We learn nothing from even our most powerful stories…
The savvy ones of old (the ones that knew their current events, read the papers cover to cover, and knew the names of every senator, what they ate for breakfast, where they spent their free time and how they voted) fervently believed the ways in which their societal ills would be healed was through either a charismatic national leader, a righteous religious fervor, a political movement, the power of the law, brute force, or a combination of any or all of these things.
Judas, the smart economic mind and passionate political pundit, believed that way.
When the Solution presented Himself, Judas and so many others thought the popular and strong Carpenter would finally bring the hammer down and finally bring about some dang Justice, and his frustration and anger reached a fever pitch when the Carpenter instead not only laid the hammer down in the complete opposite way Judas expected, but, as if to mock everything Judas held dear, He remained silent and let His enemies pick up that hammer and nail Him to a tree. No wonder Judas betrayed Christ and then hung himself: in Judas’ eyes, that Carpenter who had gotten his hopes up so high was instead going to ruin everything.
Nothing is more glaringly evident these days than the fact that we live in a harsh broken world in which evil often triumphs and innocence is senselessly destroyed. The recent violence that killed so much precious hope has broken our national heart because it illustrated our powerlessness with absolutely no mercy, and that has made many people angry. People want justice. People want peace. People want to *do* something, and people want results, *now*.
Some want to arm our teachers.
Others want to ban guns.
Others want to increase funding in order to institutionalize those whose mental state might make them a threat to our children.
We want to act, in a big and decisive way, and thereby eradicate the evil that haunts our memory and walks our streets. We want to feel powerful and safe again.
But hearts are not changed collectively and in one fell swoop by impersonal legislation and certainly not by the brute force of law or the cold barrel of a gun. The real lesson of Newtown is an old one we must continually re-learn, to our shame: it is the hearts of men which must be changed, and that change only happens individually, and it begins when we change ourselves, and then when we take the time reach out to the least of these. Instead of rushing to act, maybe we should be stop, think, and be still.
Be very careful with that thing. You could hurt somebody.
Our national error is in thinking we can achieve peace by simply passing some more laws without actually interacting with those souls who need help. The law, I once read, is powerless to save. It merely shows us our sin. Hearts, it seems, respond best to relationships, not regulations. Arming every teacher in order to make classrooms safe and keep away bad guys makes as much sense as requiring every woman to wear a skirt in order to make her modest and prevent men from thinking naughty thoughts. Banning all assault weapons in order to keep our society safer is as silly as banning secular entertainment in order to make our children play nice and keep them from encountering violence.
Today’s societal problems are the same ones Judas tried to fight, and we can not attempt to solve them using Judas’ methods. Trying to solve the problem of Adam’s sin is much more difficult because it is an individual problem we all have and it requires we examine our own hearts. It requires that each of us to set aside our own anger and look to the needs of others before looking to the needs of ourselves.
My fellow American, you may feel powerless against the Adams that rage among us, but you are not powerless at all if you learn the lesson Christ tried to teach Judas: lay your hammer down, and love your neighbor as yourself. In so doing, you will fulfill the law of Christ.
And then, maybe there can be peace.