9/11
Today, September 11, has been designated by the U.S. Congress as “Patriot Day.” When it was first established in October 2001, it was called the “National Day of Prayer and Remembrance for the Victims of the Terrorist Attacks on September 11, 2001.” It was to be a national day of mourning for the deaths of the 2,977 people killed in those terrorist attacks. Flags are flown at half-mast around our country and we are all encouraged to take a few moments to reflect on the evil that prompted those attacks and the horror that they created.
Our lives have changed since that day in the early fall of 2001. The safeguards and regulations that have been put into place to keep us all safe have impacted how we travel, how we transact business and finance, our personal privacy, and our sense of personal safety. What enormous global change and damage has been done by the irrational hatred of just a few!
I can’t help but compare the cause and the consequence of those almost 3,000 deaths with the death of the one man, Jesus. Their deaths were caused by the evil and hatred of other humans. His death was motivated by his own goodness and his unexplainable love for humans. Their deaths resulted in grief and fear, in increased hostility and reduced freedom. His death brings confidence and peace, peace-making, and true freedom for everyone who comes to him, and the promise of a world that will one day never experience terror or hatred or death or fear. Jesus’ death and resurrection have brought even greater change and global blessing, not damage, to the world of men.
It is right and good that we reflect on 9/11 on this Patriot Day. It is also right and good that on this day and every day we reflect on what happened on Good Friday and Easter Sunday and that we acknowledge how much has changed in our lives because of what Jesus did.