by now, no doubt you've heard that the once illusive mastermind behind 9/11 has been found and killed in pakistan. this is very good news for all of us, really it is, for the entire world. the ideology behind osama bin laden's jihad is dangerous and ultimately has cost thousands of people their lives--including those who believed their lives would be resurrected and rewarded with virgins and bliss because of their martyrdom.
i watched last night as thousands gathered outside the white house to celebrate, and as one interviewee stated "exhale in a sigh of relief." i think that's what we're all feeling. no, certain things have not changed--i.e. the recession, our own personal anxieties about life, and the continuing day-to-day battle with the junk in our own hearts that must be acknowledged and forgiven--but we can breath easier because a much greater terror is now finally at another arms length away. death is fearsome, and it's promise looms over all of us, which is scary enough...we don't need someone like Bin Laden threatening peace by continuously ratcheting up our already-present-awareness of our fragile, limited, and ephemeral existence on this earth: we're painfully aware of the brevity of life as it is.
today, one week after easter, i'm reflecting on what president obama said last night: "tonight, we are once again reminded that America can do whatever we set our mind to... Let us remember that we can do these things not just because of wealth or power, but because of who we are: one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. May God bless you. And may God bless the United States of America." His words were perfectly crafted and again leaned on an idea that brings hope...God is for us. for all the questions we ask, and the accusations we make privately of where is God when we hurt? and why does God allow so much pain and seem so distant? we cannot help but want God to bless us. it's our most natural prayer, and though it is too often connected to desires for prosperity and selfish gain, most often and most simply the cry of our hearts is that God would bless us with life. we just want to be alive, and know that those we love are alive, because life is what we are made for and death is so often an unwelcome stranger.
we can learn a lot from the death of osama bin laden about how we can come alive. his death is an extension of his own ideology of chaos, isolation, hatred towards others, and a refusal to believe God is for all people...not just some. in the end then, God gave osama what he wanted all along...life without the God who gives life. God is not the God of the dead but the God of living, and anyone who lives their life as a reflection of God's radical forgiving love will come closer and closer to true life. conversely, those who refuse to let go of their faulty ideologies--any ideology that would proudly destroy human life--must face the finality of their own belief and the hellish continuation of it in death. and please do not mishear me, i am not saying God killed osama bin laden. bin laden had many many many many chances at grace, forgiveness, and repentance. eventually though we all die, whether because we are wanted for murder or simply because our bodies fail us in old age.
the gospel is good news because it says no matter who we are, we can come alive again. after all, just like osama, we've all hurt others and made enemies out of neighbors from earliest childhood it seems innate that we've found ourselves resenting anyone who had more than us, was better than us, or smarter/handsomer than us etc. but maturity brings with it an awareness that jealousy, hatred, comparison, greed, lust and pride only steal life from us. and when we recognize that the person we're really at odds with is this inner death within ourselves, we can choose to let go of our bitterness and discover the freedom of forgiving others as we have been forgiven. we discover the foolishness of selfishness. we discover life.
the gospel is called "good news" because it says "life wins"! for those of us who will "die before we're dead" i.e. metaphorically let go of our way of sin, we can receive life again literally because God is for us and He made us to live forever, even after we die.
1 Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. 2 By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.
3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. 6 After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, 8 and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.
9 For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. 11 Whether, then, it was I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed.
--1 Corinthians 15:1-11
1 comment:
beautifully written.Amen
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