I was in downtown Atlanta, Georgia with our NXTGN (staff interns) on a mission’s trip yesterday (Tuesday).  A young coed from Georgia State University brought up the bombing at the Boston Marathon this past Monday. She asked, “How does it make you feel to have something like this happen where you live.”  I thought a second and responded, “vulnerable.”

I have stood along the historic twenty-six mile route and watched the runners go by; it’s great human theatre and I felt totally safe watching the show.  That illusion of security is gone from Patriots Day in Boston, just like it is gone from so many venues in American society now.  We used to get on airliners and never think about someone at the helm turning the aircraft into a missile and flying it into a target.   There was a time when our elementary age kids could roam about the neighborhood and we never worried that some weirdo would pick them up and discard their lifeless bodies after using them for their sick pleasure.  Movie theatres and elementary schools are also no longer the places of refuge they used to be.  I now feel vulnerable and not a little bit angry that these evil people have had the audacity to invade our tranquility with their insanity.

What does it all mean?   Some say it means Jesus will come back very soon.   Well that’s my preference, and I don’t necessarily disagree, but may I point out to you that the terror of irrational violence has been going on for centuries.  North America is one of the few regions of the world that has been spared the dishonorable mayhem of men without conscience randomly stealing the lives of the innocent.

Yes, it may mean the end of the world as we know it this time, but may I remind you that Cain killed his brother Abel because he was simply jealous of his worship.  Cain never played “Grand Theft Auto” or “Mortal Combat,” yet for no good reason he murdered his sibling.  We have to conclude that the capacity for irrational violence has been tucked away in the human heart since the fall of mankind.

Last Wednesday morning, I was privileged to sit across the table from a Nigerian pastor named Paul Gidudu, an African brother who is carrying a burden for the American church.  His country has known the oppression of violent men for decades, none worse than the late murderous dictator Idi Amin.  Still rebel leaders randomly take over villages, killing everyone who dares to resist them.  Paul said that a rebel leader recently told him, “sometimes I wake up in the morning and just need to kill somebody, so I kill the first person I see.”   As Paul was saying this, it occurred to me that evil is illogical and wickedness is insane.  Evil makes no sense.  No wonder the bible says of the prodigal boy, “when he came to his senses, he said, I must return to my father.”  The bible says of the demoniac in who lived in the tomb of the Gadarenes, “they found him clothed and in his right mind.”  Evil makes us less human.  Evil makes us crazy.

On a social level I would say, don’t let the bullies stop you from flying, sending your kids to school, going to events and movie theatres.  We are called to courage not cowardice.  Jesus’ command to “fear not” was given in a time when the Romans were lining the roads with men hanging on crosses.   I will live more cautiously but I refuse to be paralyzed by paranoia.

On a spiritual level, let us turn to the only one who can conquer and cleanse the evil from a human heart.  If the problem of random violence begin in Adam and Eve’s children, the problem of evil has to be internal, not environmental.  You all know that I am a big believer in social justice; that’s what our ministry, “Compassion New England” is all about.  However, bad hearts, not bad societies are the unchanging issue at the root of senseless violence throughout history.    At the risk of sounding terribly old fashioned here, I declare that we need to have our hearts cleansed by the powerful blood of Jesus and our self righteousness replaced by the righteousness of Jesus Christ.  That may be the old, old story but it’s still the right old story.

And since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience. Hebrews 10:19-22 (NIV)

Want to do your part to end random violence?  Receive the gospel.  Live the gospel, share the gospel and let the gospel inform every facet of your life.  A man or woman with a cleansed heart will avoid hurting another human, even when revenge makes perfect sense.  How much more would the redeeming love of Christ cause us to stop causing carnage when it makes no sense.