Christ is Risen! Osama is Dead! And We Want to See His Photo?

Since my wife and I switched churches about five months ago, our experiences of Holy Week and Easter were magnified and enriched in ways that we had not foreseen. Easter Sunday was glorious, joyful, and one woman was overheard exclaiming while leaving the sanctuary, "This is the place to be on Easter!" And so we celebrated the resurrection of our Lord, with spring finally coming to the Lehigh Valley. Just one week later, our students gathered on the Quad at midnight, with beer and fireworks, to celebrate the news that Osama bin Laden had been killed. The news media has spoken of little else since then, even though thousands of Americans are dealing with devastation caused by tornadoes and flooding in the Midwest and South. At Bible study on Monday, I asked the students how they felt about all of the hoopla. They said that they understood the celebrations, even though some of them were not even in their teens when the World Trade Center attacks occurred. There was a sense of dis-ease as they talked, and I asked why they felt a bit of discomfort. It came down to the same discomfort I had been experiencing: should Christians really be celebrating the death of anyone? We talked about who is a child of God, and the consensus was that all people are children of God, though some run from the positive potentials that such a birthright entails. Hitler, Bin Laden and others were born as God's children. They then chose to take the path of evil, but they never could move out of the sphere of God's love. Such words will cause some to wince, I know. We love to hate our enemies and to see them get what they deserve. There is great debate now as to whether or not the photos of the dead Bin Laden will be, or should be, released. My belief: they will be released, but should not be released. The man is dead and buried at sea, but the book is not closed on his reign of terror. We want to revel in his defeat, because we want the pain of those attacks ten years ago to recede, though, in reality, for those who lost loved ones, they never shall recede fully. We mourn our loved ones who have died because our lives seem empty without them. Our grief is a tribute to their impact upon us, and their absence causes us pain. Somewhere, someone is grieving the death of Osama, because he was someone's son and brother, spouse and father. I do not grieve for him because I did not know him, and certainly did not understand his madness. I do grieve for those who celebrate his death, who want to see the photos of his corpse, because, for them, the rage and anger and horror at his atrocities will not abate. It is very difficult to give up our need to get even, to feel that justice has been served. It is difficult, but not impossible. The message of Easter is that all of our attitudes, our fears and our hatred can be subsumed in the resurrection and we can rise to a new level of living in which we need not hate. For many Christians, the resurrection has only to do with life after death, but with no practical application here in this life. Christ's death and resurrection makes it unnecessary for us to need vengeance, because God has taken care of settling scores once and for all. Not even monsters like Hitler and Bin Laden get to have the final word. In life, in death, in life beyond death, we are not alone. God is with us. Thanks be to God.