Preaching in Response to the School Shooting Tragedy

Today, to the nation’s horror, a gunman walked into an elementary school in Connecticut and shot and killed 26 people, 20 were children between the ages of 5-10. He then turned the gun on himself.

This tragedy has affected us all.

When people walk into your church on Sunday, they aren’t going to be wondering what the Greek meaning of a word in the book of Ephesians is. They are not wondering about the sacrificial laws of atonement in Leviticus.

They are asking “How could God allow innocent children to be shot?”

They are grappling with difficult questions of faith. Does God even exist? Where was God in all this?

They are trying to make sense of such a horrendous tragedy.

So how are you going to address it?

Don’t ignore the question everyone is asking.

In Luke 13:1-5, Jess encountered a similar question.

“About this time Jesus was informed that Pilate had murdered some people from Galilee as they were offering sacrifices at the Temple. “Do you think those Galileans were worse sinners than all the other people from Galilee?” Jesus asked. “Is that why they suffered? Not at all! And you will perish, too, unless you repent of your sins and turn to God. And what about the eighteen people who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them? Were they the worst sinners in Jerusalem? No, and I tell you again that unless you repent, you will perish, too.””

The people are asking about an incident where Pilate murdered innocent people. Why did this happen? How could God allow them to die? Was it because they were sinners?

Look how Jesus responded. He said it had nothing to do with them being worse than anyone else. They died because sin exists. That is the only explanation.

And he reminds people, you will die too some day. Repent.

Then Jesus brings up another recent tragedy. Look at the tower incident that everyone is talking about. 18 people died from a collapsed building. Why them? Did God hate them? No. They died because sin exists in the world.

And Jesus again reminds them that sadly they will die some day too. So they had better repent.

We need to respond to this tragedy in the way Jesus responded.

We may not be able to answer every questions, but we have to help people understand that evil exists.

What happened in Connecticut was pure and senseless evil. We may never fully understand it all.

We have to address the problem of evil.

God didn’t create the world to operate this way. Sin entered the world and evil came into existence.

But there is hope. Jesus paid the ransom for all of our sin. He nailed it to the cross. He conquered sin and death. He rose from the grave 3 days later.

Jesus is the hope of the world.

Sadly, we are all cursed and infected with sin. At some point death will come for us all. Only Jesus can save us from our sin.

We cannot legislate morality.

We cannot psychoanalyze a solution that will end all tragedy from ever happening.

Evil is a reality. Sadly, it will affect every single one of us. Some in more tragic ways than others.

This tragedy is just another reminder that we cannot be complacent. We cannot think all is well. We live in a lost and broken world.

The only solution is Jesus Christ.

My prayers goes out to all the families affected by this senseless violence. Please pray that somehow God would bring some good from this mess of evil.