When Tragedy Strikes
As the global community has been deployed to provide relief to the people and land of Haiti, we still wrestle with troubling questions regarding this calamity. The fact is, we respond to world tragedies with deep, unsettling questions, don’t we? The earthquake in Haiti caused my kids to ask questions like these: Why do mind-staggering tragedies like this happen? If God is strong and powerful and loving and close, couldn’t he have prevented the devastation in Haiti? Is God punishing the people of Haiti in some way? Are the people in Haiti more unrighteous than thousands of murderers, rapists and thieves in the world, that something like this would happen to them? These questions are legitimate, but they inch me and all of us away from an appropriate personal response to world tragedy. I think I can respond appropriately to world tragedies by answering several important personal questions that Luke 13:1-9 raises – questions of mortality, eternity, and productivity.
The first question is a question of Mortality: How close am I to the end of my life?
Luke chronicles two historical events to show how indiscriminate death is. One event accounts for the evil of one man can exact on another human being. Pilate had some Galileans killed while they worshiped. These people died at the hands of an evil man. Evil people do evil things to innocent people.
The other event (which has greater relevance to the tragedy in Haiti) shows how death can happen naturally. A tower in Siloam fell and killed 18 people. Many were caught beneath the rubble, hoping and praying for someone would intervene and bring relief and rescue. Our fallen world is filled with such tragedies that break our hearts over and over again. Tornadoes, hurricanes and earthquakes are natural catastrophes that snatch lives out of this world each year and destroy miles and miles of valuable property. This event was so unlikely, but it happened. It was a natural disaster. Haiti has experienced one natural disaster after another. That one nation can experience so much natural disaster seems unlikely, but it has happened. This was a natural disaster. People die in natural disasters all the time, but it does not make them more sinful than anyone else.
The issue here is not the timing of death or even the cause of death. The issue is that we are mortal beings and we will all die. We love to talk about others’ deaths and tragedies just as long as it doesn’t get too personal. World tragedy is a prime opportunity for us to discuss our own mortality. Nothing is so certain as death, and nothing is so uncertain as the hour of our death. We will die, either by some horrific calamity, evil plot, cancer, car accident, or some natural cause. Most of us are not afraid to die; we just don’t want to be there when it happens. In light of this world tragedy, let us consider the question of our own mortality – How close am I to the end of my life?
If death was the end, then I think we could possibly live with that. I mean, we have lived a decent life, made a little money, enjoyed family and friends, and had some good times. But the question of Mortality causes me to consider a second question (next post) – a question of Eternity.
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Tags: Compassion, Death, Mortality, Self Examination, Self Reflection
January 24th, 2010 at 3:40 pm
I restrain from posting many things on my facebook because most of my colleagues are non-believers. I'm not exactly a fan, but by proximity of my wife, who watches the _700 Club_, I found out who Pat Robertson was. You may have heard of his comments on Haiti?
I don't think he is any more qualified to declare God's intent than I am. I also cannot completely dismiss what he said because then I be a hypocrite via the sentence that precedes this one.
Whatever the case may be, Luke 15 is where I'm placing my eggs. Different parables, but same subject: "I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent," and "In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents."
The parables in Luke 15 do not necessarily have to apply to one who practices voodoo, but could also apply to the everyday person who lives a life of unGodliness; they could prosper in everything and just not give thanks unto him, so I do not intend to use these scriptures in an accusatory tone. What I will say is that amidst all that death and destruction, if there is even one person who has come to Christ because of this tragedy, then all of heaven is rejoicing, even as people question the Lord.