Rector's Reflection—Easter Sunday C
April 4, 2010
You may remember a reflection that I wrote a few weeks ago about a funeral that I had done
for a young woman who had committed suicide. When asked if I thought that her suicide prevented
her from entering into heaven, I said that I did not think it did... that when Paul tells us that nothing
in all creation can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, he means just that—nothing. I
have had conversations with several people about this reflection and one person asked how I could
be so sure that God "let her in."
That reflection came back to me this week when I was channel surfing and paused at a
program called Extreme Forensics, and there, on the TV screen, was the picture of someone
I recognized. I knew immediately what the topic of that program was—the Baton Rouge serial killer
named Derek Todd Lee. You see, the photograph was of a young woman named Murray Pace, one
of Lee's many victims and the one whose case was tried first when Lee finally went to trial. Murray
was the granddaughter of a parishioner of mine in Rolling Fork and when she visited her
grandmother, I would see her in church. The details of Murray's case are horrific, as are the details
of the murders of the other victims. The jury found Lee guilty and sentenced him to death, a
sentence that has not yet been carried out as the appeals process continues.
The death penalty is, of course, a topic of great debate. My ethics professor in seminary said
that if you are a Christian, you cannot support the death penalty. I am not certain that the two are
mutually exclusive, but that is a reflection for another day. What is certain, however, is that Derek
Todd Lee will die one of these days, either because his punishment will be carried out or because
disease, age, or another inmate takes him out.
And this is where Christianity gets really, really difficult. When the time comes, is there a
possibility that Derek Todd Lee will go to heaven? I am afraid I have to rephrase my ethics
professor: if I am a Christian, I cannot dismiss that possibility.
In the "comfortable words" that follow the absolution in Rite I, one choice is a piece from
the first letter of John: "If any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the
righteous; and he is the perfect offering for our sins, and not for ours only, but for the sins of the
whole world." (2:1-2) Just as Paul declares that nothing can separate us from the love of God in
Christ, John declares that Jesus died for our sins... indeed, the sins of the whole world. Moreover,
there's no suggestion that there is a list of sins He chose to exclude. Jesus' death and resurrection
reconciled the world to God. He bore our sins so that we would not suffer eternal death but have
eternal life. That is what this week is all about.
But every one of us? Yes, all who proclaim Jesus as Lord and confess and repent of their sins
are eligible. Salvation isn't ours to grant, nor is ever-lasting damnation. Those decisions remain
forever with God, and my feelings don't really count.
As much as we'd like to find wiggle room, I haven't been able to locate any. Love your
enemies. Pray for one another. Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who have sinned against us.
I will say that I believe there are consequences to actions. I believe there is judgment and that
each person has to answer to God for his or her life, and for his or her choices. And even at the very end
I believe that people can accept or reject the eternal life for which Jesus gave his.
Easter is a time of great celebration on so very many levels, but it also signals the start of a
way of life that is Christ-centered, sacrificial, and radically counter-cultural. Jesus Christ suffered
and died for us; God raised him on the third day... and with that action the world changed forever,
for everyone... for those who take their own lives... and even for the Derek Todd Lees of this world
who take the lives of others, as difficult as that may be to picture.
Susan+
