I’ve been thinking of tragedy in the way that the 20th century theologian Reinhold Niebuhr used the word. Niebuhr used ‘tragedy’ to describe the inability of humans to do good without unintended consequences, some of which will not be good at all.[1] As a preacher might say, we are too ensnared in sin and selfishness to ever fully do the good we desire to do (see Romans 7:14-20).
Niebuhr, like us, read the newspaper and was heartbroken by the violence and injustice he saw there. We struggle to absorb the violence and cruelty of Hamas and we wrestle with the moral ambiguity of Israel’s military response that cannot fail to inflict civilian casualties. It was the Japanese invasion of Manchuria that prompted Niebuhr to write. History changes, but human beings and the woes we create are the same.
Niebuhr’s category of ‘tragedy’ teaches us that even actions taken to oppose injustice and evil will also bring harm. Despite good intentions and best efforts, we fail to create a perfect state of justice and peace. Knowing this, you might be inclined to sit on your hands and do nothing, but doing nothing is a choice to allow evil to flourish. So, we must do the best we can, knowing it will bring about a less than perfect outcome. We must accept that tragedy is unavoidable. Being one of the ‘good guys’ does not mean everything we do will be good.
Last time I checked, world leaders were not subscribers to my devotionals. We don’t hold the reins of power over armies, but that doesn’t mean we are powerless either. We make moral choices. We act. Every moral choice we make is imperfect. We are never perfectly loving or completely without selfishness.
Nevertheless, the circumstances of life demand that we decide and act on our decisions.
Because we have faith in God’s grace, we can boldly attempt to do good without forgetting that our efforts will not perfectly change the course of world history, or the lives of our loved ones, or even ourselves. When we err and falter, we trust in God’s forgiveness and hope for God’s promised peace and justice, which God brings about, using even our imperfect attempts to achieve it.
Prayer: When I pray, “Thy kingdom come,” give me courage to do something about it.
[1] See especially Reinhold Niebuhr, Moral Man and Immoral Society, (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1932). In this book, Niebuhr distinguishes between the moral demands placed on an individual and the morality required of a group (society, nation, etc.).