The Tornado and the Gospel

I have spent some time thinking about the gospel (the good news) in the light of the tornado in Joplin. These are just some preliminary thoughts that certainly need to be expounded but for now it is a starting point. The questions that drove my thinking were: what is my response? What is the gospel? What does scripture say? Lastly, this is not a theodicy (an attempt to justify God) for if God's actions were wrong there would be no justification and if His actions are right then they need no justification. And so I begin...

First, what is the Church? What sets the Church apart from every other social club, neighborhood association, theological school, humanitarian agency or political action committee is the Word of God (the gospel, for the whole word of God is only rightly known and understood when understood in the light of the gospel (Matt 5:17-20)). For the church to be the church, the word of the gospel must be central in every thing. We need to consider this, for regardless of everything else a church may be (social, theological, humanitarian) it ceases being the church when the gospel is not present. The Gospel makes the Church. So whatever else I may do in seeking to help these people, the gospel must be central.

secondly, what the gospel says to this situation directly (and this is something we must wrestle with to believe) is that man’ s greatest need is never temporal. There is a great temptation in the face of natural disaster, like in Joplin, to think that what these people need most is food, clothing, shelter, etc; and I am not denying that that is a great need (one we should seek to meet), but it is not the greatest. We must wrestle with this. It is hard in our flesh to not see the needs of the flesh as most important but the cross demonstrates God’s greatest love towards men, not in relieving every temporal need but in meeting the eternal need. To use an old proverb, “give a man a fish, feed him for a day; teach a man to fish, feed him for life” but the problem is that in both cases the man dies and goes to hell without Jesus. Again, what sets the mission of God apart is not the acts of service (as important as they may be) but the gospel. Christians are not distinguished from non-Christians by their kindness and love (though both should be recognized in every believer) for the world posseses these too. Often the charge is that the world possesses these in greater abundance then the church and avoids the hypocrisy of the church. No, rather what distinguishes the Christian from the non-Christian is the gospel. To base the identity of the church in works (even love and kindness) is to replace the gospel with law. If it is not the gospel that distinguishes than it is morality. If what men need most is temporal, then the church is just not needed and Jesus got the mission wrong. This is clearly seen when Jesus forgives the sins of the paralytic before he heals him physically, the physical healing was only to demonstrate that Jesus had the authority to do the greater healing, forgiving sins and reconciling to God (Matt 9:1-7). This is not to downplay the need to meet physical need, but to meet physical need as a path to meeting the spiritual need. I think John 6 demonstrates the dangers of meeting physical needs apart from the gospel.

lastly, the gospel says, to these people displaced by this tornado, that God is near despite all contrary appearances. The cross remains unshaken by the winds as a testament forever to the love, sovereignty and grace of God. We can look at the cross, even in the midst of sheer terror, pain, loss and confusion and see the objective truth to all of our subjective experiences. The cross is the fullest exposition of God, the deepest revelation of God and the surest sign that we can hope against all hope in God. The world will ask, “where was God?” And we must answer, “God was lovingly, graciously, mercifully, righteously, justly governing those winds.” And when the world says, “how do I trust a God like that?” we must respond with the testimony of the cross. “We can trust a God like ‘that’ because we have a God that did that --> t.” (Those are my graphics, it’s pointing to a cross).

I have spent some time considering John 11, its wonderful because Jesus knows Lazarus is ill and will die and then waits two more days to go (11:6). Jesus is even glad he is dead (11:14). When Jesus arrives, Lazarus is dead, as was the plan. Jesus weeps (11:35). I have little doubt that Jesus wept Sunday night for Joplin. What we don’t see is that Jesus could have saved Lazarus from death and he could have saved Joplin from destruction. He could have healed him with a word or calmed the storm. But He didn’t. His plan is for His glory (11:40). Jesus calls Lazarus from the grave, from death, from decay and decomposition (11:39). Our prayer for Joplin must be that God would once again glorify His name by bringing life from death, not so much but not excluding, physical death, but more, spiritual death. God’s plan for Lazarus was death before life. May it be so even now in Joplin.