My thoughts:I just have finished reading a Christian fiction book entitled, "Blood for Blood". As the tiltle suggests, inside it you will see a reality that has happened in the tribes and minorities in the southern parts of the Philippines in Mindanao. In their native tongue, the reality of pangayaw has left all those who were part of it or even those who just stood in the way of it very much as good as dead. Pangayaw is considered as the "native's justice system for stealing a man's wife, killing without cause, burning a a house, stealing a water buffalo, or insulting the elderly." (according to the book) In short, pangayaw is the right to kill or vendetta killing.
In the story, three lives intertwine as these three represent the three different soldiers that are present in those parts of the Philippines - the army soldier, the rebel soldier and last but not least, the soldier of God! All of them were drawn by the vendetta killings of a single person, Buaya, against the tribe who killed his mother when he was still a child.
12 years ago, his father eloped with another woman thereby signalling the husband of the woman to declare pangayaw against his father. In the process, his father not only died, his mother, who had nothing to do with it, was also slain by the vendetta-driven tribe. This incident led to his uncle (brother of his mother) declaring the pangayaw against the woman who eloped with his father because if she didn't flee to his father in the first place, Buaya's father and mother would still be alive. The other tribe regretfully gave the woman to avoid more unnecessary killings. But for Buaya who survived the attacked, he has put upon himself the burden of getting revenge for what the other tribe did to his clan. He wanted to personally kill the person who killed his father and mother.
After 12 years, a pastor by the name of Apino came together with his family to minister to this tribes in the remote areas in Mindanao. He had a wife and a son with him in this mission. By this time also, another person by the name of Lt. Del Rosario has just graduated the military and has been assigned to go to Mindanao to catch Buaya and his gang.
With the military coming into the scene, it was a matter of time before encounters grew more often. And Buaya did get hurt in some instances up to a point where he was so injured that when Apino found him (although Apino knew that he was Buaya), he just felt compassion for the man and treated his wounds.
Yet in the middle of this blood war, it can be seen that it is indeed a sad story. Later, we see Buaya being overtaken by the evil in him (hatred) that he even killed Apino's only son. Yes, he did get revenge in the end by killing those tribe who killed his parents, but it was forgiveness which won the day. In the last chapter, tension rises up as Apino could have killed Buaya with the bolo in his hand. But when he swung it, it got stuck to the cross which he and his son built to signify that the Lord is with them. He immediately cried into tears as he knew that it was wrong to take revenge for his son's death so he forgave Buaya on the spot. As for Lt. Del Rosario who also endured many threats to the position he had because of the circumstances in this mission, he could have killed Buaya during this weak moment, but he chose to leave it to justice, not by his own hand.
Yes, it was literally blood for blood when they took revenge on each other. But there is something about this phrase that I cannot help but to delve deeper in its meaning. And that is the side of forgiveness of this phrase more specifically Jesus' forgiveness of our sins as shown by his dead on the cross. You could it was Jesus blood for our blood. Our blood should have been spilt because we deserved to die, and yet out of his great mercy, God sent His only Son so that His blood might be spilt over us - to cleanse, to redeem, to buy us back. Jesus' blood - the blood of an innocent, the blood of the God-man, the blood which signifies forgiveness won us back to God!
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My prayer:
Dear Father, thank you once again for remindingme of my disposition. And yet You still gave me a chance to know you and to feel Your love for me through Jesus Christ. His blood set me free. I now pray for the harsh reality in the minority tribes of Mindanao that they may one day come to fully know You and Your goodness. I also pray for Your soldiers their in their mission to evangelize as they spread Your Good News. In Jesus name I pray, Amen.
