Since Easter Sunday I have been given many opportunities to ponder life and death. It seems to be all around us. With the spring season comes new life – animals are born into nature, trees and flowers bloom, people are invigorated by the changing season. It seems logical that the Christian church celebrates Easter in just such a setting because of the new birth that comes to us in Christ’s resurrection.
In the midst of this newness of life, we still encounter the inevitable reality of death. On Wednesday massive storms ripped through the Southeast leaving many dead in their wake. Houses were destroyed, personal property damaged, limbs ripped from trees. The fragile new life in nature met nature’s most powerful force.
Over the weekend I was informed of multiple deaths that touched our congregation. One was a pastor who had served here as an interim minister a number of years ago, the other was a man who as a child had been a charter member of the congregation. Both had lived very full and meaningful lives and were called home to be with God leaving in their absence family members trying to make sense of a new way of living.
Last night I became aware of the news that Osama Bin Laden had been killed by US Forces. I’m not sure what my reaction to such news is. Bin Laden has certainly been behind his share of terror and inhumane action, but does that give someone else the right (or duty) to take his life? As I ponder this question, I recall Dietrich Bonhoeffer and his role in the failed plot to assassinate Hitler. Reflecting on his role Bonhoeffer writes:
"the ultimate question for a responsible man to ask is not how he is to extricate himself heroically from the affair, but how the coming generation shall continue to live."
"when a man takes guilt upon himself in responsibility, he imputes his guilt to himself and no one else. He answers for it...Before other men he is justified by dire necessity; before himself he is acquitted by his conscience, but before God he hopes only for grace."
“the blood of martyrs might once again be demanded, but this blood, if we really have the courage and loyalty to shed it, will not be innocent, shining like that of the first witnesses for the faith. On our blood lies heavy guilt, the guilt of the unprofitable servant who is cast into outer darkness.”
I can only wonder what is currently going through the minds of those who were ordered to carry out the killing of Bin Laden. I can only wonder what goes through the mind of President Obama as he considers his role in bringing a man to death. I can only wonder what the real ramifications of this very visible death will be.
I imagine that Bin Laden might be the criminal who was hung to die next to Jesus. I’m not sure if he is the criminal who asked Jesus to remember him or if he is the criminal who derided the one who asked Jesus to remember him. But I trust that if even Osama Bin Laden asked Jesus to remember him in the Kingdom, Jesus’ answer would be, “today, you will be with me in paradise.”
