Aztecs and Oskar Schindler

Nine hundred years ago a group of Indians living in the Northwest of Arizona went on a religious pilgrimage to look for the ideal place to live (Their promised land.) They left their homes along the Colorado River and its tributaries and in 1325 they arrived in what is today Central Mexico. They proceeded to establish the Aztec Capital.

They were a deeply religious people who believed that human beings had two natures, the evil and the carnal nature, symbolized by a snake, and the good heavenly nature symbolized by an eagle.

An ancient legend had them looking for a place with an eagle with a serpent in its mouth to symbolize the domination of good over evil. When they arrived at the swamps of what is today Mexico City, legend has it, that they found an eagle eating a serpent. This scene is pictured today on the Mexican flag, recalling their Aztec roots. They established their religious capital there on an island in the Lake. In pyramids in Mexico staircases are made with serpent’s heads and eagles feathers going all the way to the top. Each of us live this life under the control of one of two natures – the one we are born with (the serpent) or the one we are born again with, the spiritual birth (the eagle).

It was the snake in Oskar Schindler that caused him to be a selfish businessman, who exploited his fellow human beings. He was also, apparently, abusive. It was the snake that caused him to be a selfish hedonist. But the eagle can triumph over the snake.

It was the eagle in Schindler that caused him to hide Jews in his factories, so that while imprisoned they could live with dignity. It was the eagle in Schindler that caused him to risk his life to save Jews once he realized what the ‘Nazis’ final solution for the Jews was. It was the eagle in Schindler that made him expend his entire fortune to save Jews from the snake pits of Auschwitz.

It was the eagle in Oskar Schindler, the Nazi, that not only preached the kinship of humanity, but also eloquently lived it. The challenge to us is to live like eagles and not snakes.

A born-again person has the first and second natures. The second nature is by spiritual rebirth and is the presence of the Holy Spirit in the life and is described in Romans chapter 8. “To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.” V6 (notice also v7-8)

The Bible declares that if you are born once you will die twice, because it talks about a second resurrection and a second death at the end of the millennium. (See Revelation 20:5-6). Conversely, if you are born twice, you will only die once, and then there will be a group who won’t even do that, because they will be alive when Jesus returns the second time. Born once die twice, born twice die once – if at all!

In the end, it depends on which nature is controlling your life that will determine your eternal destiny. (See Ephesians 4:20-24, Romans 8:6-14)