Jesus Weeps for a Small Child...
Fr. Kevin Millsaps, May 31, 2009


+In the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit

Very often, one hears that suffering, death, and misery have some purpose in "God`s Plan." That is to say that many well-intentioned Christians attempt to account for these privations of the good by asserting that is some inexplicable way, they reveal God`s sovereignty, they bear witness to his ultimately good attributes, or they afford us humans the opportunity to display charity or goodness in the face of unspeakable horrors. In other words, a certain measure of suffering is required in "God`s plan" with which to provide necessary contrast to the unspeakable glory which will be revealed at the consummation of things on the last day. For certain Christians, this accounts for the misery of Hell, natural disasters, wasting diseases, etc. If this is the God we serve, I reject him because I cannot allow for the suffering of even one person so that God`s glory might be revealed. Ultimately, such an idea of God is one of a tyrannical despot worthy of dread rather than adoration and praise.

For example, consider a newborn who dies from a birth defect after a few short weeks of life (I bring up this example only because I have experienced it personally.) Perhaps one is forced to explain such occurrences in the following terms: This small child was foreordained by God to live and die in short order so as to allow his glory to be made manifest in the great working out of his plan. In other words, God allowed this child to suffer and die so that at some undetermined point he will be shown to be abundantly good. Or, one might say that God allowed this child to suffer and die so that he might bring out the best in other people. For example, in the doctors who heroically attempted to save him, or in the great outpouring of love by others on his behalf, etc. Both of these views are false. It is very strange that we Christians seek, in the words of David Bentley Hart, to make the brokenness of the universe morally intelligible at the cost of a God rendered morally loathsome!

In fact, this small child`s suffering and death should themselves be approached with a perfect hatred. For in fact, they are not what God intends and they have no place in his plan. As Jesus stood at the tomb of his friend Lazarus, he wept! He wept at the ugliness of what he saw. He wept at the distortion of His creation that Lazarus` death and all deaths reveal. He wept, and then in anticipation of His own resurrection a few days later, he raised Lazarus from the corruption of death. Therefore, Christ`s resurrection from the tomb, his trampling down of death by his own death, is the only thing that renders the world morally intelligible. The creation itself was created Good. Man was created in the image and likeness of God and is very Good. Death and misery are not man`s estate. Rather, Life and beauty are the natural order of things. Christ`s incarnation, His life, His death, and most especially, His resurrection, are the means by which He makes all things new. All that is broken and distorted is made right by this alone. It is what allows us to see through the dark glass and behold the splendor of all things as they were in the beginning and as they will be again.

Therefore, let the family of the aforementioned small child be comforted by this. The Child is not dead. For we worship a God of the living and not the dead. God truly intends for the child to live forever. The child will! He will be raised up again, He will be made new, and he will dwell with God in a place where much of what is considered by some as "God`s plan" will be judged false and damnable. All the former things will have passed away, and there will be no more tears, or pain, or sorrow. The inherent beauty of God`s creation will be visible in all of its magnificence. The chains that currently bind it to the distortion of death and corruption will be shattered and cast aside. To God be the Glory unto the ages of ages...

Fr. Kevin Millsaps