When Tragedy Happens

January 20, 2010

In the aftermath of the Haitian earthquake a parishioner came to my office. She was disturbed by the event and was wondering if God was trying to “tell us something”. There was no shortage of recent cataclysmic events and she was wondering whether God was actually behind them.

This is what I told her:

It is a human characteristic that we assign blame for all bad events. It is also our nature to assign the blame to someone other than ourselves. Global warming theories aside it is difficult to assign blame for a natural disaster because we recognize that no person can cause an earthquake or hurricane of tsunami. For people of faith, our only other option is to blame God. We ask, like my parishioner: “Why does God do this?” Or: “Why does God let this happen?”

Let’s first cover the “Why does God do this?” question. Simply put, God does not. God is not the cause of catastrophes. Catastrophes were not part of God’s plan for creation. In God’s plan all creation was “good”. Humanity was good as well. God’s intention was to exist in harmony with all creation. Humanity was to do likewise. But God also created humanity to love God and enjoy him forever. But in order for humanity to glorify God and enjoy him forever, humanity had to choose to do so. God gave humanity this choice because to be glorified by a robot programmed to praise and love is not any kind of real relationship.

The choice was a simple one. Glorify me and enjoy me forever or go your own way. If you glorify me and enjoy me forever, you will live with God forever in peace and harmony with all creation. If you go your own way, you will live hard lives and then die. Humanity chose to go its own way when we decided that God was lying to us. So we made our own rules and went our own way. And the harmony of creation broke! Order became chaos. Life was hard and then we died. Catastrophes happened and people died in them. Not because they deserved it, but because creation had become a dangerous place. Everyone died, and some died in natural disasters. Others died at the hands of other humans. Others died of disease. Others by accident. Others by old age. Just like God said.

But God was merciful. While creation was broken, God still wanted us to glorify him and enjoy him forever. He had a plan. He would at some time in the future come to us personally and take us back. He would find us on the way we chose and bring us back to his way. And that happened in Jesus Christ. God came to put us back on the right path. He did this by example.

Which brings us to the second question: “Why does God let this happen?” Well, maybe in order to allow the goodness in us to come forth. In the Gospel of John we find this story in Chapter 9:

As he walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. 2His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” 3Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him. 4We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming when no one can work. 5As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” 6When he had said this, he spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva and spread the mud on the man’s eyes, 7saying to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). Then he went and washed and came back able to see.

Here was a man who was the victim of a catastrophe. Blindness. The disciples, like good humans, wanted to assign blame. Whose fault was this? Jesus says no one’s. This man did not deserve this tragedy. But … his blindness can be used to demonstrate the power and mercy of God.
Undeserved misfortune is a means for God’s power to be demonstrated. Jesus did so by healing the man. The man was healed not because he deserved it but because it allowed Jesus to demonstrate God’s compassion for those in need. Jesus set an example. If we are to be like Jesus, and on the right path, we are to seek to be compassionate on those in need, from any misfortune, whether catastrophic or not. When we do this, the goodness in us is demonstrated. It erupts out of nowhere and at times surprises us by how powerful the impulse to help is. And when the goodness bursts forth, God is merciful on us as well.

Another story. Matthew 25: 31-46.

31“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. 32All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, 33and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. 34Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; 35for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’ 37Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? 38And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? 39And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’ 40And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.’ 41Then he will say to those at his left hand, ‘You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; 42for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ 44Then they also will answer, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?’ 45Then he will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ 46And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

Jesus seems to say that when we demonstrate compassion to those in need we are saved. The goodness we have within us is recognized as righteousness and we are reconciled to God and taken to a place where we can glorify him and enjoy him forever. Just like God planned it.

So then what has this to do with Haiti? Maybe this: The people of Haiti, like all victims of catastrophe, are like the man born blind. It is not their fault that the earth quaked. It is not their fault that the buildings fell. They are just the victims of a dangerous and broken world where bad things happen to everyone.

What is our response? To be Christ-like. To feed the hungry, to give water to the thirsty, to welcome the stranger, to clothe the naked, to care for the sick, and to visit the imprisoned. To be unconcerned with the assignment of blame and to be compassionate to those who are in need.

Just like Jesus.

And when we do, we perhaps say to God, we are sorry we went our own way, and we want to go your way now. But even as we say that, we perhaps already are. On to God’s right with the rest of the righteous.

There is a great deal more that could be said, and perhaps this is too simplistic, but I believe it.

Epilogue: I have read to the end of the story found in the Bible. In the end, justice is done and it all ends well. Despite our poor choices and the chaos here in time, it ends well. Be comforted. It all ends well.