Seeing things in all their glory
Not everyone knows this about me, but I am actually a macho superhero. I say this because 34 years ago I bungee-jumped (no, there is no further evidence whatsoever). From that day to this, I have understood what it is like to face death, as the sea rushed terrifyingly up towards me.
My relief when the fastening around my calves tightened and I felt the rope stretching and slowing me was ecstatic. Afterwards, the adrenalin rush lasted for hours.
The operator’s calculations were so precise that I went in the water up to my elbows, but my head didn’t touch, as I’d requested. I think this is the only time when I have so recklessly entrusted myself to others for such a frivolous purpose.
The Bible is filled with warnings about trusting people in the political arena. The Psalmist wrote wisely in Psalm 146: “Put not your trust in princes” – and Israel’s history has provided plenty of examples why.
The Psalmist explains that human beings cannot save. “When their spirit departs, they return to the ground; on that very day their plans come to nothing.” This truth is also amply demonstrated by the prince now busily betraying Ukraine (though he thinks of himself more as a king).
If you could see the Bayeux Tapestry only from behind, would you be able to make out Bishop Odo?
These are unsettling times to be sure, and much more so since Donald Trump resumed office as US president on January 20 and decided to kick over the established order, but the truth is that for most people across the planet and across history, it was ever thus. Personal tragedy happens to (at least) thousands of people every day.
Jesus tells his listeners they will hear of wars and rumours of wars, nation will rise against nation, and there will be famines and earthquakes. “Such things must happen, but the end is still to come.”
Jesus, like the Psalmist, taught that blessed are those whose hope is the Lord their God. For believers, here is both consolation and hope in the belief that God is sovereign, that there is ultimate meaning and purpose.
It is obviously no comfort to those who see the universe as pitiless, indifferent and random. But what could count as consolation from such a starting point? It makes all our decisions to love and to create meaningless, or just a subjective choice.
Believers can’t claim to fully understand why God allows suffering, but I find the analogy of a tapestry helpful. Now, we see only the back, its mess of lines running apparently randomly with no discernible shape, but one day we will see the other side, the full picture in all its glory.
Barney Zwartz is a senior fellow of the Centre for Public Christianity
