{"id":5474,"date":"2026-06-01T08:20:46","date_gmt":"2026-06-01T12:20:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/?p=5474"},"modified":"2026-06-01T08:20:46","modified_gmt":"2026-06-01T12:20:46","slug":"no-ordinary-revolution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/01\/no-ordinary-revolution\/","title":{"rendered":"No Ordinary Revolution"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast<\/em>,\u00a0click here<\/a>

Benigno Aquino’s family and friends begged him not to return to Manila.\u00a0

As the exiled leader of the opposition movement to Philippine dictator\u00a0Ferdinand Marcos, he had already been imprisoned for over seven years.

Marcos had granted him permission to seek medical care in the United States.\u00a0Now Aquino, widely\u00a0known as Ninoy, was determined to set foot once again in\u00a0his homeland.

Everyone knew he was a threat to the government, and therefore a marked man. But Aquino was determined to help lead a revolution.\u00a0“If it’s my fate to die by an assassin’s bullet, so be it.\u00a0But I cannot be petrified by inaction, or fear of assassination, and therefore stay [on the sidelines]…”

On August 21, 1983, he flew towards\u00a0Manila.\u00a0The picture above was taken during\u00a0that\u00a0flight.\u00a0He was bringing nothing \u2013 no weapons, no army, and no demands.\u00a0This was not going to be an ordinary revolution.\u00a0

During his time away,\u00a0Ninoy had experienced a spiritual awakening while\u00a0reading a book by Chuck Colson, the convicted Watergate conspirator.\u00a0He became convinced that God was calling him to return to Manila to suffer alongside his people, to personally appeal to Marcos to share leadership, and to help bring about a secure and effective transition of power.

As soon as he stepped onto the tarmac of Manila International Airport, Benigno Aquino was shot dead\u00a0in full view of the nation.\u00a0\u00a0

So, of what value were all of his\u00a0dreams?\u00a0What was accomplished by Aquino\u2019s going back, undefended, into the center of the storm?\u00a0

What was accomplished \u2013 within six months \u2013 was a bloodless revolution that transformed the nation of the Philippines and reintroduced democratic rule.\u00a0Marcos\u2019 soldiers, having witnessed Aquino\u2019s reliance on nothing more than truth and love, refused to fight for their commander-in-chief.\u00a0

Today, if you fly into Manila, your jet will land in Ninoy\u00a0Aquino International Airport. In the Philippines, August 21 has been designated\u00a0a national holiday.

Jesus also was the leader of a non-ordinary revolution.\u00a0He also refused to deploy an army.\u00a0

It must have seemed odd that armed troops were\u00a0dispatched to arrest an unarmed man who had just spent the last hour in prayer.\u00a0As they approached him in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus asked, “Do you actually think I’m organizing some kind of military coup, requiring you to show up with swords and clubs?”\u00a0(Mark 14:48).

But that’s the only kind of revolution the ruling authorities understood.

For much of the twentieth century, the dominant Sunday School view of the Son of God was “Gentle Jesus, Meek and Mild.”\u00a0Yes, Jesus was non-violent.\u00a0But that’s not to say he was passive.

He openly called out the hypocrisies of the religious power brokers. He toppled the tables of the money changers in the Temple courts, indicting their corrupt practices. Warned that King Herod Antipas was gunning for him, he deliberately shifted his ministry towards\u00a0Herod’s jurisdiction.\u00a0On Palm Sunday, he\u00a0rode into Jerusalem with nothing but truth, love, and a magnificent defiance against those who claimed to speak for God.\u00a0

He knew it would cost him his life.

Whenever God’s rule breaks out into this world, earthly kingdoms push back.\u00a0It can definitely be intimidating.

But Good Friday was followed by Easter Sunday \u2013 proof that God’s reign and God’s revolution is not going to fail.

What about you?\u00a0Who is playing the role of Herod Antipas\u00a0in your life \u2013 threatening you with trouble unless you choose to be submissive and compliant?

You may well have walked away from a situation in which you feared crucifixion \u2013 the end of your job, your security, or a key relationship.\u00a0But with God’s help, we can calmly stand.\u00a0Are you willing to re-enter\u00a0that ethically compromised situation armed only with the truth and say, \u201cWe need to do what’s right\u201d?

Will you go back into the chaos of deep personal hurts and proclaim, \u201cI will not spend the rest of my life being pushed around by bitterness and shame\u201d?\u00a0Will you look again at the hardest situation you’re facing right now, and by God\u2019s grace resolve to go back as a disciple of Jesus\u00a0\u2013 armed only with the conviction that nothing is stronger than his love, and that God’s reign\u00a0cannot fail?

You may not get an airport named after you.

But you will definitely find out what it’s really like to walk where Jesus walked.\u00a0\u00a0

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To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast,\u00a0click here Benigno Aquino’s family and friends begged him not to return to Manila.\u00a0 As the exiled leader of the opposition movement to Philippine dictator\u00a0Ferdinand Marcos, he had already been imprisoned for over seven years. Marcos had granted him permission to seek medical care in the United States.\u00a0Now Aquino, widely\u00a0known as Ninoy, was… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5475,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1123,469,425],"class_list":["post-5474","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-non-violence","tag-revolution","tag-violence"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5474","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5474"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5474\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5476,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5474\/revisions\/5476"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5475"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5474"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5474"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}