Since about 7:00 yesterday morning I have been listening to news reports, commentaries and comments about the tragedy at Sandy Hook school. Like most, I grieve for the children and the families. I listen to the news and see Donna crying and know that she is hurting for these families and yet so grateful that it wasn’t one of our grandkids.
And I think. And as often happens, my mind goes in a little different direction. It occurs to me that Sandy Hook is what Christmas is all about. Getting there is painful, and requires that I face a few facts:
1. We are so shocked at this tragedy because we enjoy a level of security virtually unknown in most of the world and throughout most of history. Today there are not tens but thousands of children being killed in the middle east, Africa, southeast Asia and the jungles of South America. In some cases entire villages are murdered, and the pain is as real as what we feel—but not the surprise. In so many places such brutalities and atrocities are expected and feared—and too often realized. We are in shock because we don’t have to deal with this on a regular basis. Our shock and our grief are legitimate, and are, at least in part, a result of the very fact that we are blessed to be in a unique situation where such things “just don’t happen”.
2. The explanation of what happened yesterday is quite simple: we are fallen. The authorities are trying to piece together what happened, and the much more difficult question, “Why?”. Perhaps they’ll figure it out, but it still won’t make sense to most of us for one simple reason. We don’t really believe we are fallen. We don’t really understand the horror of the effect sin has on us and others, and the horrors it has led us to perpetrate against one another—and yes even children—for thousands of years. We don’t understand that, far from presaging the coming apocalypse the tragedy of Sandy Hook is simply a manifestation of how bent humanity has been (reference the slaughter of the children in Bethlehem) is (see #1 above) and can be–even here where we feel comfortable and safe. Perhaps the most painful part of this for me is that this makes perfect sense if we believe the Biblical account of the fall. That’s why we have to understand the connection between Sandy Hook and Christmas.
3. Christmas is a celebration of the birth of the Messiah—the one who came precisely because human beings are capable of such evil. When we celebrate the nativity, we have to remember that the reason that baby was born was to be crucified and die. And the reason he needed to die for us is that we are all capable of evil. To forgive us and cleanse us of this evil required that God Himself become flesh and die, taking on our penalty–and he did. Why? Because God loved the world so much that He gave His only son that whoever believes (acknowledges the truth, trusts, and is loyal) in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life!
Yes. Our sin—the “little ones” we pretend don’t matter, the “big” ones that alter our lives, and the unimaginable ones like what took place at Sandy Hook are the reason for the birth of Jesus. He was born so he could die for us, and having paid our penalty, offer forgiveness and new life to us. It hurts to admit it, but that’s why Sandy Hook is what Christmas is all about.
Join me in praying for the families and friends of the victims of this tragedy, for the Christians in that area to be used to stand beside them, and for the rest of us to understand how much God loves us.
Leave a Reply