Ending a human life will likely not bring “closure” for the victims
of the the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrall Federal Building in Oklahoma City.
Ending a human life will likely not bring “closure” for the victims
of the the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrall Federal Building in Oklahoma City.
United States citizens riveted their attention to the execution of Timothy
McVeigh. The crime McVeigh fomented and committed in Oklahoma City was one of
the truly gripping tragedies in the history of our nations internal affairs.
We can hardly believe that one man could callously take the lives of 168 fellow
citizens, three of whom were pregnant, whose worst offense on that day was being
in a federal office building.
For three years, the media presented the graphic images of mangled, often dead,
bloody bodies coming from the building Timothy McVeigh decimated that day. For
three years, we heard from the people whose lives were torn by either direct
contact with the explosion or having a loved one severely injured or killed
in the massive explosion or by working amidst the rubble to extricate bodies,
some dead, some barely alive.
Timothy McVeigh was quickly captured, then tried, convicted and sentenced to
death.
For months, media representatives would, for public consumption, ask people
related to the terrorist act, “Do you think when Timothy McVeigh is executed
you will feel some kind of satisfaction – some kind of closure?” Closure
became the word.
Most of the people involved in the tragedy and citizens on the street, said,
“Yes. I believe when he dies, there will be closure.”
But seeking closure to this tragedy – or any tragedy – by seeing
what we think is justice or retribution or vengeance carried out misses the
message of Christ and the entire Bible.
Judeo-Christian faith says that justice is necessary, but the Bible does not
say that justice or retribution or vengeance brings closure.
Closure means bringing to an end a particular episode or experience of life.
It means a person who has gone through a horrific experience comes to the point
of being able to nail down an ending, close the book on the matter as far as
letting it dominate ones thoughts and emotions and move beyond the experience.
Closure is vital for many incidents in life, but how we go about seeking closure
is just as important for a healthy recovery from the tragedy.
When people talk about punishment – in this case, execution – and
closing the door, it indicates that closure comes from knowing who committed
the crime, that the perpetrator is apprehended, brought to trial and found guilty
and that the prescribed punishment is administered.
In other words, the perpetrator did not get away with the crime.
Certainly, there is a sense in which victims of crime need to know the perpetrator
has been/is being punished. But knowing the punishment has been carried out
does not by itself usually bring closure.
Victims still can hate the perpetrator. Victims still can harbor deep resentment
or hatred toward the perpetrator. These thoughts and emotions can keep the issue
going, even dominating the victims mind beyond the perpetrators
punishment, which in the case of Timothy McVeigh was death.
There is an implication that getting even with someone who has wronged us settles
the score and allows us to go forward. And there is a sense in which knowing
a person did not get away with a horrible wrong makes accepting the realities
easier.
But knowing a person has received what victims may think is a just punishment
does not give the victims clean slates on the issue. The perpetrators
punishment can simply be a time when the victims delight in the pain the perpetrator
experiences.
The Bible teaches that true closure comes not from justice or retribution but
forgiveness. Only when a victim is able to forgive the perpetrator of the crime
is the slate cleaned in victims hearts. Only when victims forgive can
they truly move forward redemptively.
Divine revelation about the absolute necessity of forgiveness of everyone,
regardless of whether or not they ask for it or are worthy of it, at times becomes
one of the hardest teachings. The very fact that someone needs our forgiveness
implies they have done strong wrong against us. Unregenerate human nature has
many actions on its mind when wronged, but forgiveness is seldom one of them.
Human nature, on its own, seldom has the power and means to forgive. But as
people who have their lives plugged into the power of Jesus Christ, we can say
and mean: “I forgive. Not based upon your attitude or worthiness, but upon
the person of Jesus Christ and in His power, I forgive.”
As we forgive those who have injured us and leave them in the hands of God,
our hearts are cleansed, and we can move forward with a new beginning. That
is closure.