Tragedy and the Ascension
(Below is a text version of the Thursday, May 26th episode of Good Morning, City Church. You can listen to the episode here.)
Two days ago in Texas we witnessed, yet again, a horrifying reminder of the reality of evil and the devastation it causes in our world.
When confronted over and over again with tragedies like this, it’s hard not to lose hope. It’s like being knocked down over in the ocean and struggling to gain a footing because the waves just keep crashing in, one after another, throwing you off balance every time.
Though the shock feels fresh and urgent every time, tragedy isn’t unprecedented. It is a constant this side of heaven. Throughout the centuries the people of God have experienced many forms of tragedy and have left us a witness of how to cling to Christ in the midst of them.
In the church calendar, today is the feast of the ascension, when Christians commemorate Jesus ascending to the right hand of God the Father after his resurrection and being eternally enthroned as Lord over all. Because of this, the daily office lectionary—which we use for our daily podcast, Good Morning City Church—departs from its typical schedule of readings to highlight texts that speak to the theme of Jesus’ ascension.
Today’s reading from Daniel 7 feels particularly poignant. Chapter 7 signals a change in the book between the historical account of the prophet Daniel’s life and the apocalyptic vision he received. The verses immediately preceding our reading describe a vision of four terrifying horsemen, each representing an ancient empire that threatened Israel. They would bring chaos and devastation upon the people of God, threatening their very existence. But today’s passage is like a cutaway as it shifts our perspective to a view of the heavenly throne room, about which it says:
“As I looked,
thrones were placed,
and the Ancient of Days took his seat;
his clothing was white as snow,
and the hair of his head like pure wool;
his throne was fiery flames;
its wheels were burning fire.
A stream of fire issued
and came out from before him;
a thousand thousands served him,
and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him;
the court sat in judgment,
and the books were opened.”
I recently told one of you that sometimes you just need to read about God curb stomping the devil and this is exactly that. A few verses later we read that “the beast was killed and its body destroyed and given over to be burned with fire.” By the cross, Satan has been bound and is destined for a day of judgement before God the Father. Nevertheless, we also read in this passage that until that day, Satan, though bound, will continue to lash out like a maimed and dying animal charging its hunter. Daniel says, “As for the rest of the beasts, their dominion was taken away, but their lives were prolonged for a season and a time.”
This is the age in which we live. Christ is the conquering king seated on his throne, and yet, for reasons we can’t understand he allows Satan to take these dying shots.
Later in the lectionary readings, the author of Hebrews addresses this, writing: “Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him. But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.”
Though it may appear to us that God is absent or blind during times of tragedy, the author of Hebrews reminds us that we remain veiled towards the mystery of God’s will and naive as to what occurs in the spiritual realm that lies behind our physical one. What appears to us chaos is, from the vantage point of the angels, control.
Our first response to fearful circumstances or tragedies is often to try and control or manage them ourselves, but that is often nothing more than raging against the dying of the light. It is as futile as the dying animal taking one last charge at its assailant. We are weak and small in the face of forces of evil. But, as today’s slate of lectionary readings remind us, Jesus is not. He has conquered Satan, defanged death, and will return one day to purge from creation the curse of the Fall.
And so, the Christian’s first response to fear and evil should always be trust that all things are under God’s control.* But since we are all like the Centurion who cried out “I believe, help my unbelief,” God does not demand of us blind faith. As the author of Hebrews reminds us today: “we do not see everything…but we see him.”
When tragedy strikes and our faith feels feeble we are, like Peter walking on the water, to look at Jesus and not the waves because he is our anchor for the storm’s of life. He many not answer ever question we might have about the problem of evil but, in Christ, God shows us that he isn’t unfeeling or unseeing. Rather, he enters into the storm with us in his incarnation and death and through his resurrection and ascension reminds us that it is under his control.
* It’s important that I mention here that this I’m not advocating quietism or passivity. Our faith in God’s sovereignty is what fuels our good works, especially when they feel futile.