the power of admitting you are wrong. I just don't see anyone doing that in our culture today. It actually, It's something that I struggle with. Something that you struggle with. When I read this story, it made me think of the story of Zacchaeus. Jesus goes to Zacchaeus. You know the story? Zacchaeus climbs the tree. Jesus says, come down. I'm gonna go eat with you. While eating with Zacchaeus, people are standing outside Zacchaeus's house saying to Jesus, how could you eat with this guy? He's a thief, he's an extorter, He's a robber. He's a traitor to the Jewish people. And Jesus just doesn't waver. He eats with Zacchaeus. At some point over the course of the meal, Zacchaeus, who had spent years denying the fact that he was a thief, excuses himself, is away from the table, eventually comes back and says, hey, Jesus, I just want you to know, if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I've restored it fourfold. In other words, Zacchaeus went to the bank, liquidated his assets, and said, I am a thief, and I'm paying you back, plus interest. that's what Kelly Burke was saying. He's saying, hey, I got this wrong, and. And it's on me to get it right. And I cannot think of a better picture of the immediate result of meeting Jesus. I don't know if Kelly Burke's faith motivated it, but it is a parallel to Zacchaeus. You see, when Jesus Christ exposes our sin and preaches to us the gospel of grace. In other words, that we aren't justified by pretending we haven't sinned. We're justified by confessing our sin. In grabbing hold of his life and death and resurrection, Jesus actually makes possible our ownership of our sin, our being free from the guilt of our sin, and thus being able to make restitution. So here's my question. If Kelly Burke can give 10, 15 years to publicly saying, I was wrong and this must be righted, then can't you and I pick up the phone, reach out to the friend or family member that we know we have sinned against, we know we have hurt them, we know we're guilty and say, hey, I was wrong, how can I make this right? Because I got to tell you, this is a powerful moment in the story of reconciliation, But I believe there are more powerful moments waiting for you and I. Not more in the sense of scale, more in the sense of closer to our actual lives. What if the next big thing God wants to do in your family or in mine, is similar to the story of Zacchaeus, similar to the story of Kelly Burke. It is simply the power of saying, I was wrong. I want to make this right. I hope today you will take time to ask the Holy Spirit what wrongs need to be righted, and that you will act. And I hope that through your action, God will write a powerful story of, forgiveness and reconciliation. Hey, thanks for watching this episode of Wake Up, Look Up. If you enjoyed it, please help us get the word out by sharing it with someone you think might benefit from it. And while you're here, make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel to get further content or even download the CCC app, where you'll find even more resources to help you grow in your faith and relationship with Jesus Christ.

Have an article you’d like Zach to discuss? Email us at wakeup@ccchapel.com!