The Hajj Tragedy, Victim Blaming and the Gospel of the Kingdom

Of the many tragedies our world has suffered in 2015, the death of over 700 pilgrims at the annual Hajj in Saudi Arabia must be one of the most pitiful. The idea of hundreds of devout worshippers, having saved their hard-earned money to pay for this once-in-a-lifetime event, being crushed to death at a time which should have been at the pinnacle of their religious faith journey, is a true tragedy.

  

Along with the death of thousands of migrants in the Mediterranean this summer, and the desperate experience of those affected by the Ebola outbreak in recent years in west Africa, the Hajj calamity is a human tragedy on a grand scale.

With tragedies come recriminations. Reports suggest that some Hajj pilgrims are blaming the Saudi police and authorities for the stampede in Mina. Saudi spokesmen, meanwhile, are reported as blaming African pilgrims for not following instructions. Iran is blaming the Saudi Royal Family.  

When faced with a tragedy in his own lifetime, the mainstream view confronting Jesus of Nazareth appeared to be that the victims themselves were to blame for what happened.  Jesus responded to this popular assumption by analysing the self-righteous motives of his contemporaries who were not directly affected by the tragedy, and turned their complacency upon themselves by warning them of their own impending doom. 

"Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.” (Luke 13:4)

Although fewer in number, the victims of the Siloam rower collapse were also the objects of criticism by the self-righteous of Jesus' day. The world-view of the critics is not difficult to detect: a high view of God's sovereignty, meaning that all that happens does so ultimately by the permissive or directive will of God, and a covenant theology which saw unfaithfulness to God resulting in judgement, combined to interpret the death of these 18 as the result of their morally dubious state.

Victim blaming today seeps through much of the analysis of contemporary human tragedies. It is implicit in the European Union's decision in 2014 to not support Italy's Mare Nostrum operation, rescuing migrants in the Mediterranean. The claim was that such a humanitarian initiative would act as a "pull factor" in emboldening migrants to board unseaworthy vessels and attempt the perilous crossing from the north African coat to Italy or Malta.  Victim blaming was present in the Sun newspaper's coverage of the Hillsborough tragedy - an editorial decision for which it has publicly apologised. 

The focus of Jesus' few words on this Siloam tragedy is not on explaining "the problem of evil" in abstract, philosophical terms. Nor does he align himself with those who cast aspersions upon the victims. Instead, he turns the tables and points to those of us who would pass judgement:

"Unless you repent, you too will all perish."

It is highly unlikely that the words of Jesus were intended to predict further tower collapses or similar calamities. Rather, his focus is on something much worse.

To "perish", in its New Testament usage , often means to come under the judgement of God - in this age and the one to come. The apostle Paul, for instance, is quite willing to distinguish between "those who are perishing" and "us who are being saved." (1 Corinthians 1:19) and elsewhere describes those who "perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved." (2 Thessalonians 2:10)

Evidently, the Son of God saw it as imperative that people "repent" of sinful patterns of thought, attitude and action. This theme of repentance is present, implicitly or explicitly, throughout the gospels and other New Testament writings.

The tragedies of the Hajj, of tsunamis and of plagues are not to become opportunities for hard-hearted self-righteousness, but occasions to express sorrow and sympathy with the victims, their families and their communities. They also provide a stark opportunity to examine ourselves by asking some uncomfortable questions: have I repented? Am I to perish?

For those who embark on such a process of self-examination, the words of the gospel truly come as good news:

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. " (John 3:16-17)

If you enjoyed this post, get free updates by email or RSS.

No Country for Old Men: an Old Testament Parable?

Being a bit behind the times with all things cinema-graphic,  I only got round to watching No Country last week.

What a brutal film - and yet despite the bloodletting, there is an interesting tale with a spiritual dimension. At least, that's how I saw it.

The film touches on a number of religious themes - not least of all that of death itself, which wraps itself around the action like an omnipresent shroud.

The story is unremittingly bleak and portrays a vision of life that is, to borrow a well-worn existentialist phrase, absurd.

The harsh Texas landscape combines with the portrayal of the lives of the ordinary and powerless, whose existence is shown to be meaningless and insignificant - the more so when confronted with the cruelty of amoral killers seeking money, revenge or, perversely, mere self-actualization. The brutality metered out on many of the cast is, in this context,  equally meaningless. Nondescript lives, ending in random and violent deaths.

Indeed the theme of randomness is central to the narrative, supremely illustrated  by the psychopathic Anton Chiqurh, menacingly played by Javier Bardem, who tosses a coin before deciding whether strangers live or die at his hands.

In this sense, the film is acutely realistic, and consistent with many of the  most profound questions posed by the writers of the biblical Psalms and other Wisdom literature. The observation that life often appears brutal, meaningless and that the innocent are frequently carried away in apparently random acts of violence is, indeed, a Biblical observation:

An unplowed field produces food for the poor, but injustice sweeps it away.
(Proverbs 13:23)

 Or, consider  the political "realism" of "the preacher":

Again I looked and saw all the oppression that was taking place under the sun:
   I saw the tears of the oppressed—
   and they have no comforter;
power was on the side of their oppressors—
   and they have no comforter.
And I declared that the dead,
   who had already died,
are happier than the living,
   who are still alive.
(Ecclesiastes 4:1-2)

The Biblical realism of these passages is evident to anyone who takes the time to look. Even as this blog is being read, this very day, innocent civilians are being butchered in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and in Pakistan, children are being orphaned by American drones.

The religious person is forced to ask the uncomfortable question: "Why?"

The fact that the Biblical writers observed these injustices through the perspective of belief in a Supreme God made their attempts to find meaning in these brutal acts more difficult than would be true for the atheist, who would not attempt to find any grand design or meaning behind such events.  

Job, described as a man who "feared God and shunned evil" seems to even accuse God of injustice in the face of the pain suffered by the innocent:

It is all the same; that is why I say,
   ‘He destroys both the blameless and the wicked.’
 When a scourge brings sudden death,
   he mocks the despair of the innocent.
 (Job 9:22-24)

The psalmist puts the problem even more bluntly:

Why, LORD, do you stand far off?
   Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?

From the perspective of the New Testament, Paul of Tarsus makes a historic evaluation which is also full of theological meaning:

"Death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses" (Romans 5:14)

Although No Country For Old Men is located in modern America, theologically, it is located in this epoch when "death reigned". The absence of hope in the film underlines this spiritual reality - Sheriff Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones) is rebuked by his Uncle Ellis for assuming he can change anything. "Thinking it's all waiting on you, that's vanity" spews out the ex-lawman.

In this sense, the finely-crafted film is a parable that fits with the time before the Answer to death is revealed. It portrays the reality and shows the problem, but is unable to provide meaning or hope.

In Biblical terms, the film is B.C.

Its resolution would await another bloody death of an Innocent and His destruction of death itself.

If you enjoyed this post, get free updates by email or RSS.