This picture of the 9 year old boy who was killed in the bombing at the Boston Marathon yesterday is heartbreaking.
Not a very "gruntled" sentiment.
The truth is, we are the very people who have committed the acts of violence that we so detest.
Not very many have dropped off a bomb in a crowded gathering of marathon spectators. Only a few humans have deliberately flown an airplane into a building. And a small percentage of the population has shot someone or otherwise violently hurt another human being. Most of us are not criminals. We are, however, all sinners. We strive first for the enrichment of our own lives. We look out for our own interests and (sometimes) for the good of those we love. But in the process we neglect the needs of others. We allow children to go hungry. We do not share our abundant resources with others in our neighborhoods and around the world who are without clothing, food, healthcare, clean water, and shelter. We live and let live - or not.
Jesus said, "When you hate another person, you commit murder against them." In the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats Jesus reminds all of us that we fall short of the goal to love our neighbor as ourselves. Paul is alarmingly honest when he writes in his letter to the Romans, "I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do." And the writer of 1st John appeals to us, "If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us."
We are each guilty of the violence that we so abhor. But we are also capable of enormous acts of kindness and love. History and our own time are replete with stories of humans who have gone out of their way and sacrificed their own needs for the sake of other's well being. Mother Theresa is not the only "saint" that there ever was or ever will be. And much of what is done in the way of love for our neighbor is done quietly and without drawing attention.
If true peace and wholeness is to prevail it will come when, out of our own brokenness, we recognize that the world's needs are our needs. We are not "good people" and "bad people," we are "good and bad people." We are the victims of violence and we are it's perpetrators. But each of us can and must live out acts of love and justice in whatever way we can everyday. We must smile at strangers, we must share our stuff, we must give food to hungry people, we must speak up for those who have no voice, we must live sustain-ably on this planet, we must sacrifice what we think are our own needs for the sake of what we cannot deny are the actual needs of others. We must love one another as we love ourselves.
There will never be a day short of the culmination of the kingdom of God when we realize a world without violence, pain and injustice. It just isn't going to happen. That's why the picture above breaks my heart. But a broken heart is perhaps the best kind of heart though which I can love the world. If I know the pain, then maybe I'll work to change it. Maybe we all will.
We teach our kids to live by certain rules that make for peace and being able to get along with others (even with those who disagree with us), and to maintain a certain respect for those with whom we share this world. Yet everyday we are confronted with the reality that violence and judgement of others exists in our society. It is the way it has always been. And, unfortunately, there will never be a day when this young boy's wish comes true. That's why this picture breaks my heart...because it will never (in this world) come true.
Not a very "gruntled" sentiment.
The truth is, we are the very people who have committed the acts of violence that we so detest.
Not very many have dropped off a bomb in a crowded gathering of marathon spectators. Only a few humans have deliberately flown an airplane into a building. And a small percentage of the population has shot someone or otherwise violently hurt another human being. Most of us are not criminals. We are, however, all sinners. We strive first for the enrichment of our own lives. We look out for our own interests and (sometimes) for the good of those we love. But in the process we neglect the needs of others. We allow children to go hungry. We do not share our abundant resources with others in our neighborhoods and around the world who are without clothing, food, healthcare, clean water, and shelter. We live and let live - or not.
Jesus said, "When you hate another person, you commit murder against them." In the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats Jesus reminds all of us that we fall short of the goal to love our neighbor as ourselves. Paul is alarmingly honest when he writes in his letter to the Romans, "I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do." And the writer of 1st John appeals to us, "If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us."
We are each guilty of the violence that we so abhor. But we are also capable of enormous acts of kindness and love. History and our own time are replete with stories of humans who have gone out of their way and sacrificed their own needs for the sake of other's well being. Mother Theresa is not the only "saint" that there ever was or ever will be. And much of what is done in the way of love for our neighbor is done quietly and without drawing attention.
If true peace and wholeness is to prevail it will come when, out of our own brokenness, we recognize that the world's needs are our needs. We are not "good people" and "bad people," we are "good and bad people." We are the victims of violence and we are it's perpetrators. But each of us can and must live out acts of love and justice in whatever way we can everyday. We must smile at strangers, we must share our stuff, we must give food to hungry people, we must speak up for those who have no voice, we must live sustain-ably on this planet, we must sacrifice what we think are our own needs for the sake of what we cannot deny are the actual needs of others. We must love one another as we love ourselves.
There will never be a day short of the culmination of the kingdom of God when we realize a world without violence, pain and injustice. It just isn't going to happen. That's why the picture above breaks my heart. But a broken heart is perhaps the best kind of heart though which I can love the world. If I know the pain, then maybe I'll work to change it. Maybe we all will.
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