On Friday March 11, 2011, the people of Japan were shaken to the core by the Tohoku earthquake and were pounded by the waves of the tsunami generated by the same. For several weeks now, nations in the Middle East and North Africa have and continue to be rocked by an ‘earthquake and tsunami’ generated by human forces radiating from huge protest rallies that journalists have dubbed “days of rage.”
So much damage; so much hurt and violence…
Can you see God in these events?
The waves generated in the Tohoku tsunami reached up to 10 meters in height and roared inland up to 10 kilometres. As of March 21, 2011, Japanese officials confirmed 9,079 deaths, and 12,645 people missing. The earthquake and tsunami not only affected Japan but our globe. Experts believe that as a result of the quake, portions of northeast Japan moved east by as much as 2.4 m (7.9 ft), effectively making Japan's landmass wider than before the quake. The quake caused a 400-kilometer (250 mi) stretch of coastline to drop vertically by 0.6 m (2.0 ft). This drop in elevation permitted the tsunami to travel faster and farther inland. The Pacific plate itself may have moved eastwards by up to 20 m (66 ft). If these shifts are confirmed, the Tohoku quake would have produced one of the largest recorded fault movements generated by an earthquake. Other experts say the earthquake shifted the Earth's axis by 25 centimeters (9.8 in). This shift in axis may have caused planetary changes. The slip of the Earth’s plate caused the Earth's rotation to increase or speed up, shortening each day by 1.8 microseconds due to the redistribution of Earth's mass. Seismic waves from the quake were alleged to have caused the Whillans Ice Stream of Antarctica to slip by about 0.5 meters (1.6 ft). Waves from the Tohoku tsunami even buffeted the coast of California.
Satellite photographs taken before and after the tsunami revealed the power and force of these two catastrophic events. The waves obliterated towns and changed the landscape of the coast of Japan near the quake. It will never be the same. Three of the Fukushima nuclear reactors were damaged by the quake and tsunami. Radiation continues to leak intermittently from the disabled reactors. We all watch and wait with bated breath as officials and workers in charge of the damaged reactors struggle to keep them from a critical meltdown. However, in the midst of the struggle, the people of Japan have covenanted to come together, to clean up and to rebuild. Reconstruction could take decades and costs hundreds of billions of dollars. Out of destruction will come a new life and a new future.
In the “days of rage”, Lebanese Sunnis protested against the nomination of the new prime minister; Egyptians protested against the austerity and harshness of the three decade Mubarak government; and Libyans protested against unbearable conditions imposed by Gaddafi’s government. Massive protests in Egypt caused a regime change with relatively little violence. Libyans opposed to Gaddafi’s regime have engaged in fighting with troops loyal to Gaddafi. Gaddafi’s troops have used superior military assets against their own citizens who oppose them. International forces, backed by a UN Security Council resolution, imposed a “no-fly” zone over Libya. No one knows what implications will flow from the implementation and enforcement of the “no-fly” zone. We must all watch and wait as the events in the Middle East and North Africa unfold. We, like the California coast, are buffeted by the waves from this human-generated ‘tsunami’. The supply of oil has been diminished by this sequence of events. As a result, prices have spiked in international markets and at the neighbourhood gas pumps. Like the coastline of Japan, the political landscape of the Middle East and North Africa is in the process of changing. As old political regimes fall, a new political and social order stands poised to emerge. Like the coast of Japan, the Middle East and North Africa will never be the same.
Many say they see God clearly in these events. Some see God’s wrath and judgment against sinners in the earthquake, tsunami and ‘days of rage’. God’s message: repent or suffer the same. Others see God as a dispassionate observer who watches the events of the world He created unfold from the sideline. Such a God does not seem to care about the suffering in His creation. Many will say they cannot believe in, trust and worship a wrathful and judgmental God, or a God who stands by as these horrific events unfold. However, I believe you can see God in these events in a very different way.
Through the eyes of faith, you can see God in the earthquake and tsunami in a new way. These natural disasters reveal that that a divine presence and power are at work in our world. This power is limitless, incomprehensible, and irresistible. This divine presence and power created and maintains our world - and can shake it to its core. This earth-shattering and globe-changing power of God resided in Jesus. He revealed this power by His miracles. He cured blindness, deafness, lameness and various diseases. He revealed His power over nature by walking on water, calming a storm and feeding thousands with a few loaves and a few fish. I also see Jesus in the effects of the quake and tsunami. When Jesus walked this Earth, He was at one and the same time subject to the globe-changing and earth-shaking power of God. He shared our humanity, our physical weakness and, like us, was subject to the power of death. By His life, suffering and death, Jesus identified with all people who suffer and die. We can see Jesus in the power of the earthquake and tsunami and the helplessness of the victims and the survivors of every natural disaster.
Through these same eyes, you can see God in the “days of rage” of the Middle East. Jesus experienced His own “day of rage” on Good Friday. On that day, the Jewish religious authorities and people raged and protested against Jesus. They demanded His death. Not because Jesus had burdened, oppressed or tortured them. They raged against Jesus because He claimed to be the Son of God and their King. He had revealed His divinity through miraculous works, yet, He stubbornly refused to reveal His Sonship and Kingship by an awesome display of divine power over Rome that the crowd demanded. He refused to judge and punish the Roman Empire that occupied, exploited, oppressed and even tortured and killed them. Jesus had refused to establish a kingdom on this earth that the mob could understand. The Roman Governor Pontius Pilate knew Jesus had done nothing to deserve death, yet, he went along with the mob to keep his power over the mob intact. Jesus response to the Jewish mob and those who had judged him and executioners was to say these words from the cross: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” (Luke 23:34)
The religious authorities, the mob and Rome stood for all humanity for all time and revealed the very worst in humanity. Jesus stood for all that is noble and the best in humanity. By His birth and life among us, Jesus, the Son of God, lived the perfect life for us. His nobility is clearly shown in His willingness to accept the punishment we deserved. On Good Friday, the wrath of God was unleashed against Jesus. A tsunami buffeted His body. The ‘waves’, being human sin, crashed against His body, crushed it and literally knocked the life out of it. He took on our sins as a burden and paid the consequences for our sin (He suffered and died in our place and was placed in our grave). The tsunami and day of rage that buffeted and killed Jesus did not keep Him in the grave. Three days later, Jesus rose from the grave in a glorious resurrection. His most passionate desire is that we believe that He is the Son of God, died, was resurrected and will make all things new. If we believe, we will live with Him now and will pray for and render help to the victims of the natural and man-made quake and tsunami. We will live with Him after our tsunami hits our shores and we die.
