I felt sick to my stomach. I feel that same sickness when the footage is replayed. September 11, 2001 was my generation’s “day that will live in infamy.” That the terrorist attacks that claimed over 3,000 American lives was the single most formative event of the new millennium is hard to argue. Exactly how that event has shaped us is not so clear.
Initially there was fear as we realized our vulnerability to global enemies. Soon after there was a renewed patriotism, as Americans wholeheartedly supported our president’s promise through a bullhorn to make sure those responsible would hear from us soon. We seemed at first to be galvanized, even somewhat motivated by the new challenge to our nation.
Since then, we have seen a lot of bloodshed on battlefields around the world, and felt the weariness that war always brings. We now have a Homeland Security Department and full body scans at the airport. We understand the terms “threat level” and “state of alert”. We certainly have more security if not any more safety. Yet I can’t help but wonder if a decade later we are really all that different. Did the jarring we all felt when the towers collapsed really move us all that much?
In Luke chapter 13, some folks mentioned to Jesus one of the important news items of the day. Verse one says, “There were present at that season some that told him of the Galilaeans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.” The details of this massacre are largely lost to us today, but this would have been the breaking headline for the Jews of Palestine in the first century. Jesus’ response probably surprised some of them. He said, “Suppose ye that these Galilaeans were sinners above all the Galilaeans, because they suffered such things? I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.”
Indicating that He was not oblivious to the events of the day, Jesus went on to add in verses 4 and 5, “Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.”
In some ways, it is our sense of American exceptionalism that makes us feel so strongly about the events of 9-11. As an American, some of that is certainly natural and possibly warranted. However, in the larger scope of history, 9-11 is just one of millions of events that point us to the greatest terror and threat humanity has ever faced – our own sinfulness. More than it was middle-eastern terrorists that hijacked those planes and perpetrated that attack, it was fallen men, lost in their sins. Many of those they killed were in the same condition, only under a different national flag and societal creed.
With that being said, as we approach the anniversary of that somber, tragic day, let us not only pause to remember, but let us pray for repentance. Let us pray that people, whether they be American or Afghan, middle-eastern or mid-western, turn from their sins to the only One who can give hope and life to those who live in this sin-torn world. Our government cannot save us anymore than it can save the rest of the world. Only Christ Jesus, slain on the cross and risen from the grave can bring hope to the tragedy that is the fallen existence of mankind.
