This weekend, I saw Selma, the amazing film about Martin Luther King Jr.'s journey to realize the common right of the vote of African Americans in the south. This film touched on a lot of the issues of the Civil Rights movement, as a whole and, I feel, successfully portrayed the faith behind those times. In God, in each other, on both sides.
Of course, I loved it. And the whole movie was really compelling and really drew me in the whole time. Yet there was one line in particular that continues to stick out in my mind. A line that totally summed up what I think when tragedy strikes the world and no one knows how to cope.
A particular heart-wrenching scene in the movie takes place when a young man is shot and killed by a Selma police officer. The grandfather is in the morgue the next day, identifying his grandson. In the hallway of this bleach-white hospital, Martin Luther King Jr. goes up to the grandfather and is struck speechless. When he shakes the grandfather's hand, overcome with grief, between the two of them, he is finally able to say a phrase that was so thought-provoking, yet peacefully settling.
"God was the first to cry."
That moment, my heart stopped. In about 6 words, my whole thinking of God in tragedies is summed up. I couldn't believe it. Of course. Yes.
Many times, we find ourselves in situations of tragedy and our thinking goes two ways.
Either we turn to God. Or, sometimes, we turn away from God.
How can He do this to me? How is this a loving God. How can He possibly think this tragedy is what is loving.
However, in these times, I believe he does not provoke this tragedy. But, in fact, mourns with us. And, actually, as said in Selma, He is the first to mourn. He is with us. He loves us. He watches over us.
That, I believe, is a loving, powerful God.
Of course, I loved it. And the whole movie was really compelling and really drew me in the whole time. Yet there was one line in particular that continues to stick out in my mind. A line that totally summed up what I think when tragedy strikes the world and no one knows how to cope.
A particular heart-wrenching scene in the movie takes place when a young man is shot and killed by a Selma police officer. The grandfather is in the morgue the next day, identifying his grandson. In the hallway of this bleach-white hospital, Martin Luther King Jr. goes up to the grandfather and is struck speechless. When he shakes the grandfather's hand, overcome with grief, between the two of them, he is finally able to say a phrase that was so thought-provoking, yet peacefully settling.
"God was the first to cry."
That moment, my heart stopped. In about 6 words, my whole thinking of God in tragedies is summed up. I couldn't believe it. Of course. Yes.
Many times, we find ourselves in situations of tragedy and our thinking goes two ways.
Either we turn to God. Or, sometimes, we turn away from God.
How can He do this to me? How is this a loving God. How can He possibly think this tragedy is what is loving.
However, in these times, I believe he does not provoke this tragedy. But, in fact, mourns with us. And, actually, as said in Selma, He is the first to mourn. He is with us. He loves us. He watches over us.
That, I believe, is a loving, powerful God.
"And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no
more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more
pain: for the former things are passed away." -- Revelation 21:4
Mary Taylor
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