Christian Reflections on the Death of a Terrorist

“Osama Bin Laden is dead.” These five words contain tremendous power, and are capable of eliciting many emotions and reactions in each person. I share in this space my own initial reflections, as someone who is proudly American yet professes even greater allegiance to Jesus Christ, who is the incarnation of a merciful God.

I am thankful for what this news possibly means: the prevention of future atrocities against humanity, and the weakening of Al-Qaeda. As a citizen of the country that committed this action, I am also thankful for the courage and service of our military, and the government’s and military’s leadership, including the leadership of both President Obama and former President Bush. This was made possible by the hard work and leadership of many.

I am hopeful that this is indeed a step toward peace and human dignity. However, my hope is tempered by the fact that violence begets violence, and peace cannot ultimately be achieved by violent means. In a 1963 speech Martin Luther King Jr. said, “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction.” Indeed, only the light of Jesus Christ is powerful enough to destroy the evil and hatred that persists in this world. It is foolish to believe our acts, however noble, can ultimately rid the world of evil and establish justice.

However, we do live in a world where at times, acts such as this one may be considered necessary and just. This is a reality that elicits deep sadness within me. Equally sad and troubling is the outpouring of celebration, joy, and excitement over the death of another human being. No matter who has died, responding in jubilation is never appropriate. When we dance, chant, and sing in celebration, then we are no better than those whom we disdain for celebrating in the same way over the loss of American lives.

Finally, I am in prayer. I pray for those who lost loved ones in the events of 9/11 or other terrorist attacks orchestrated by Al-Qaeda. Surely their pain and grief has flooded back as a wave of emotions in the wake of this news. I pray for a world so broken that military force and the killing of a fellow human may be considered justice. I pray also for the soul of Osama Bin Laden. I believe that redemption is possible even for the soul of a man who committed horrific evil against humanity, and I am thankful that God is far more merciful than we have the capacity to be.

I do not fully understand what this news means. I do not know the will of God in this. What I do know is this: when we fail to live as Christ calls us to live – be it orchestrating murder of thousands with terrorism, responding inappropriately or de-humanizing the death of a fellow human, or simply being arrogant enough to claim we know what justice is – there is a God of mercy with incalculable capacity to forgive. Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.

Uncontained

We know who Jesus is. He is God’s son, born of a virgin, the incarnation and fullest revelation of God in Heaven and the one who saves us from the power of sin and death. He preached, taught, healed, performed miracles, and prophesied. We know these things because of scripture: the Old Testament prophecies that he fulfilled, the four Gospel accounts of his life, death, and resurrection, and of course, the other New Testament writings that communicate who the early church understood him to be. So we know all about Jesus. We understand him completely. Or do we?

“But there are also many other things that Jesus did; if every one of them were written down, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.” – John 21:25

These parting words in the Gospel of John are often overlooked, perhaps because we’re in such a rush to get to the stories of the early church in Acts. But they are a reminder to us that we don’t know everything. In fact, there is so much to know about Jesus Christ that even the author of John, who presumably was one of Jesus’ disciples, didn’t know the whole story. Maybe he knew more about Jesus’ life than he wrote, but he also demonstrates awareness that God can never completely be grasped: “I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written [about Jesus].”

I have read several biographies of baseball great Roberto Clemente. I know a lot about him: his early years, the on-field accomplishments, the racism he faced as a black Puerto Rican in the overtly racist United States of the 1960’s. I know he was a tremendous humanitarian, and that he died in a plane crash as he was attempting to deliver relief supplies to earthquake victims in Nicaragua. I know a lot of things and have a fair sense of who Roberto Clemente was and what he stood for.

But there are probably a lot of stories I’ll never hear about his life. There’s a lot I’ll never know about him. Having never had so much as a cup of coffee with him, who am I to say I know all there is to know about Roberto Clemente?

We are 2000 years removed from the earthly ministry of Jesus Christ. But because of people like John, we have a sense of who Jesus was and is. Yet, that does not mean we know everything there is to know about Jesus, nor that we will ever know. In fact, God is so much bigger than our human minds can comprehend, and in the person of Jesus is too great to contain in books. So we know Christ, but there is also so much we do not know.

These words that conclude John’s gospel remind us that no matter how much we’ve learned about Jesus from scripture, there is still so much we don’t know. And even if we had a library of books stacked to the heavens, there is still so much we wouldn’t know.

This is why the continued search for understanding is at the heart of the Christian faith. To be a follower of Christ is to admit that we have a limited understanding of the one we are following. This is at once humbling and comforting: humbling because we are reminded of our inability to understand, and comforting because we know there is a God out there that far surpasses human understanding, yet still cares about us. I suppose that love is so great that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.