Us and Them

November, 2005

by: Joseph Molinari

As I watched footage of the destruction wrought by Hurricane Katrina, I found myself more affected by the reaction of the people than the devastation itself. Expectedly, there was great bewilderment and immeasurable sorrow. The media, however, focused on something very different. Slothful people sat around doing absolutely nothing. Opportunists made off with TVs and cases of alcohol. Angry citizens beat one another senseless. Men raped women. Others fired shots at rescue choppers. Fathers and mothers screamed obscenities at news cameras while their children stood alongside mimicking them. A portion of the most powerful nation in the world descended into third world chaos.

At first, I thought, “Lord send in some angels, remove the few righteous, and raze that city to the dust from where it came.” I was utterly disgusted and overwhelmed. Those rogue citizens of New Orleans needed to be on their knees praising God for His mercy with their faces pressed so hard to the ground that their nostrils would fill with the very earth that the Creator once fashioned with a mere utterance of His Word.

Then, the Holy Spirit gave me a tug.

“And when His disciples saw this, they said, ‘Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?’ But he turned and rebuked them, and said, ‘You do not know what kind of spirit you are of; for the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.” — Luke 9:55-56

There is one very fundamental thing that I forgot…Those people were reacting without Christ.

Are we not guilty at times of looking with revulsion upon people who react to their circumstances in atrocious, sinful ways? I discovered that I am. Yet, without Christ, what would we do? Quite possibly, some of the same terrible things.

You say, “No way! I would never do something like that!” Consider this…

When no one was looking, Moses killed an Egyptian and “hid him in the sand.” (Exodus 2:12) David committed adultery with Bathsheba and then orchestrated her husband’s death (2 Samuel 11). Both were Godly men. Then there was Saul, who authorized the jailing, torture, and death of countless Christians. God did not dismiss him, but instead turned him into Paul, one of the greatest men in Christian history. If God can use such men as those, who is to say whom He will use in today’s age? Should we really dismiss people who offend us, secretly deeming them as unworthy wretches?

Some of us look disdainfully upon the prostitute whom we see on the street. She was once someone’s little girl, but now lives in desperation. At the same time, we send our children to school to be taught by a kindergarten teacher who, unbeknownst to anyone, regularly commits adultery with a soccer coach who’s been married for twenty years.

Some of us mutter condemnation under our breath at the dirty, rancid smelling, park bum. He once fought a war for our freedom only to be forgotten. At the same time, we offer Christmas cookies to our mailman, who secretly maintains a lucrative side–business propagating filth on the internet.

Sound absurd? Shocking? The fact of the matter is that we have no idea. We live illusion filled lives labeling outwardly nice people as good and deeming those who get caught in front of cameras doing sinful things as the bad ones.

Certainly, we may cry out for justice, but let us remember one very important thing when it comes to the murderers and adulterers and wicked people of the world. Though they may deserve the consequences they reap and though their crimes or sins may seem so incredibly offensive to us, there is truly only one difference between us and them… Jesus Christ.

Let us pray for justice, but moreover, let us preach Christ.

“… ‘As I live!’ declares the Lord God, ‘I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn back, turn back from your evil ways!’ …” (Ezekiel 33:11)