Horrible things happen every day. Rarely is the evil this public, this concentrated, and this destructive. We recently mourned the deaths in Clackamas, Oregon, at the mall I frequent when I'm in my home state. But to know that 20 children died in Newton, CT, today along with 6 adults is more than heartbreaking.
As a pastor, I speak about death nearly every day. I see death steal the lives of the elderly and the lives of the young. I warn the congregation I serve, most every week, that the wages of sin is death. It makes no spiritual sense to put off submission to Christ. Death is around the corner, for each of us.
But many of us don't think or talk about death much at all. We do what we can to avoid the topic. We make this life as comfortable and appealing as possible. We pay very little attention to what awaits us on the other side of the River. This is not wise. Death is real. We must be ready for it. We must ready others for it. On a day like this, we are all thinking about death.
And not just death.
Today we are thinking about evil. Ugly, twisted, violent evil. The terror unleashed by a troubled young man reminds us that the heart of man is wicked and that wickedness shows up in actions. The Apostle Paul knew what human nature is like. Citing the Old Testament, he wrote in Romans 3:10-18
"None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one. Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive. The venom of asps is under their lips. Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood; in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes."
As Christians, we are saddened but not surprised to hear about the Newton Massacre. It's because we believe what Paul wrote. We know what evil human hearts can do, and we know why they do it. It is because they are in rebellion against God. It is because their hearts are far from him. It is because, in the words of Christ, they are doing the works of their father, the devil (John 8:44). Such words shock our 21st-century sensibilities. But they make sense of the tragedy of December 14, 2012.
Evil is real. It exists because sin--rebellion against God--is real. For the Christian, we must remember that it is only by the grace of God that Paul, in Romans 3, is no longer describing us. It is because we have been born again to a living hope that our desires are now pure and good and righteous and holy. We aren't perfect. There is still ugliness inside--but only for a season. God has made us new creatures in Christ, and called us to live in him, and one day we will live, perfectly, for him.
And for all us, Christian or not, we should believe that God knows suffering--not abstractly, but personally. Christianity teaches that the fully divine Son of God suffered and was killed. He was abandoned by his friends, mocked by his people, and crucified by Roman soldiers. Jesus knows pain and heartache and death. But his suffering did not have the last word. Through this death and the resurrection that followed, God brings life to all who put their faith in Jesus Christ. And that's not all, our God who understands suffering because he suffered, will one day put an end to the suffering of his people. And on that day, as we read in the book of Revelation, "He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away" (Revelation 21:4).
Today and every day, I worship a God who understands suffering. I worship a God who will one day bring it to an end. I don't have great answers for every question that arises on a day like this, but I rest in the truth that God is good, that he is just, that he is powerful, and that Jesus Christ is coming back to judge the living and the dead.