Emergency vehicles are parked outside the Abundant Life Christian School in Madison, Wis., where multiple injuries were reported following a shooting, Monday, Dec. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Scott Bauer)
A juvenile opened fire at a Christian school in Madison, Wisconsin, on Monday morning. According to police, two people were killed and the shooter was also found dead inside the school.
At least six more people were injured in the shooting at the Abundant Life Christian School, which serves about 390 children from kindergarten through twelfth grade. At this writing, their injuries ranged from minor to life-threatening.
Unless you have family or friends in Madison, the news probably strikes you as more of the same. With this tragedy, 2024 ties last year for the most school shootings on record, and the year is not over.
But such a response, while a natural way to insulate and isolate ourselves from the pain of yet another shooting, is not a viable option for those of us who follow Jesus.
Grieving as God grieves
Our secularized culture measures our significance in utilitarian and material terms, valuing us by what we can contribute to the world in ways the world measures and affirms. By this token, children can be seen as less valuable and more burdensome, which helps explain why so many Americans are choosing not to have them and why abortion on demand is so widely accepted.
You and I must reject this view for three biblical reasons.
One: We believe that we are created in God’s image from the moment of conception. This means that every child killed or wounded in Wisconsin bears the imago Dei and is as precious to our Father as any of us.
Two: Many of us also believe that Jesus died for every human who has ever lived and will ever live (Romans 5:8). This means that every child who was killed or wounded is someone for whom he chose to give his life.
Three: We believe that because “God is love” (1 John 4:8), his nature requires him to love each of us as unconditionally as he loves his own Son (cf. John 17:23, 26). This is true of every child killed or wounded in Madison.
In addition, we know that our Father grieves as we grieve, standing “near to the brokenhearted” (Psalm 34:18) and weeping with our tears (cf. John 11:35). This means he is grieving with every family member and friend affected by the tragedy in Wisconsin.
How, then, can we not grieve as he grieves and love as he loves?
Three practical responses
But grieving is not enough if we can do more than grieve.
Some cannot do more than this. All they can accomplish is to let themselves feel what others feel and thus share their burden vicariously.
But again, this is not a viable option for those of us who follow Jesus.
First, we can pray for those who are grieving.
I don’t mean just a brief word of concern to God, but heartfelt intercession borne of compassion and empowered by the Spirit. Oswald Chambers explains that true intercession “is putting yourself in God’s place; it is having his mind and his perspective.”
We can pray for the mind of Christ and then pray as his Spirit leads us, knowing that the Spirit then intercedes for us and with us (Romans 8:26–27). Then we can claim the promise, “If we ask anything according to his will he hears us” (1 John 5:14).
Second, we can pray for those who minister to the grieving.
As a longtime pastor, I have been where many in Wisconsin find themselves today—trying to get to those affected by this tragedy, looking for words to say and ways to help. Many will be up long hours or all night tonight. Many will find their lives and ministries to be consumed by this tragedy for days and weeks to come.
They need the strength and wisdom of God. They need his Spirit to give them words to say—and not say—as they seek to help. They need direction for their own families and others in their ministries. We can stand with them as we pray for them.
Third, we can ask God to use this tragedy to draw souls to himself.
Such horrific news, if it does nothing else, demonstrates again that we live in a fallen, broken world that is not getting better. Despite our faith in progress borne of technology and science, human nature remains the same as when Cain murdered Abel. Despite our informational prowess, we don’t know how to change human hearts.
The good news is that the gospel is still the good news. Jesus is as ready to save our souls as when he died for us. He is as able to comfort our broken hearts as when he comforted his friends twenty centuries ago (John 11).
But our secularized culture needs—and deserves—to know what we know about our loving Lord.
As you have the opportunity, look for ways to discuss this tragedy that point beyond it to the Great Physician who alone can heal our hearts and change our souls. Seek open doors to share the hope we have in Christ alone. And live in that hope, whatever challenges you face today.
Henri Nouwen was right:
Joy does not come from positive predictions about the state of the world. It does not depend on the ups and downs of the circumstances of our lives. Joy is based on the spiritual knowledge that, while the world in which we live is shrouded in darkness, God has overcome the world. Jesus says it loudly and clearly: “In the world you will have troubles, but rejoice, I have overcome the world.”
The surprise is not that, unexpectedly, things turn out better than expected. No, the real surprise is that God’s light is more real than all the darkness, that God’s truth is more powerful than all human lies, that God’s love is stronger than death.
How will you embrace and share such love today?
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