Monday, May 2, 2011

On Osama, and all the Undeserving.

As a Christian, Easter marks the most stunning act of grace and enemy-love in human history – Jesus’ death and resurrection.  As Jesus was being tortured and executed, he cried out for mercy, even for those terrorists who hurt him.  As his buddy Peter picked up a sword and cut the ear off one of the persecutors, Jesus scolded Peter and picked up the ear and healed the wounded persecutor. Jesus was sending a message about how there is something worth dying for, but nothing in the world worth killing for – not even freedom or democracy.


I found out the death of Osama by facebook, sadly. What i found though, left me with more of a heavy heart than any sense of peace or joy. I saw a multitude of my own Christian brothers and sisters rejoicing at the death of one man. I turned on the tv and saw rallies in Washington DC with people cheering and celebrating, holding signs and shouting saying 'God bless America!' As if God were happy that we murdered this man, even beyond that, we murdered his son.


I promise, I do not hate this country at all, as I'm sure I probably will get confused for by writing this blog. But come one people! There is no doubt that we must mourn those lives lost on September 11th. We must mourn the lives of the soldiers. But with the same passion and outrage, we must mourn the lives of every Iraqi who is lost. They are just as precious, no more, no less. This includes Osama Bin Laden.



What if God said to you, 
"Okay, so if this murderer doesn't deserve grace, neither do you."



If we hate those the entire worlds hates, what does that say about the disarming love of a sinless Savior that laid His life down for ALL the Osama bin Ladens in the world? Isn't the world supposed to know us by the outrageous love we have for one another, especially the ones who don't deserve it?


If we believe that the wages of sin is death, then we all need to realize that none of us deserve the Kingdom.