Today’s Word from Pastor Jim…
He was a 44-year-old Presbyterian Pastor, a husband and father of three. He was a fitness fanatic who exercised regularly. In the fall of 2023 he hosted a meal at his family home. When the meal was over, the dishwasher loaded and the guests had gone home, he took his prescription medications as prescribed, went to bed, never to wake up. Pastor Bill had served his congregation faithfully for 10 years. As you might imagine, there was considerable grief and shock in the larger community and among the parishioners that he had served for a decade. The Executive Pastor of the church in the aftermath of this loss said: “What we’ve learned is that the Medical Examiner deemed the manner of Bill’s death as accidental, which is a category that includes an extensive range of ways that loss of life can occur. Christians, however, know that nothing happens by accident. God gave us Bill as a treasured gift here on earth; then God took Bill away according to His divine timing.”
Reading the newspaper account this past week, I was saddened by this tragic event. We have experienced firsthand the devastating effects of death “out of season”. When death plays by the rules, coming to those who have lived long, full lives there is a deep sorrow in our final goodbyes. Even if the death was to be expected, even if the death had been prayed for, the stark reality that we will ever see our loved one smile or laugh again leaves us in tears. When death visits “in its season” we naturally experience some mixture of grief and relief. When death takes our children, grandchildren or those in the prime of life the road of grief is lengthened, and every step is uphill. Death “out of season” not only robs us of loved ones, it also threatens our sense of order. If death can be so random, chaotic, acting outside of our sense of fair play, then no one is safe from its reach.
Reading the newspaper account this past week, I was greatly dismayed as well by poor theology. When Jesus’ friend Lazarus died, “Jesus wept.” It is the shortest and perhaps the most important verse in the Bible. “Jesus wept” because his friend Lazarus was in the prime of life, a contemporary of our Lord, Lazarus was maybe 30 years old. This was death out of season, this death brought untold grief to Lazarus’ sisters Martha and Mary. This death out of season devastated the village of Bethany and moved Jesus to tears. If there are no accidents, if death is always a part of some mysterious plan of our Almighty God, if Lazarus was taken in God’s divine timing, then certainly Jesus would not have raised Lazarus from the dead. In fact, Jesus never met a dead body that he did not raise. Jesus also cured many who were afflicted with a variety of illnesses and disabilities and by doing so, he loudly proclaimed that these maladies were not the will of God.
Much of what happens in this world is contrary to the will of God. Much of what happens in your life and mine stand in opposition to the deepest longings of the one who only desires good for us. There are many reasons for human suffering and death. Some of our suffering can be attributed to our own misguided or self-centered choices. For every dire diagnosis there is some medical explanation supported by modern science. The air that we breathe, processed food, and chemicals that make for bountiful crop yields all come with added risk to our long-term health. Sometimes tragedy and even death are just random, we are just unlucky, in the wrong place at the wrong time.
The world we live in is dangerous. Accidents happen. If we think that God is pulling all the strings, that everything that takes place on earth is a part of some predetermined divine plan, then we are sadly mistaken. God never stops working to bring blessings out of brokenness. I believe that, but brokenness itself is not a reflection of God’s will. If we find comfort in the misguided belief that God took Pastor Bill to teach his wife and children some larger life lesson, then our theology is bankrupt. How could we ever trust a God who would take our children or grandchildren from us, following some hidden agenda? Could I calmly trust God in my death, if I believed that God had willed the violent death of my spouse in the prime of life? We should never attribute to God, a crime for which we would put one of our own citizens in jail, and yet we do.
“Christians know that nothing happens by accident.” Nothing could be further from the truth.
Jesus wept. Remember that the next time that you are weeping. Jesus wept when death visited out of season. Jesus weeps with us as our world is marred by war and cruelty. Jesus weeps with us when our lives and families are broken.
One beggar, telling another beggar where to find bread, I am your,
Pastor Jim
If you would like to email Pastor Jim direct please send a note to: [email protected]
