Nothing causes us to come face to face with what we believe about the fragility of life and trust in the Lord like a school shooting.
As all of us mourn the tragedy of what happened last week in Florida, we all ask why. As our hearts reach out to the families forever changed by the senseless act of a deeply disturbed boy, our hearts turn inward, as well. We immediately ask, “how safe are we?” Every head of school in America hates these questions, because, the fact is, no one can be safe enough to quell the fear within our hearts. Our school’s security plan, designed by one of the experts who created the FBI’s Hostage Rescue Team, drilled on regularly, and reviewed periodically by law enforcement, modified almost annually, is strong and well-conceived. But, it can’t provide the absolute assurances people often want. Nothing can.
Which is why the gospel of Jesus Christ is our only real hope in a world that would otherwise be dim and hopeless. The gospel provides answers for what went wrong; we live in a sad, broken, fallen distorted, Genesis 3 world where people do horrible things to each other for the lamest of reasons, or for abhorrent reasons, or for no reason at all. No other “why” is really necessary, because that “why” encapsulates all the others. That’s the real meaning behind it all. It’s all sin, an affront to the Lord. I realize there are degrees of damage and harm that are caused by our actions, but the real horror of it all is that the only that that separates my sin from that kid’s sin from an eternal perspective is that my sinful pride wants me to convince myself I’m better, or better off. But, I’m not.
Nor, from a worldly perspective, am I any safer. I’m a strong believer in managing risk (I’m a lawyer for goodness sake) and taking prudent steps to protect, but at the end of the day, life in a broken, fallen, Genesis 3 world means I’m constantly stepping into the path of hurting, broken, sinful people who do horrible things. I’m both the victim of bad things and perpetrator of them, and the only reason I haven’t fatally stepped into someone’s path is because it’s not my time…yet.
This place, this point of hopelessness and futility, is where the gospel becomes truly magnificent, and why it is the best hope of all. When we confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in our hearts God raised Him from the dead, it changes everything. I still sin, but in some absurd, cataclysmic reversal that I don’t fully understand, God no longer sees me that way. He sees me as His child, fully clean, not just in the process of getting cleaned up, but wholly restored before Him. The reason it seems so crazy is that it’s nothing I’ve done, but everything Jesus did for me. On the cross, by His blood.
And, safety? Life doesn’t get any less dangerous from a risk management standpoint. In fact, two millennia of the Church operating in the world teaches that being a member of the Church should probably cause your insurance premiums to go up. Jesus promised trials; in fact, God purposefully brings them in our path to make us stronger, better prepared for the New Jerusalem, the eternity where we will work and play and live in the light of His love forever. Because that’s our future, however, we live confident in this life. We don’t have to hold onto it too tightly. We can trust the Lord with our lives, and with the lives of our families, of those we hold most dear. We rest assured that our Abba, our Daddy, loves our kids more than we even have capacity to love, and that they’re never more secure than when they rest in the palm of His hand, riding in the current of the Holy Spirit, even when that Spirit flows dangerous places we or they would never dare go otherwise.
My girls loved “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe” when they were little, and I remember that great line from Mr. Beaver about Aslan the lion when Susan asked whether he was “quite safe”– “Safe?” said Mr Beaver …”Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good.”
This is our hope. Our community rests and trusts in Aslan, in Jesus Christ, come what may. Who said anything about safe? Because of our hope, however, our families, our school, and we are secure.
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