A police officer stands before the press and the people. The network television cameras from CBS, NBC, ABC are running; they are on the scene. There has been a school shooting leaving panic and grief in its wake. First responders are carrying out one body after another, They also carry wounded students and teachers from the building and put them into ambulances. Mothers are crying. Fathers stand stunned. We hear them say things like, "This wasn't supposed to happen here!"
The school board will cancel all classes tomorrow. Grief counselors will attend next Monday when classes resume. The words, "Thoughts and prayers" flow freely. A church is spreading the news of a candlelight vigil tomorrow night at 7 PM in the church parking lot.
The police officer in a very authoritative voice begins to speak to the shocked and grieving mass of people and press huddled and hugging one another.
His first words, after a brief update of the number of dead and injured, are those concerning the perpetrator who killed and wounded all those people. That would be a difficult task for anyone but he does it. It's his job to face parents and press. His feelings don't count.
Then he says, "This is unacceptable!" It's those word that strike a hollow cord. "This must stop?" Really? Does he himself believe, really believe, that what he just said is going to make anyone else gain the sense to know that it's wrong to go around school halls, libraries, and cafeterias shooting teachers and students?
The truth is that nobody thinks policeman's command will stop the next one or the one after that or the one after that from happening. The truth is: "The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can understand it?" The truth continues from Jeremiah who wrote: "Can the Ethiopian change his skin Or the leopard his spots? Then you also can do good Who are accustomed to doing evil."
In Jeremiah's day, there came a point where Israel swam down the River of No Return. The society had passed the point where a change of mind was impossible because of their persistence in rebellion against God.
The Israelites were so saturated in evil that it was
impossible for them to change. They could no more change then than the
dark Ethiopian could change the color of his skin or the leopard his
spots. This a classic example of loss of freedom of the will through persistent
sinning. Sin becomes so natural that Jeremiah is speaking of the force of
habit, yet not denying freedom of choice they once had until they sinned it away.
The story is told of a Christian back in the days of the Roman gladiators fighting to the death in the Colosseum. He denounced it fully. But one day, he decided to go the arena only to get the experience of what it was like among the frenzied fans, getting on the inside.
He went but he kept his eyes closed and soaked in the emotional atmosphere. He left exhilarated and came back the next day. As he sat down, he kept one eye open. Returning the next day, he kept both eyes wide open and shouted with the thousands.
Psalm 1:1: "How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, Nor stand in the path of sinners, Nor sit in the seat of scoffers!
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