Obligatory Tsunami Post
There has been a ton of talk about the Tsumani in the blog world so I guess I better do my part. It seems that an event like this always turns our thoughts toward the character of God. Thoughts like, “If God is so good how could He let this happen?” I’ve read answers from as shallow as, “It was God’s judgement on those heathen countries” to the outright heretic of, “If this is God’s work then I don’t want anything to do with Him.”
If you find yourself questioning things as you look at the images of death and destruction, I offer this thought from Jesus found in Luke 13:1-5:
Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilot had mixed with their sacrifices. Jesus answered, ‘Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners that all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. Or those eighteen who died when the tower of Siloam fell on them - do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.’
The only thing that separates this event from the everyday business of this fallen world is the sensational method of destruction. It is tempting to address the amount of death involved but look at it from a 10,000 ft view. No one died that would not have eventually died and nothing was destroyed that will not eventually be destroyed. Thanks to the sin of Adam and Eve that is how our world works - for the wages of sin is death.
Jesus’ point is this. Forget about the method of death - we’re all gonna die - the real question is will you be ready when it’s your time to go?
Note: The 10,000 ft view gives perspective. It is not meant to replace the very real pain and sorrow that is felt in the everyday.
January 5th, 2005 at 8:38 am
There was a great quote by Sean Connery in The Untouchables - some gangster gets shot and killed, and Elliott Ness is standing there, dumbfounded, unable to deal with having watched a man die.
Connery, playing the salty cop who’s seen it all, deadpans, “Well, he’s as dead as Julius Caesar.”
It struck me as profound that death is the great equalizer. A dead emperor is qualitatively equal to a dead pauper. Dead by shotgun is the same as dead by old age, dead by suicide, dead by martyrdom, dead by terrorist, dead by tsunami, or, as Jesus observes, dead by having a tower fall on you.
Which serves to underscore your point - forget about how. I might add that you can forget about when (dead one minute is the same as dead a thousand years), and a life ended after one day or one century is essentially the same when weighed against eternity - and whatever you think about the nature of time, you’ll be dead longer than you’ll be alive.
So death is certain. Get used to it.
But theologically speaking, don’t regard it as natural. It’s a perversion introduced by sin. The imago dei in us recoils at the thought of death, as it should: God is life, and we were created in His image.
So with Paul, we can cry out for someone to rescue us from this body of sin and death… and like Paul, we can give thanks to God for the redemption we have in Christ.
So there’s hope beyond the grave, and like it or not, we will go there… and for now, we have lots of pain to endure in the meantime. It is the duty of every follower of Christ to bear witness to the hope he has by showing mercy and grace to comfort the pain of a lost and dying world.