I try to write about things that are clearly stated in scripture and proven in everyday life. If I wrote about things I don’t understand, it would produce as many volumes as my 50-year-old set of Encyclopedia Britannica. Most of those mysteries begin with “Why?” There is one that makes all of the others seem trivial.
The news this week has been filled with the horrible mass shooting at a high school in south Florida. Why do such bad things happen to good people? That question has been raised throughout recorded history, so I have a lot of company when I say, “I don’t know why.” The sudden death of people going about their daily routine seems to defy explanation. Whether it is a fatal automobile collision caused by another driver or the senseless taking of human life in an act of premeditated murder, we ask ourselves, “Why are some lives ended too soon?”
Jesus addressed the topics of mass murders and fatal accidents in Luke 13. Jesus was informed that Pilate had murdered some people from Galilee while they were offering sacrifices at the Temple. “Do you think these Galileans were worse sinners than any other people from Galilee?” Jesus asked. “Is that why they suffered? Not at all, and you will perish too if you don’t repent of your sins and turn to God. And what about the eighteen people who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them? Were they the worst sinners in Jerusalem? No, and I tell you again that unless you repent, you will perish too.” Jesus does not tell us why massacres and tragic accidents happen, but he reminds us that death can come to anyone at any time in any manner, so it is critical that we repent and follow Him while there is still time.
The disciples assumed bad things happen to people because of sin. In the 9th chapter of John, Jesus encounters a man blind from birth. His disciples ask, “Rabbi, why was this man born blind? Was it because of his own sins or his parents’ sins?” Jesus told them, “It was not because of his sins or his parents’ sins. This happened so the power of God could be seen in him.” Then he healed him. Hundreds of years earlier, Joseph told his brothers, who sold him into slavery, that even though they meant it for evil, God used it for good. Is it possible that there is a purpose to it all?
Sin and evil played a major role in the Florida shooting, but it isn’t found in the victims. Two of the seventeen who died in that school were teachers who sacrificed themselves to save the lives of many students. Purpose can certainly be found in their heroic deaths. I also see purpose for those who survived; even those who were critically wounded. But what about the teenagers who were killed? The purpose for their tragic deaths at the hands of a deranged young man filled with evil and hate still eludes me.
One of my wife’s favorite songs was “Farther Along.” The last verse and chorus of that song has special meaning for me. “When death has come and taken our loved one leaving our home so lonely and drear, then do we wonder how others prosper living so evil year after year? Farther along we’ll know all about it. Farther along we’ll understand why. Cheer up my brother, live in the sunshine. We’ll understand it all by and by.” Someday I will have the answers to all of my questions, but for now, I trust God and His eternal purpose in my life and in yours.