Once again, terror has impacted our nation. I can’t even begin to fathom what horror and loss and anger and perplexity Newtown must be experiencing right now. I do think it is perfectly fitting to dwell on this for a moment; in order to properly mourn, we have to soak in loss, we have to know exactly what it is we’re mourning. We have to practice empathy to effectively sympathize; we can’t just shiver and say, “I can’t even think about that.” What a selfish thought. Pause and imagine, what would you feel if you woke up and walked past your little brother’s room, only to be reminded that he is truly dead? What would you think if you were a parent and suddenly, your car ride is substantially shorty now that you no longer have a second grader to drop off at school. As the husband of first/second grade teacher, I can’t escape the thought of waking up to an empty right-side of the bed; the thought destroys me. And yet all this and more is true for so many families in Newtown.
So what is our response? I feel like it should go without saying that our response should NOT be to dehumanize these victims by leveraging the situation to endorse a political policy. We ought not dare to presume what these victims would say to us if they could. Please, allow the dead to have more dignity than that.
Obviously, we want to comfort. We want healing and restoration and hope to be the anthem of Newtown. But how? Surely not by giving them a policy to blame: “It’s our dang gun laws, THAT’S what killed your children!” Is that suppose to bring any kind of comfort? Does it bring comfort to the families affected by the recent tragedy in China, where 22 school children were stabbed? Should we then transfer cheep and shallow words of “a better place” from mouths that don’t believe in heaven to ears that don’t either? Should we try to encourage by pointing out the solidarity of the American people, as if patting ourselves on the back for our dogoodedness is going to bring any comfort? Should grasp for straw trying to outweigh this evil act by mentioning a bunch of really great acts, so our “faith in humanity” can be renewed? I can confidently say that these are vain attempts to comfort that may do more damage than good. They are delusion. Tragedy demands honesty and it rejects any hope that isn’t rock-solid and unshakable.
So, if God is the one thing in the universe that never changes, we ought to mention him. But how should we talk about God? Do we talk about God like he’s a slave to the will of this twenty year old with a wicked heart; like God—the creator of the universe—just couldn’t stop this tiny creature he made? Do we talk about God like he is distant dictator who cares nothing for the troubles of man; as if the only emotion he has when looking at the contorted, tear-filled faces is apathy? Should we talk about God like he is this omnipotent being who cares about the tragedy of humans, but he cares about their free-will more; which means he could have stopped the event but the reason he didn’t was because he found some virtue in the reckless sinful will of man? Or, should we talk about God like he is the omnipotent Sovereign, who could have stopped this tragedy but he didn’t; and the reason why he allowed sin to have its destructive way was because he somehow had a distinct purpose for it?
It’s a hard pill to swallow; that God has good purposes for ordaining evil deeds. But I can worship a God who at least promises a good and righteous and just end for vile means, even if I can’t understand them. What I can’t handle is a God who has nothing to offer other than, “Let me see if I can clean up this mess you’ve made.” I can’t handle a God who allows sin to reign for the purpose of preserving the “freedom” of a sinful will; after all, the young man who wrought so much destruction on Newtown wasn’t free at all, he was completely enslaved to the evil impulses of his sinful heart. I recently saw a T-shirt design that read, “Dear God, why do you allow so much violence in our schools? - Concerned Student” and then under that text read, “Dear Student, I’m not allowed in your schools. - God.” I hate that T-shirt. Is that who God is? A weakling who is held at bay by the puny hearts of man that HE created in the first place? Is God really shackled by the little man-made policies we pass?
No, rather let us go to the God who marks evil for evil, and who will strike it down with a vengeance; the God is not powerless to any fickle heart of man; the God who promises only what he can deliver, who promises that no evil will go unpunished, while affirming that no evil will thwart his sovereign and good purpose, but will rather bring them to fruition. Let us come to a God who reminds us that his ways are not our ways, and his thoughts are not our thoughts, and what man means for evil, he means for good; let us come to the God who is turning every senseless act inside out to bring sense to it, even if we don’t see it. Let us acknowledge that our observation of such tragedies is likened to us trying to observe a massive stained-glass window with our nose pressed up against its surface; from this close we say, “This is not beautiful, it’s mashed together, and gross, and formless, and anything but lovely,” how eagerly will we put our hands to our mouths when we get to step back and behold the beauty of the window in its entirety?
From this vantage point, we unfortunately have to answer the question “Why?” with “I don’t know.” However, we aren’t powerless to the circumstance. We should not assume that the sovereign purposes of God are devoid of sympathy and compassion. Though God is transcendent and his judgments are unsearchable, he is also our Great High Priest, who is not unable to sympathize with our weaknesses. This is the benefit of the Advent season, when we reflect on the incarnation; this concept that God humbled himself to become a man. When he took on human flesh, he entered into the entire human experience. He learned, and grew, and stubbed his toe, and felt heartbreak and disappointment and pain and sadness and grief, he knew what sorrow felt like, he had that wrench in his gut when he heard the news of relatives who died, he mourned over loss, he was well acquainted with sorrow. That is the God who steps into the crises of our lives, He’s a God who can set you up on a hope stable as stone and say, “Don’t be afraid, what I am doing, I am doing for my good and just purposes” while at the same time huddling down with you in your pit of despair, and weep with you, and say, “Yes, I feel that anguish you feel.”
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This event in Newtown puts the depravity of man on full display. Blame mental illness or guns or video games or whatever; the problem is sin. The human heart is capable of doing evils far greater than that which were committed in Newtown. Let us humble ourselves and acknowledge to God that we are not as sufficient as we pretend to be. Let us recognize our need for him, because until we do, we are hopeless. We are not the solution. We are the problem. Jesus is the only true solution.
