January 19, 2010

We often find ourselves focusing on the wrong thing. We seek the answer to the wrong questions. Such is the case anytime there is a tragedy which we determine to be an “act of God”. When lives are lost needlessly, we have great difficulty coping. The underlying reason for this human dilemma is our own denial. To one degree or another we all live in denial of our own mortality.

Barring Christ’s second coming in our lifetime (which could very well occur) each of us will die. This elementary and undeniable fact is routinely denied or ignored by super majorities of men and women all across the globe. When a young person dies due to an accident or disease we have more trouble with our grief than when someone who is aged dies. Why? Because you feel less threatened by death the further you are from the age of the deceased. When someone our own age or younger dies we feel more threatened by death.

When a natural calamity befalls any known group of people we all feel threatened by death and begin to complain because these circumstances force us to deal with how fleeting and arbitrary our lives really are.

We each need to learn the lesson which Jesus taught concerning calamity and tragedy during His own life upon this planet.

Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. Jesus answered, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than 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 in 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.” Luke 13:1-5 (NIV)

The tragic truth which Jesus and His contemporaries were forced to live with was that Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor, did not value human life and killed people regularly who got in his way. Why did God let this happen?

Jesus points out that the deaths in the temple are part of a greater human tragedy which is continuously going on all over the world. He asks about those who died from a falling tower in Siloam. Why didn’t God stop this accident from happening and save these eighteen peoples lives?

If you listen carefully to Jesus, the real question is not “Why did others die?” but “Why have I been left alive?” He then tells the parable of the demise of the barren fruit tree. You see, God expects me to be fruitful. When tragedy occurs I should not ask, “Why did these other people die?” but instead I should ask, “What can I do for God’s glory with the remaining part of my life?”

Because of the fall of man, evil exists and Satan will have his way with this world until Jesus returns to settle all accounts. Until that time, Christians are soldiers on a foreign battlefield. We should be ready to die and while we live our duty is to do as much harm as is possible to Satan, (which means we should do as much good in Jesus’ name as possible) the ultimate enemy and cause of all the tragedy in this world.

When Christians rush to give comfort and assistance to those who are suffering and have suffered, we give God glory. We also defeat the evil intentions of the enemy. Joseph learned this lesson through his own suffering. He told his brother’s:

You meant to hurt me, but God turned your evil into good to save the lives of many people, which is being done. Genesis 50:20 (NCV)

When tragedy comes, rather than becoming consumed with asking “Why?”, Christians who bear fruit for our Lord respond by serving those in need, as we would want others to respond to our own needs had this current tragedy been visited upon us.