It's been a horrific week in the USA. The Boston Marathon Bombings, the massive explosion at a Texas fertilizer plant, and most bizarrely, an Elvis impersonator has sent ricin-pointed letters to the President and a senator. As I write this, Boston is on lock down as thousands of police are hunting the surviving bomber, and two more policemen have died. The maimed will be living with their devastating wounds for the rest of their lives.
Christian leaders have responded. One friend was typical in his response. He posted on Facebook "There are no easy answers. Count your blessings. Walk in love". I thought 'two out of three ain't bad'. Count our blessings - always great advice. Walk in love - yes, and I can't do that for any length of time unless God is walking in me, through me. No easy answers? Hmm.
It's fine to ask questions both of ourselves, of our society, of our government and of God. We should ask questions. We might not find answers to all of those questions and it's wise to distrust answers that are too easy. My reservation is that Christians must ask questions, seek truth, and search for God in every situation. Didn't Jesus Christ promise "I will never leave you or forsake you"? So how does that play out exactly on the sidewalks of Boylston Street and in the ER at Mass General?
Suffering is at the heart of the Christian Way. Our symbol is the cross. On that cross God born as a man was hung like meat in a butcher's window, stripped naked, exposed, the flesh whipped from his back, blood blinding his eyes, tendons and cartilage severed by iron spike, slowly suffocating to death as the blood drained from his body. God experiences all the pain and suffering in the whole world, all the time. CS Lewis wrote that human suffering is one person deep and as wide as all humanity. We get to experience one life's worth - some more than others. God enjoins us in all our joy, and in all our pain.
So there is one question we can answer. Where is God at times like this? Right with us, is the clear and unequivocal answer. What is He doing about it? Leaving us room to love and room to hate - on each other, and on Him.
Christians affirm that there are two deaths. One bodily, that moves us from this 'world' into the next. There is a second death coming. We call it Judgment Day, when God blows the final whistle on the human timeline. Those alive will be joined by all those who have died, to be judged. Christ opened His arms to all of humanity and took within Himself all of the evil, hatred, disdain, disinterest and ignorance that humanity will ever produce. For those who put their deep trust in Christ, He has absorbed the second death for us. So go ahead and be mad at God this week, if you want to. He has already taken the punishment for all the evil in the world, and responds with giving us new life and His spirit. This week, from Greater Boston, my hope is that Christians will point to the crucified God as the only intellectually satisfying, morally sound, life affirming answer to the agony we are sharing in during weeks like this.
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