Thinking Theologically About Yesterday's Very Scary Incident

Yesterday, the two year old son of our dear friends here in Albuquerque was hit by a truck in the cul-de-sac of their neighborhood. We know that he is going to be ok and his injuries are not life-threatening (concussion, slight tear in the liver, two small fractures in the pelvis, and banged up pretty good) but when I got the call as they were headed to the hospital in the ambulance we didn’t know the status. I was bracing for the worst. I would take a bullet for this little boy, just like I would for any of my own kids so it shook me up pretty good. Thankfully we know that he is doing relatively well and will most likely go home from the hospital in a couple days.

But what if things didn’t turn out quite so well? I can still feel those emotions as I was driving to the hospital not knowing if he was going to make it: praying for God to spare him, praying for God to heal him, praying for his Mom and Dad, feeling the weight of the potential death of a precious two year old boy, what would I say?, there is nothing to say, just cry and be quiet, pleading with God to spare this little boy.

How in the world do we manage without the hope of a resurrection? Without the hope that Jesus will one day make all things right? Is life really just random matter in motion? Sometimes you get screwed over by life and that’s it? Really?

No way.

The older I get, the more suffering I observe and endure myself. Without the hope of real life future restoration I don’t know how any of us can cope. No wonder we medicate ourselves with sex, work, medication, and anything else that can anesthetize the angst.

Is Christianity just another means to pacify the pain? As Karl Marx said, "an opiate of the masses?" It would be if it wasn’t true, but Jesus’ real-life, in space and time, resurrection from the dead, 2000 year ago tells me otherwise. I’m betting the farm on that one and it will serve as my hope in the present for the restoration of all things in the future.

Romans 8:18 - For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

Revelation 21:1-5 - Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.”