Meaning

Recent events, such as the Utah mine, Hurricanes Erin and Dean, and the Lima Earthquake, have left people wondering and confused. How are we supposed to understand the love of God amongst natural phenomena that seem out of control? Some would say that God is doing these things for the purposes of punishing sin and rooting out evil, as if God is intentionally orchestrating disasters to occur. Others would say that God is an uncaring dolt because God doesn't stop these things from happening and innocent lives are lost, as if God doesn't have a hand in any of these things and turns away in apathy. Neither of these views put God in a very good light and the underlying thinking is that God is an ornery ol' fellow who is greatly affected by things we do.

What does God have to do with natural disaster as far as cause and effect is concerned? I honestly don't know how to answer that question, but I do know that God is neither tyrannical nor apathetic. God cares deeply about what happens. So then, why doesn't God stop earthquakes or at least keep people out of harms way? Why doesn't God steer hurricanes so they don't make landfall? Why did God allow those mine rescuers to be killed while they were doing something very noble?

I wish I had answers to those questions. They are good questions, but I'm wondering if those are the only questions to ask. I think there are other questions, and I also think we must look at the big picture. We tend to get myopic when disaster strikes.

It might be tempting to become a bit envious when we see stories in the Bible of storms being stilled, dead people being raised, sick people cured, and many other things that Jesus did. "Why doesn't he do them today?" we might ask. A different question, one that reflects curiosity of the bigger picture, is "Why did Jesus do these things in the first place?" He wasn't obligated by anyone to do them, and people certainly didn't expect Jesus to do these things until word got around that things were beginning to change for the better.

The significance here is not in what Jesus did, but in what Jesus did meant to the people. The meaning is what must be examined. In order to explore that angle a bit, here are some questions. Suppose God does steer Hurricane Dean out to open sea. What would that mean? Let's up the stakes a bit. What if God sheared the cloudtops off of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 so that her impact would have been severely attenuated? Would it mean that God is now obligated to rescue everyone on the planet from natural disaster by any means necessary? And is that meaning ultimately the one God wants us to have?

So, what did it mean when Jesus cleansed a leper? I don't think it's enough to say that his life was spared, he got his skin back, and he was now happy. That was certainly part of it, but why would that make him so happy? His healing had theological significance (remember, most of the lepers Jesus cleansed were Jews), namely, that he was now restored as a member of God's covenant people and a full participant in the age to come. It meant that God accepted him. That is what ultimately brought joy to cleansed lepers. They were reunited with Israel. To know that you were "in" and an heir of eternal life was a Jewish person's highest goal and joy.

Now, honestly, would averted natural disasters have that same meaning today? Probably not. We need to learn how to think in the overall scheme of God's acceptance of us in Christ Jesus. To believe that we have not been accepted by God or that we are unworthy of the New Covenant in Christ until we do something that is acceptable to God is, by far, the greatest disaster of all. This, I believe, is the greatest malady of our day.

To know that God has set us free from the bondage of works-righteousness systems through Christ was the greatest joy of the New Testament people. To believe that we are "in" because of what Jesus did and not because of some prayer we prayed or some incense we burned brought joy and peace to the hearts of the first Christians. It should also be the same for us!