A pastor’s job is to interpret reality theologically, said the late Professor Martin Scharlemann. So, yesterday I asked my first-year seminarians how they might preach about the terrible bridge accident in Baltimore. Not that a sermon would be all about the tragedy. Not that pastors in the pulpit should be know-it-all pundits. It’s just that faith in Jesus gives Christians a special way of seeing what happens in the world.
One student brought up Luke 13:4-5. “Those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” Back then, it was commonly thought that misfortune or tragedy came to you because of some specific sin you had committed. Read the book of Job. At least they were thinking theologically. I doubt that many people today are thinking about Baltimore theologically, but that’s the job of a pastor.
“Unless you repent…” says Jesus. I go through ritual repentance almost every Sunday in church, but that’s no guarantee the New Madrid fault won’t bring down the bridge over the Mississippi when I’m on it. Jesus always pushes deeper. “I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh” (Romans 7:18). Martin Luther: “We are all beggars.” Why should we be surprised when troubles come our way? “…you will all likewise perish.” Jesus is obviously promising something more than earthly life. Repentance is preparatory to life, eternal life. “Death is swallowed up in victory” (1 Corinthians 15:54). As a friend told me yesterday, when you have that perspective, you can deal with whatever comes your way.
I asked the seminarians how they could incorporate all this during Holy Week. People naturally want a Jesus of success, but that’s not why we call Him “Savior.” On Good Friday all crashed down on Him, human errors, sinful acts, our naturally sinful being, all crashing down on Him in death. Easter: “The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:56-57). Our Savior is our Lord of life, now and forever. Our seminarians understand. Good for us!
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