Have you ever wondered why bad things happen to good people- read on to consider an alternate answer to this dilemma.
– Our Daily Masala
There are questions that have lately been haunting us day and night. Particularly, because of what we see on the news, social media, and on all the networks – something is wrong with the world. Oceans are dying, refugees are fleeing, animals are brutally murdered and children are abused in ways we cannot imagine. And when this terror hits close to home like the death of a father and son in police custody, it just rips a hole right through many of us and prompts us to ask “Why do bad things happen to good people?” We hope that the answers will somehow help us win back the childish idea that life is a fairy tale, and we wonder if life can be made beautiful again. We wonder if there is more to living than just trying, fighting, and dying.
“…something is wrong with the world. Oceans are dying, refugees are fleeing, animals are brutally murdered and children are abused in ways we cannot imagine. And when this terror hits close to home like the death of a father and son in police custody, it just rips a hole right through many of us and prompts us to ask “Why do bad things happen to good people?”
Amid the chaos, the walls of history speak to us of a life well-lived from which we can learn meaning and purpose.
The world Jesus was born into was thawing with injustice and discrimination. Romans discriminated against non-Romans and brutally murdered many, including the innocent. The tax collectors oppressed the poor for money to the point of death. The Jews rejected the Samaritans and the Gentiles as lower caste, untouchables, they called them “dogs.” Children and women were treated as worthless; their words were not even accepted in a court of law.
But Jesus stood apart from the set social norm of his day.
- He touched the leper, who no one else would go near. Like the COVID patient forgotten by even the health care staff.
- He chatted without bias with a Samaritan woman who was an outcast. Like the migrant workers who no one cares for.
- He welcomed children and valued them. Like the children and women whose rights are despised.
In short, He stood up for the ‘worthless’ in society and often placed Himself in uncomfortable situations where he was rebuked and ridiculed by many. Sometimes we are so used to seeing Jesus in a picture with a halo, and a glowing gown that we forget the humanness about Him. He felt pain, anger, sadness just like any of us and He hated injustice and segregation. And when it was time to take a stand, even against the authorities of His day, He did not mince words.
“He (Jesus) felt pain, anger, sadness just like any of us and He hated injustice and segregation.“
So why does this compassion and kindness of Jesus matter, when we ask this question on injustice?
Yes, it does! It is because He as a sinless human being never judged anyone, that we have a prototype for living. If He as God judged us, we would all be found guilty for we all have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory. Hard as it is to accept, no one is good not even one, none except Jesus the only one who lived a sinless life. And so His kindness and compassion is bestowed upon us despite our own failures. So, in the light of this, the question remains, “Why do bad things happen to good people?” however, in the light of this the answer changes for none of us are “good” no, not one.
“If He as God judged us, we would all be found guilty for we all have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory. Hard as it is to accept, no one is good not even one“
And so, Jesus asks us to consider a tackle for this condition, He demonstrated on the cross a new alternative – forgiveness. Forgiveness does not mean that we let the guilty go unpunished, but it does mean that they no longer have the power to affect us and that we have released them to God in whose hand is justice. And since none of us are good except Him, we trust Him to judge out of His goodness and grace extended to us. It is hard, but we must do it because God loves the perpetrator just as much as He loves us. If God created all things perfectly, we must also believe that He in His perfect time will also administer justice, and in season we will see it accomplished.
“Forgiveness does not mean that we let the guilty go unpunished, but it does mean that they no longer have the power to affect us and that we have released them to God in whose hand is justice. And since none of us are good except Him, we trust Him to judge out of His goodness and grace extended to us.“
Our Daily Masala 