WHY DO BAD THINGS HAPPEN FOR NO GOOD REASON?
Most popular Jewish teaching in First Century Israel maintained that bad things happen to people because of sin. If something bad happens, it is because the individual or his parents sinned. In John 9:1-7 Jesus’ disciples asked him about a man who had been blind from birth. "Was it the sin of the man or his parents," the disciples asked? Jesus responded that it wasn’t sin that had created the blindness, but rather the man’s blindness was an opportunity for a demonstration of the healing power of God. Jesus then proceeded to heal the blind man.
In the question raised in our gospel lesson about the Galileans murdered while offering sacrifice, was an attempt to ask the question why do bad things sometimes happen to good people? In popular Jewish belief, a pious person in the act of offering sacred sacrifice to God was about as good as a person could get. So why would God allow the murder of people who were performing a ritually righteous act? Why do bad things happen to good people?
The people of Alabama had that question powerfully raised 10 years ago, March 27th 1994, when a tornado struck the Goshen United Methodist Church in Piedmont, Alabama. It was Palm Sunday, the church was practicing for an Easter Pageant, when the building collapsed after being hit by the storm. The pastor, Kelly Clem, was injured, but in the confusion in the midst of fallen beams all she could think of was trying to make her way to the ruined masonry wall, where her daughter and three other pre-schoolers had been standing. When help finally arrived, Kelly was able to free the body of her four year old daughter Hannah. Nineteen people, including Hannah, died in that church building that morning. Surely the pre-schoolers anxiously awaiting an Easter pageant were innocent. Surely there was no sin to justify the deaths of those good people in Piedmont. So, why do bad things happen to good people?
We do not know. Kelly and her husband Dale, also a Methodist minister, gave several television interviews after the tragedy. They honestly expressed their pain, grief and loss, and they affirmed their faith and trust in God. Dan Kitchen, the pastor at Latham United Methodist here in Huntsville remembers that Kelly was asked to offer the sermon at the Anniston Community Thanksgiving Service in November of 1994. At first she was reluctant, but with the encouragement of some other clergy she spoke powerfully of Thanksgiving even in the midst of loss. She chose as her text Habakkuk 3:7-9: Though the fig tree does not blossom, and no fruit is on the vines; though the produce of the oil fails and the fields yield no food; though the flock is cut off from the fold and there is no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will exult in the God of my salvation. God, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer and makes me tread upon the heights.
We cannot explain why bad things happen to good people. Sometimes bad things happen for no good reason. And when confronted by the painful mystery of undeserved suffering, we have a choice in how we will respond.
I would like to tell a long story about responding, when bad things happen—the story of Horatio and Anna Spafford. Beth’s and my first introduction to the Horatio and Anna Spafford story was during our first visit to Jerusalem. I wanted to get a good picture of Gordon’s Calvary and the Garden Tomb, and one of our guides suggested that from the roof of the Spafford Clinic I could get just the picture I wanted.
Gordon’s Calvary is a small hill of rock just North of the Damascus Gate, and it sits right next to the Garden Tomb. These two sites are candidates for the place of crucifixion and burial of Jesus. From ground level you can’t get a good picture of Gordon’s Calvary, because in front of it is the transfer point for the Jerusalem public bus system. But the roof of the Spafford Clinic is one of the highest points in the old Arab Quarter right near the Wall of the Old City, and it affords a wonderful view of the rock face and the Garden Tomb.
While we were at the Spafford Clinic we met Mrs. Franji, a very elderly nurse, who came to Jerusalem just after World War II to work in what was then the Spafford Hospital. Mrs. Franji told us the story of the Spafford family.
In 1871 Horatio Spafford was a successful lawyer and business man in Chicago. He and his wife Anna were friends of Dwight L. Moody and took their faith seriously. When the Chicago Fire in December of 1871 left thousands of people homeless, the Spaffords opened their home to care for homeless families. In November of 1873 the Spaffords made arrangements to visit France. Dwight L. Moody and Ira Sankey were conducting revivals in Europe. Horatio had business affairs to attend to, and Anna was going to escort their four daughters to see some of the great cultural sights of Europe, and join up with the Moody revival. At the last minute Horatio had to stay behind in Chicago on business, while Anna and the girls went on ahead on the S.S. Ville du Havre. Nearing the coast of France the Ville du Havre collided with another ship, the Lochearn. The Ville du Havre sank and the four Spafford daughters drowned. Anna was knocked unconscious, but she was miraculously saved, when a door from the ship floated up underneath her, and kept her on the surface. When Anna was rescued and taken to France she sent the terrible telegram to her husband, "saved alone."
Horatio left Chicago to sail for Europe. On the voyage he asked the captain if their ship would pass near, where the S.S. Ville du Havre sank. The captain told Spafford that they would pass near that place in the middle of the night, and Horatio asked to be awakened in order to be on deck as they passed the site of the tragedy. As he walked the deck looking out on the dark ocean, where his daughters had drowned the he heard in his heart the words that became the famous hymn
"It Is Well With My Soul":
When peace like a river attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea-billows roll,
Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to know;
"It is well, it is well with my soul."
Many of the Spafford’s religious friends tried to impress upon them that because God is good surely the deaths of their daughters must have been due to some sin within them. You see even in Protestantism, like first century Israel, there is an element of wanting to believe that misfortune and sin are always linked. When Anna had another child after the tragedy there were people who offered to adopt the baby lest some further tragedy should over take the child. But Anna and Horatio stood firm -- the tragedy of their four daughters had not been due to some sin, and God was still good.
In 1881 Horatio and Anna along with some close spiritual friends moved to Jerusalem. They purchased a large building in the Arab quarter of the old walled City and started an educational and medical mission. The Spafford’s surviving daughter Bertha Spafford Vester continued after the death of her parents developing the mission into the Spafford Hospital. Mrs. Franji had come to Jerusalem to work with Bertha Spafford Vester. After the six day war the Israelis would no longer allow the hospital to operate, so the Spafford Center became a well baby clinic and a children’s educational center. It is know today as the Spafford Children’s Center, and you can visit it on the WEB at http://www.spafford-kids.org .
Another unique contribution of the Spafford Center has been that they are one of the only institutions in Jerusalem trusted by both the Israelis and Palestinians. So in 1992, secret negotiations were held there between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization leading up to the 1993 peace accord.
Now the reason I relate this story of Anna and Horatio Spafford in detail is because it provides an important perspective on the question why do bad things happen for no good reason. Some disasters occur, because mistakes are made – the foam hit the wing, an "O" ring had a crack in it, the bridge support was faulty.
There is a story about a minister, a lawyer and an engineer who were scheduled to be guillotined on the same day. The minister put his head in the block, they pulled the rope and nothing happened. He immediately declared that his life had been saved by divine intervention and they let him go free. Next the lawyer was placed in the guillotine, and again the rope did not release the blade. The lawyer immediately claimed that he could not be executed twice for the same crime, so they let him go free. Then they brought the engineer to the guillotine. AS he looked up at the release mechanism he said, "wait a minute, I see your problem."
Engineers are trained to look for faults that lead to failure. But looking for mistakes or sin as the source of all suffering leads to petty righteousness and a culture of blaming the victim. Some bad things happen for no good reason. And when undeserved suffering occurs we have a choice how we will respond. We can respond with bitterness, or we can respond with faith.
When we respond with faith to the bad things that happen in life, goodness can arise out of tragedy – witness the Spafford Children’s Center. The good things that arise out of tragedy do not justify the bad things that happen. But when people respond to tragedy in faith, goodness can result. And I want to add that the goodness we do can long outlast the pain and suffering. Who could have foreseen that the mission Horatio and Anna Spafford started in 1881 would still be a blessing in Jerusalem today 120 years later. Who could have imagined that their humble attempts to foster education and medical care, would one day play an important role in World Peace. The good that we do lives on far beyond us.
So when bad things happen, respond in faith. Become a tree of life that produces good fruit. And your fruits will live on and produce more blessings even to eternal life.