Spiritual Hiccups - Overcoming Evil

I've told this story many times.  A colleague of mine was attending an ecumenical pastors' luncheon. Being pastors, the folks at her table we talking about pastor stuff, and someone asked what their day off was.  (Because they work on Sunday, a lot of pastors take either Monday or Friday off.)  As the different pastors discussed the pluses and minuses of Monday versus Friday, one conservative Baptist said, "I never take a day off.  The devil never takes a day off!"  My quick witted friend replied, "But God does."

The God of the Bible doesn't seem all that anxious about tomorrow, and sees no need to work 24/7, but lot of Christians seem not to share this relaxed demeanor.  I have met more that a few very dedicated people of faith like that Baptist pastor who seem to think that without extreme vigilance, evil might triumph. 

This week's killing of Osama bin Laden has produced a some exuberant celebrations, notably on college campuses.  Here in Columbus, OH, students at OSU jumped into Mirror Lake, the sort of thing done to celebrate a victory over Michigan.  I don't suppose this is so surprising.  For people of college age, bin Laden was their boogeyman, the face of evil.  And the college campus celebrations had Wizard of Oz feel; "Ding, dong, the witch is dead!"

But for all the damage bin Laden did, for all the people he killed, and all the fear he inspired, he was basically a failure.  His dreams of creating Muslim/Arab states based on his perverted understanding of Islam never happened.  He never found favor with very many Muslims.  And as this Spring produced uprising after uprising against Arab dictators, bin Laden's name and ideas were virtually absent.  If anything these revolutions in Egypt and Syria and Yemen are the opposite of what bin Laden wanted, seeking more freedom and resisting religious fundamentalism or repression.  If bin Laden is evil personified, evil is a pretty colossal failure.

Christians should already know this.  Christians who live in constant worry and fear over what evil may try next seem to have missed the message of Easter.  The very worst that evil could do - the death of God's Son on a cross - led only to the good news of Resurrection.  Evil's best laid plans led to victory over sin and death.  Surely that is why today's reading from 1 John can say to people that they "have conquered the evil one."

I don't for a moment mean to say that there is no need for vigilance, that we need not worry about who plot terror and violence.  Bin Laden, Adolf Hitler, and countless others remind us that evil is not entirely impotent.  But Christians know that evil is mortally wounded.  And so while we are realists, we are also cosmic optimists.  We know that for the foreseeable future there will always be those align themselves with evil, people who will cause great suffering and pain and who will have to be dealt with.  But we also know that they are fighting a lost cause that they can never win.

Christ is risen! Love, good, and hope have triumphed!  Thanks be to God.

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