Do not give in to hatred

On Sunday, Prof. Jonathan Webster gave a sermon in which he showed a video clip from the movie “The Seventh Seal”.  A medieval knight returned from the Crusades to find the country ravaged by the plague. Amid all the evil and suffering, God seems silent, absent, or perhaps does not even exist.  

Many people in Hong Kong nowadays feel the same way.  Thugs beat people with impunity.  A legislative councillor calls the thugs his heroes.  The police look the other way.  Some police even seem to enjoy beating people at the drop of a hat.  The government seems to see its job as pushing through bad laws and suppressing dissent.  An education minister seems only interested in rooting out dissent, rather than actually educating.  A government that considers any challenge as subversion.  Self-appointed leaders condemn a whole generation of youths as un-redeemable.  Educators that consider students to be enemies.  Church leaders who consider their jobs to be assisting the tyrants in suppressing dissent.  A whole establishment that considers dissenters to be filthy cockroaches. 

It is hard not to despair, to be angry.  To question God.  Isn’t God supposed to love justice, punish the wicked, comfort those who are sad, liberate the oppressed, and reward those who suffer for righteousness?  Why isn’t it happening?

It is tempting to want to hate the oppressors, to want to hurt them, to punish them, to do to them what they are doing to us.  But that would be wrong.  That would be giving in to the evil, to turn to the dark side.  That would make us as evil they are. That would be giving in to despair, giving up hope, giving up faith.  

Justice will be served.  It is just delayed.  This is the time to uphold faith, to believe in the justice that is yet to come.  Without faith there is no hope.  Without  hope there is no meaning.  Without meaning there is no point in continuing to live.  We might as well give up, and turn to the dark side.  It is difficult to maintain faith in these times.  That is precisely why it is so valuable.  It would not be so valuable if it is easy.  

But God is still there.  There is still meaning in living.  There is still hope.  It is still possible to have faith.  That is in fact the only way out.