Tuesday, April 21, 2020

EmmDev 2020-04-21 [Perspective: God, Faith and Covid19] Clear thinking#1 - Who's to blame?


Clear thinking#1 - Who's to blame?

I'm a very aware that many of us in lockdown are starting to feel the strain and so I've battled with whether to focus on giving you some encouragement or to address some of the theological issues that have emerged. In the end I've decided to do a bit of both...

For this week I want to come back to some of the fuzzy thinking we have around tragedy and just try do some clear thinking on a couple of these issues but at the end of each devotion I'll include an inspirational passage you can reflect on...

For today's thoughts I've borrowed abundantly from a message preached by my friend Francois Mulder at the NG Kerk in Blanco, George.

Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. 2 Jesus answered, "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? 3 I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. 4 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? 5 I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish."                    (Luke13:1-5)

The issue for today is our constant need to find something or someone to blame when horrible things happen. People were talking to Jesus about two tragedies that had been "headline news":
  • A senseless act of violence perpetrated by Pilate's soldiers who killed some worshippers while they were making sacrifices in worship.
  • A disaster in which 18 people were killed when a tower collapsed.
They were asking:
- "Whose fault is this?"
- "Were these people more sinful than others?"
- "Had they stepped out from under God's protective umbrella?"
- "Is this God's judgement on them?"

This is very typical of our human nature. Someone must be to blame and almost without fail the erroneous conclusion is that these are His actions and they are punitive in nature.

Jesus goes right to the heart of the matter:
- Stop trying to be "Judge and Jury" over the lives of others.
- God doesn't push towers onto people to punish them.
- Final judgement is coming.
- You have to face God yourself one day
- The real stakes are not physical death but spiritual death (perishing).

Our newspapers, fireside chats, "intellectual" debates all hinge around "solving" the problem of pain. We think that if we can explain it, we can compartmentalize and contain it. But all of this avoids the real issue: Pain reminds us all that we are mortal. We will die and we will face God's Ultimate Reckoning. Whether we die in tragedy or quietly slip away after a long life we still face God's judgement. And, unless we repent, we will perish.

If you're wriggling in your seat thinking that this is starting to sound like a "Turn or Burn" sermon, please understand that it makes me wriggle too. But we can't escape the urgency of Jesus' message. We can't hide in philosophical debates. We are either right with God or we are not. We have to get down to the bottom line.

We must not miss the real message of pain: Pain reminds us of our mortality and asks us
  • "Are you ready to meet the Lord? Have you repented?"
  • "Do you understand that there aren't 'big sinners' and 'little sinners' but just sinners who need forgiveness?"
  • "Do you understand that physical death is not finality - we must face God's reckoning?"
And when we have repented and put our trust in God, we have the incredible comfort that no matter what happens, we will be accompanied and carried by God's never-ending love.

(You can watch Francois' sermon at www.youtube.com/watch?v=my1fAjkN3u4 )


Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?
Shall trouble or hardship or persecution
or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?
As it is written:
"For your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered."
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
For I am convinced that
neither death nor life,
neither angels nor demons,
neither the present nor the future,
nor any powers,
neither height nor depth,
nor anything else in all creation,
will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
                                                                     (Rom 8:35-39)