On August 27th we all were saddened of the news of children who fell victim to another mass shooting in a catholic school in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is tragic to hear gun violence especially against children praying as they began their school year.
What made matters worse was the call by many to discount, mock, and ridicule the prayers faithful for this school community. There were those who cried in outrage that their prayers were in vain. That prayers did not save them, but only action against violence or gun violence can save our kids.
These people look at the world apart from God and his beloved Son Jesus, but for the children, families and the billions of Christians around the world we know that prayer is an important aspect of our faith. The Apostle Paul says to, “pray without ceasing” (I Thessalonians 5:16-18) Jesus Our Lord says, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you. For the everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks and it will be opened.” (Matthew 7:7-8)
Jesus continues in the chapter by speaking about that if a son asks for a bread or a fish (things that the son needs to live) that a loving father will give him these things and will not give him things to harm his son like a stone or serpent. Jesus ends by saying, “if you then, who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him” (Matthew 7:11)
If this is the case then why do these mass shootings keep happening and especially to Christian children who were praying for a safe, joyful, and enlightening school year? Should not God have protected them? Were they not praying for good things? Are the prayers of these children in vain? Are our prayers in vain?
Surely Not!
Scripture also teaches us that, “the prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working” (James 5:16). The prayers of the faithful are not in vain. Our Lord hears them and answers them. Maybe not in ways that we would like and at times it can be hard to decipher, but he does.
We also know that from the beginning Christians have faced persecution, because of their faith. Look to the holy innocents’ young children killed in Bethlehem by Herod the Great, because he feared losing his earthly power to Jesus the true King of the Jews (Matthew 2:16-18). Look to John Baptist who was jailed and would be killed for speaking the truth about God’s Word when it came to marriage and the adultery of King Herod Antipas (Matthew 14:1-12). Look to Jesus who allows himself to be suffering servant and die on the cross for the sins of the world (Isaiah 53:1-12). Or after Jesus’ ascension the apostles who many of them would be martyred for their Christian faith.
Were all these prayers in vain? No!
In the Lutheran and Roman Catholic tradition, we pray the Lord’s Prayer regularly. A prayer given by Jesus to his disciples to pray. In this prayer Jesus teaches us to pray that God would, “lead us not into temptation, but to deliver us from evil” (Matthew 6:13). Any shooting of children is evil, but the translation can also mean to deliver us from the evil one.
Ultimately our prayers for these kids, our kids, family, friends should be that we are delivered from the evil one, from Satan, from hell, from damnation, and an eternal separation from God our loving Heavenly Father.
The Good News is for those who have received the gift of faith in Christ Jesus Our Lord and confess him as our savior. Jesus has delivered us from the evil one, eternal death, and damnation. Death as even as tragic as a shooting cannot take way the salvation that Jesus has won for us on the cross! A time of tragedy is not an opportunity to curse God and prayer, but the opposite to pray all the more! In our praying be reminded for the promises of God in Christ Jesus our Lord in life, in death, and into eternity!
