Kendall Touchton, "Ringing Ears and the God who Hears"

Ringing Ears and the God who Hears A response to the Newtown, CT shooting on 12.13.12

My wife was moved to tears and clung to our three year old daughter, kissing her on the forehead. I had no idea what had happened. "A shooting?" I asked. "Mmhmm," she afrmed, through a tear-lled stare... "Kindergarteners." It took ve hours for me to shed a tear, as I sat at our dinner table imagining if it was my child, imagining if her life was snatched out from us. Would we be able to bare such a terror? Twenty children slaughtered by twenty year old man. This event strikes so many emotions in us. One moment we are feeling overwhelmed in grief and sorrow and groaning and the next we are raging, lled with stark anger that this evil occurred in our world against defenseless children. Tragically, this story reminds me of stories I've heard before. I felt so cold thinking it, but I kept going back to this reality: Newtown is nothing new. Before you think me heartless, know this. Know that King Solomon, a man who sounded like he was in the dark of suffering and who went on about how everything is meaningless, said it rst: What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun1

Twenty six lives have been lost and that is not insignicant. But our utter disbelief at this proves how quick we are to forget the kind of world we live in. It's broken as hell. And this evil is nothing new.

Egypt
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I was reminded of Moses, the prophet who helped free Israel from Egyptian slavery. How did Moses come into this world? He entered through unspeakable evil. The Egyptian king saw Israelite slaves as a threat and "commanded all his people, 'Every son that is born to the Hebrews you shall cast into the Nile, but you shall let every daughter live'" (Exodus 1:22).

Ecclesiastes 1:9 1 of 3

Kendall Touchton, "Ringing Ears and the God who Hears"

Hundreds and thousands of babies gurgled and drowned in the rapids of the Nile. How could God allow such evil? In the midst of this horror, his rescue plan unfolded. God sent a man named Moses. This Hebrew baby boy who would one day overthrow the nation was brought into Pharaoh's own household to be raised!

In hearing of tragedy I know many people ask, "Does God know, does he hear, does he even care, is he even 'out there'?" Years later this evil king dies. Yet the Hebrew people cry out. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God. And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. God saw the people of Israel-and God knew.

There is this sense that God knew this evil oppression and he was about to do something about it. He heard, he remembered, he saw, he knew this slavery which had slaughtered male babies and split open backs. And God crushed the king and brought out his people in freedom.

Bethlehem

Thousands of years later another rescuer comes in tragedy. Jesus is born in a world of suffering. It feels weird to say that Newtown reminds us of the Christmas story. The Christmas story is really about displacement. Jesus comes as the true Rescuer and King under the nose of King Herod and the Roman Empire. The entire city of Bethlehem and the surrounding area was lled with screams of agony and weeping. I wondered how this young man could have willingly destroyed the lives of helpless children. What was his motive? God may only know. But I asked the same questions of King Herod. Rulers were supposed to protect. Feeling threatened by the possible existence of a replacement king in his midst, he slaughters his own people -- every make child two and under. Yet again, another thought I can't bare to imagine. What if both my girls were snatched out of our arms and slaughtered because of an insane king with a power complex? The same sad sounds echoing in cathedrals, churches, and living rooms in Newtown lled Bethlehem. King Herod...

became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men. Then was fullled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah: "A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be comforted, because they are no more."2

Matthew 2:16-18 2 of 3

Kendall Touchton, "Ringing Ears and the God who Hears"

These twenty children "are no more." This sobers us to the core. Does God care? He knows all the Egyptian slaveries, all the Bethlehem mass murders, and all the Newtown tragedies. It is why he sent his Son. Jesus came into our world through tragedy and escaped into Egypt.3

Jesus brings a greater redemption than Moses and the Hebrews experienced. He is the greater rescuer with no record of wrong. God used Moses and he was a murderer! All of us have grown up slaves to this one reality: all of us fear death, whether for ourselves or those we love. This fear is why we have life insurance, living wills, bumpers on cars, outlet covers, carseats, and more. We want the kids to be safe and we fear death. But God has heard and hears. God knows. The cross displays this better than anywhere else. On the cross Jesus is with us in our pain and actually doing something about suffering and evil better than any gun control law or government could possibly do. "Through death" Jesus "deliver[ed] all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery" (Heb 2:14-15). Jesus gave up his life to bring us out of the ultimate slavery.

The next time you are tempted to wonder if God cares about the tragedies of our cities, remember Egypt and Bethlehem. But ultimately remember Jesus. He knows our deepest pains and we are not alone. Jesus was "a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief" (Isa 53:3). He knows the pain of losing a father, as John was charged to care for Mary when Jesus was crucied (John 19:26-27). He knows the pain of losing your best friend, for "Jesus wept" at Lazarus' death (John 11:33-36). He died not only for our sins, but for our sadness. "Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows" to the cross; Jesus died to put Kleenex out of business (Isa 53:4).

He bore our sins, even those we commit when lives are snatched from us and the world around us seems to move on and forget. The grace of God comes to us and not only forgives us of our evil in the midst of suffering but undoes the very existence of suffering. One day the Newtowns will be completely forgotten because the new city and new world will be utterly lled with righteousness and justice (2 Pet 3:13). As Revelation 21:4 promises, God "will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away." I'm looking forward to that memory loss.4

Ironic, since God's people were adopted as his "son" and brought OUT of Egypt. Now god's true son is escaping into Egypt like a reverse Exodus.
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Isaiah 65:17 3 of 3