Japan's Catastrophe

by Bob Setzer, Jr.
Like most Americans, I am deeply saddened by the horrific destruction unleashed in Japan. Truly, the dimensions of this catastrophe--including the continuing threat of a nuclear meltdown--are apocalyptic in scope. It is heartbreaking to watch the shell-shocked survivors, sifting their way through a wasteland.

We have eight students from Japan in our English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) ministry. They all report their families back home in Japan survived the catastrophe, as does our own Yumiko Jones. In addition, I understand the families of the Japanese nationals working at the local YKK factory are, for the most part, safe as well.

Thankfully, America has responded with her usual blitzkrieg of compassion. Aircraft carriers have been dispatched, rescue teams have flown to the devastated regions, and charities of every description are gearing up to help. Despite the eagerness of critics, from the left and the right, to point out America’s every failing, she makes me proud in her willingness to be a “first responder” every time disaster strikes the world.

Within the Baptist branch of the Christian family, Baptists are marshaling their resources. Within 24 hours of the disaster, the Baptist World Alliance sent two rescue teams from Hungary; the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship began relief efforts through the Japanese Baptist Convention; and the Southern Baptist Convention, God bless ‘em, sent an initial gift of $100,000 to help.

On the other hand, the Christian subculture on the internet is already buzzing with stories about God sending a “message” through this earthquake or that its eruption means “The End” is near. And, true enough, Jesus said earthquakes would be one sign of apocalyptic times, times when the world seems to be coming apart at the seams (Mark 13:8). But Jesus’ response to such a crisis in his day was to go to the heart of the world’s suffering and erect a cross that would be forever after the sign of Immanuel, “God with us,” especially when life turns ugly and mean.

The natural disaster that struck Japan is not God’s doing, but the result of the earth’s crust shifting and realigning. Nonetheless, the heartbreak and loss caused by such catastrophes  do create “apocalyptic moments” when our usual preoccupations are stripped away. It is then we are confronted in a stark, sobering way with our need for each other, for a help and hope larger than ourselves, and for God.

If the God who draws near in Jesus is trying to send a message in the wake of Japan’s disaster, the message must surely be this: “My heart is broken too. And I’m counting on people of good will to show up and do what they can to help, especially those who bear the name of my Son, the One who never saw any form of human suffering without heading straight into the bowels of the storm.”