Today I read a well-done newsletter from Foursquare entitled, "Who Sinned in Haiti?" In it, Jonathan Hall says, "Jesus’ disciples encountered great suffering in the life of a man and his family (John 9) and they asked whose sin was responsible. They wanted to know if he or his parents had committed evil to deserve such loss. Like the disciples, my mind tends to immediately assess fault and blame; I pursue answers to the questions of why and how through ever-present human logic and judgment. Jesus changed everything, leading the disciples to blend the divine and earthly. Then Jesus touched the man with healing and the kind of personal transformation that glorifies God."
To which would like to add the following thoughts:
Who sinned? A: Everyone. But that's nothing new. Been happening since the Garden.
Who cares? A: God, and then everyone who's called by His Name.
Did this happen because of anything in particular? A: Not really.
Jesus said of those who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them that they weren't any worse sinners than the rest of us (Lk 13:4). So, it's not as if God measures the general sinfulness level and, when He's "had enough", He drops an A-bomb on the unlucky chosen ones. The worst can happen to the best, and the reverse. Our task: love anyway, and remember that vengeance is His never ours.
Could God have.....(you fill in the blanks)? A: Yes, he "could have" done anything. What He did and didn't do isn't for us to judge. He is already doing a lot that He doesn't get credit for, so why overly blame Him for this ("acts of God" is a gross misrepresentation no?).
Death and pain were not His plan. He does a lot. He cares more than we could know. He doesn't give up, and He never gives in to pressure or expectations. He loves. He is love. We should "go and do likewise" (Luke 10:37).
Timotheos
