The tragic events at Virginia Tech have riveted the eyes of the nation for the past week. We have been appalled at the cold-blooded killer’s plot to take so many innocent lives. Some may be feeling depressed, helpless, fearful, angry or just numb from this tragedy. One thing that we all can do is to pray for the families of the victims. Pray that God would comfort them, draw them closer to Himself and give them hope for the future.
Beyond prayer, what lessons can we learn from the Virginia Tech massacre? What would Jesus say if someone told Him about it? Actually, we have an account where Jesus was told of a similar massacre and Jesus gave an answer. NLT Luke 13:1 About this time Jesus was informed that Pilate had murdered some people from Galilee as they were sacrificing at the Temple in Jerusalem. 2 “Do you think those Galileans were worse sinners than other people from Galilee?” he asked. “Is that why they suffered? 3 Not at all! And you will also perish unless you turn from your evil ways and turn to God. In this case, some innocent Jews were offering sacrifices to God in the Temple at Jerusalem when the governor had them murdered. Murder in a public place of innocent victims, not so different from what happened at Virginia Tech. The first thing that Jesus says is that the victims were not any worse sinners than those who were not killed. The violence of evil does not discriminate between levels of sin.
What Jesus says next contains the lessons that we should be reminded of in the face of any tragedy, whether created by man or by nature. Jesus says, “And you will also perish unless you turn from your evil ways and turn to God.” When we contemplate the Virginia Tech massacre, we should first of all come face to face with our own mortality. None of us knows how much time we have left on this planet. Our lives may end with an auto accident, a heart attack, old age or a murderer’s bullet. When life is over, we will either perish in a place called hell or live forever with God in heaven. So these events should compel us to examine our own lives to make sure that we have turned from our evil ways and put our faith in Jesus Christ to forgive our sins. The temptation is to look at a psychopath like the murderer Cho and think we are not so bad after all. Jesus calls us to look inside the darkness of our own hearts and seek God’s forgiveness and presence in our lives.
The corollary lesson concerns our neighbors, who we are to love as ourselves. Our neighbors, the people within the circle of our lives will also perish, unless they turn from their evil ways and turn to God. If we love our neighbors, we must do whatever we can to open their eyes to the reality of God’s love, before it is too late, before they perish.
In America, we tend to live with the delusion that death is distant and we don’t have to worry about it. Jesus tells us we’d better prepare for it today. At Virginia Tech, 32 innocent victims perished. Every day in the United States, 6800 people die. Death comes to the young through the elderly. Are you ready? Is your family ready? Is your neighbor ready? Eternal destinies lie in the balance. Jesus calls us to learn from the Virginia Teach massacre. Be prepared for death before it’s too late. Get right with God.
For more information, read my article .