Scripture
“We deserve to die for our crimes, but this man hasn’t done anything wrong.”
Luke 23:41, NLT
Quote
No cause justifies the death of the innocent.
~Albert Camus
Albert Camus was a French philosopher and he said some good things but the quote I used above has an exception. Jesus was innocent and He died for our sins. Evidently, our salvation was cause enough to justify what God did at Calvary. One of the two thieves on the cross was repentant and he upbraided the unrepentant thief for his attitude. Basically he says, “We deserve what we are getting but this man has done nothing wrong.” The thief understood that he deserved to die but he also understood that Jesus did not. John Dunne the English poet said, “Every man’s death diminishes me.” I agree with John but I would take it to another level, “Every child’s death [Physical] extremely diminishes me.”
Understand clearly, before I proceed, Kaley is not dead. There can be no death in the presence of Jesus because He is the resurrection and He is life: death can not exist in His presence any more than darkness can hang around after the sun has risen. Light is greater than darkness and Life {Jesus} is greater than death. Kaley is not dead, she has departed. She is not with us anymore because she moved to a higher dimension. We are stuck here in the land of dying but where she is there is no death, no suffering, no aborted children, no sick one either. If Jesus doesn’t have her a child to hold, it will only be because He has something better. This blog is not for Kaley, it is for those of us who feel much more deserving of death than a 15 year old.
The thief posed the age old question that still disturbs our minds, “I’m dying because I am a thief but why is HE dying, he hasn’t done anything deserving of death.” I’m an old man who has had a good life. If the doctor tells me next week that I’m not going to make it, I can understand, I can process that and I do not think there would be any anger or even questions. Every breath I take is grace. I do not deserve to be here. I am not feeling sorry for myself; I am stating facts. John Dunne said, “Every time a waves sweeps away a clod, England is the less.” It is an apt description of the way the death of the common public effects us. But to Bailey’s and Greer’s, Kaley is not a clod, she is a continent. Her promotion leaves a huge void in our heart that will never be filled, not in this life. The magnitude of this void, this abyss of grief is felt more deeply by Elizabeth and Paul but it will be there for John Paul, grandparents, cousins, aunts, uncles right on down to great aunts and uncles.
I didn’t have a lot of use for this world before the accident: I have far less now. This earth is not my home. I can never be content in a world where there is death and suffering on every corner. Cain deserved to die but it was righteous Abel who died. David and Bathsheba deserved to be stoned according to the law of Moses but the innocent baby died. I deserved the Cross, along with death and hell but Jesus died in my place so I would not have to suffer either of the three. It is the mystery of the grace and it is far beyond explanation. Beware of the man who has all the answers.
