I know all the explanations about how the 24 hour news cycle and social media and a host of other things have resulted in me knowing bad stuff more frequently, with relentless repetition thus creating an illusion of children being kidnapped daily, murder-suicides every other city and a myriad of other horrific examples of the world gone mad.
But my question is, has it always been this bad? Have others felt as hopeless and helpless as I too often feel as my phone fills with news alerts, pictues of disaster, and stories that break my heart. Some of it is to be expected - accidents and disease and natural disaster. Not that I am saying these are any less hurtful and sometimes grievious. But some of that will always happen.
It's the racial hatred, religious warfare, inhumane treatment of others, abuse of children and other powerless ones, the use of power without regard for ethics, morality, even decency. The concept of the Golden Rule, present in every society, seems to be lost in the 21st century. My head aches and my heart is broken by all the ways we have of destroying each other and the hope that comes with every life.
When God rested on the seventh day, God saw that it was very good. It took us a nanosecond to destroy that harmony......forever.
So in God's second great act of love, God sends us Jesus. Taking on human flesh, presenting to the world the face and heart of God, Jesus comes to us to live as we live in the muck and mire of everyday life - while being a member of an oppressed nation, a minority religion and a marginal ethnic group.
Jesus stepped into exactly the kind of horror we know - and frankly, some in the world know horror much more intimately than I do. Why did Jesus come? as an example? as a glimmer of hope? as a judge and jury? as a reminder of God's great love?
Or, possibly was Jesus our second example of God creating light in our world to show us the way, to be the beginning of one more 'new creation'?
It's a good question to ask, but here is an even better answer. Whatever God's reason, Jesus is the gift that knows no boundaries. This one called Jesus took on the evil of his time and in his great sacrifice defeated the one thing we fear above all others - the end of it all, this life, our life, and the life of those we love.
Isn't that why we lift up his name? Isn't that why we bow our heads in prayer? Isn't that why we come to the table of bread and wine every week?
Why do we turn to Jesus? That's a really good question to ask. Why do you?
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