I surprised myself in the wake of the Virginia Tech shootings that I was not suprised at all, barely shocked. The greatest emotion I feel still as a new father is that someone would visit such horror on my children or wife, but that is a raw nerve that does not reach well to the fantastic pain of those distant victims. Also, having spent a year now among the oppressed and abused who lurk in all of our shadows, I see now that horror, pain and fear haunt much of humanity most days.
The massacre at Virginia Tech actually lets us off the hook of systemic pain, fear, violence and desperation when we can gasp at a madman's bloodbath. In like mode, we can congratulate ourselves for being righteous for condemning the stupid, racist quip of a radio man while neglecting the vile effects of social and economic and systemic racism. We, the privileged, live in insulation that would be sick and sweet luxury to most people in most times of our history.
I have a client whose husband lies in wait to lock the doors and hide the phone before he beats her with a crow bar and a hammer, while berating her mentally retarded daughter. We may cry and wail and ask about God's presences in the hurricane, the war, the terrorist attack or the shooting spree, but do not neglet to cry and wail for her as well. Certainly, we cannot bear to mourn the destruction of every innocent life in our own hearts; the weight of that grief is cosmic and unknowable.
That is, only God can bear the cosmic and unknowable grief of injustice that we barely appreciate and can never repair. Only Jesus can face the pain and mourn alongside mothers who scrape, crawl and fight to shield their children from the harsh and cold world.
Where, oh Death, is thy sting? Jesus has removed it, so why indeed can any believer fear Death?
Here is the glimpse of an idea that gives me great hope among the perpetual ruin of humanity. Jesus actually accomplished what he set out to do, to defeat Death, to reconcile the world to the Father, to save the world, by His life, love, teaching, death and resurrection. If so, if the world is saved, if Death is defeated, then perhaps Virginia Tech, September 11, Hurricane Katrina, the Iraq War, the Atlantic Slave Trade and genocide in Sudan are not all that big a deal to God.
Consider this, Jesus' victory is so complete and our redemption so sure and the life that awaits us with God is so lovely, that this parade of horrors is merely a fleeting prologue. Consider that salvation is finished and reconciliation is awaiting after a brief stay on this planet, with such magnitude that the wicked suffering of innocent life here pales before the love to come.
If so, when we ask, "Where was God in that moment of torture and pain?" He will answer, "Right here, waiting for you to arrive and enjoy relief and peace you could not imagine."
