Trending Topics: Dzhokhar Tsarnaev – WWJD?

It’s been hard to escape the news of the trial. The attorneys for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev have admitted his guilt in the bombing at the finish line of the Boston Marathon. But still the trial proceeds and each day more of the horror is unfolded in pains-taking detail. And it is pains-taking to hear the physical suffering and mental anguish of the survivors of the bombs. It is sickening to look at the bits of ball-bearings and shards of pressure cookers that inflicted so much misery upon so many people. The victims, the grieving can’t escape the trial so perhaps I shouldn’t be able to either.

Why is the trial progressing when the defendant has admitted his guilt? The point of the trial is all about the sentence. Mr. Tsarnaev is being tried in federal court where has been charged in a 30 count indictment where 17 of the counts carry the possibility of the death penalty. The federal prosecutors have made it known that they wish to see the death penalty imposed in this case. If anyone possessed any doubt of the horrific nature of this crime the trial will put that to rest. The prosecution hopes that the accumulation of the terrible details will persuade the jury to impose the ultimate punishment.

Entire books have been written about the history of the death penalty in the United States. As many as 63% of Americans are in favor of the death penalty. The debate is polarizing and heated. In the interest of transparency and full-disclosure I am opposed to the death penalty. I have however, at times, wondered if it is crueler to place someone in prison for the rest of their lives without possibility of parole. It is thought that at least 22 nations around the world have the death penalty. Statistics can be piled up on either side of the argument. But do we really want to have some kind of a statistical referendum on a human life.

So.  WWJD? What would Jesus do? Is it possible to answer this question or simply too disturbing to do so? What would Jesus have to say to Mr. Tsarnaev? Pope Francis, the head of the Roman Catholic Church tells us the heart of the message of Christ is mercy. He recently wrote: “Today the death penalty is inadmissible, no matter how serious the crime committed.” The pope is not without his critics. Some have pointed out that there has been present in Christian thinking dissenting voices to “Thou shalt not kill.” Augustine writing in the early 5^th century declared: “there are some exceptions made by the divine authority to its own law, that men may not be put to death. These exceptions are of two kinds, being justified either by a general law, or by a special commission granted for a time to some individual. And in this latter case, he to whom authority is delegated, and who is but the sword in the hand of him who uses it, is not himself responsible for the death he deals.”

But WWJD? What would Jesus do? Oh please Lord do not force me to forgive those who have done reprehensible things. I will not ask the victims of this senseless crime to forgive the despicable act of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. I don’t believe that they should waste another moment of their lives on the perpetrator of this horror. This is a situation, however, when I am glad that I have Jesus and his inexhaustible heart of mercy. I do not dare to presume how and why and when he judges. I leave that to his divine sovereignty.

WWJD? Finally, I don’t know. What I do know is that I don’t live in the fullness of the kingdom. The world I live in is a dark and stormy place and while it has been said that all cats are gray in the dark, sometimes it’s plain to see evil in the dark of night or the glare of the noonday sun. I wish I could demand that all that evil is to be obliterated. And even when I am sure of the guilt of the evildoer I cannot go down that path. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s destruction will not erase the evil that he has done. Nothing will ever totally erase the stain of that awful moment at the finish line.

What would Jesus do? What will I do?  Jesus, what should we do?

Oh good and gracious God give me a heart of mercy,

Bring your love and mercy and judgement to the world,

We need it.

Rev. Fred – 3/26/2015