A Reflection for Lent: Evil

We stand less than two weeks from Easter and anticipation of the resurrection is growing. However, we mustn't lose sight of the fact that Lent still continues until then. In my own reflections and readings during Lent I have been thinking recently about evil.

Evil is something that we often attach to others. Hitler was evil. Osama was evil. Big government is evil. Etc. This is so easy and natural for us to do. It is like breathing.

But as I journey through Lent, I am reminded that evil is not found primarily in others. Evil is also not far off. Evil lives in me. As N.T. Wright has said, "[T]he line between good and evil is never simply between 'us' and 'them.' The line between good and evil runs through each of us" (Evil and the Justice of God, 38.) Yes it is true that I have been forgiven and redeemed by Christ. Yes it is true that the Holy Spirit lives within me. But it is also true that until Christ returns, I am marred by sin and evil.

In watching the "Noah" movie this past weekend, one line from a conversation between Noah and his wife stuck in my mind. His wife was attempting to convince Noah that he and their family were basically good people. He responds by saying, "And yet, wouldn't we readily kill others to protect our children?" The fact is, when things are stripped away from us, when we feel our lives threatened, we too easily revert to those basic sinful tendencies--greed, selfishness, pride, lust, violence.

One of the things that saddens and frustrates me is the culture of anger and blame-setting I see on Facebook among other places. We as a culture are so quick to place and accuse others. Don't get me wrong, I think it is good to stand against injustice. But what I see people posting so often is inflammatory, accusatory, prideful, and (quite honestly) impulsive and ignorant. We seem to think that those who shout the loudest will be found in the right.

But what if we learned from this season and took a lesson from the cross? What if we recognized that the problem was not always in the others whom we quickly blame, but is often within ourselves? If we recognized that we don't really have much claim to the moral high ground, maybe our speech and actions would be marked with more humility.

The message of the cross is that sin and evil are real. And, it is not just a reality for "bad" people, it is a reality for ALL people. Jesus had to die for me as well as for "them." Furthermore, I am called to "take up the cross." This is not some nice metaphor for enduring hardships or sickness. It is a call to self-denial. On the cross I choose to crucify my selfish desires. I choose to sacrifice my rights for the sake of others. I choose to admit that I have sin in need of crucifying as well. May we take this message to heart during these final weeks of Lent so that when Easter comes, we can be all the more thankful that the Resurrection can overcome even an evil heart like mine.

The Hubris of Gen. 11

When we read the story of the Tower of Babel, we often speak about the pride that people exhibited in attempting to build a tower "that reaches to heaven." The story is often viewed as an attempt of humanity to storm the gates of heaven and to once again become like God. Indeed, the chiastic structure of the story would seem to support this:

11:1-4- Humanity gathers to build a tower to heaven
11:5- God "comes down" to see the city and the tower
11:6-9- The building up of the humans is ended

This is certainly one way to interpret the hubris exhibited in the story. However, there is also another way of reading the story. In this other interpretation, the hubris is not so much based on a vertical dimension, but rather on a horizontal dimension. In particular, we see in this story a denial of God's verdict to "fill the earth" (1:28; 8:17). In both stories of "creation" (the flood/Noah acts like a recreation story in many respects), God begins the new world with a command to be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth.

In the Babel story, though, people "found a plain in Shinar and settled there" (v. 1), built a city (v. 4), all with the intent that they would "not be scattered over the face of the whole earth" (v. 4). It is particularly interesting, especially given the chiastic structure, that the last claim humans make before God comes down is that they will avoid being scattered. Similarly, it is intriguing that God's solution really does not center around the tower. The closest we come to dealing with the tower in the second half of the story is God's statement that "nothing they plan will be impossible for them." Otherwise, God seems to be dealing with the problem of the people gathering instead of scattering and filling the earth. Indeed, twice, in verses 8 and 9, God's solution is to "scatter them over all the earth."

Given this interpretation, the story is not simply a tale about humanity's sinful desire to become like God. Rather, it highlights the sinful desire to reject God's commands when it proves more comfortable to do so. To the people of Babel, building a city made perfect sense. It could provide security and a better life, allowing them to "make a name" for themselves. Meanwhile, God's command to "fill the earth" was risky and forced them to face the unknown (similar to the call of Abram to go to an undefined land). Nonetheless, this story also stresses God's sovereignty. Despite human rejection of God's command, God's will shall be accomplished one way or another, in this case by the confusing of languages that forced humans to scatter and separate.