A crowd pressed around me on that hot November day in Sierra Leone, West Africa. Everyone was talking at once. To my left was a tall, muscular young man. When I looked more closely, I saw that his right eye had been gouged out, his left ear cut off and his left leg severed below the knee. Trying to gain my attention on the right were several women in their 30's, begging to tell how they lost their arms.
Then a slim young woman walked up; everyone deferred to her. Accompanying her was a five-year-old daughter. They both had had their left arm severed above the elbow. Suddenly the crowd grew still, as the young mother recounted the story of the day their arms were disjoined with cruel machete blows by rebel soldiers. Her flat affect signified the lasting trauma. A discussion immediately ensued regarding the political factions in this small country. As I tried to listen, I was plagued internally with a nagging question: "How can I explain such evil to these people?" Here in this refugee camp were thousands who would forever carry in their own bodies the effects of human sin.
The story of Adam and Eve in Genesis 3 seems bland compared to the tragedies that surround us in the 21st century! "When the woman saw the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband who was with her and he ate it" (Gen 3:6).
This act—as harmless as it appears on the first reading—separated Adam and Eve from God. Standing in that refugee camp, I saw the tragedies resulting from that first human choice toward sin. I also realized the capacity of evil a human being possesses when separated from God.
And yet, the first sound that guilty pair, Adam and Eve, hear—while trying to cover and hide—is the voice of God. "But the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, 'Where are you?'" (Gen 3:9). God Himself, who knows what his sinful creatures have done, still desires to be with them. Amazing grace!
The results of sin, as noted in Genesis 3, are not only individual, but also social and cosmic. Human suffering follows sin, and is inflicted on both man and woman. Moreover, the intimate relationship that had previously existed between husband and wife is now diminished to a type of unreciprocated longing. The earth, too, suffers: thorns and thistles grow up; the land has to be worked to receive the fruit.
Yet tucked amidst these results of sin and disobedience, again we find....grace. Genesis 3:15 contains the promise of a redeemer who would reverse the consequences of the Fall. Jesus' life and teachings demonstrated this reversal and Pentecost brought the power to live out—as did Mother Teresa—Christ's example of holiness, witness and service in this sin-sick, broken world.
The United Nations has declared Sierra Leone "the most unlivable country in the world." Yet in the human tragedy of sin....again grace emerges! Regarding my November visit, I wrote....
In the midst of despicable refugee camps I saw Christians take the brush and sticks on the ground and build a place of worship. Grace emerges!!!
Moved by the need, an American bio-mechanical engineer invented a limb specifically for the amputees of Sierra Leone. I saw those amputees celebrate life again with new limbs. grace emerges!!
I saw internally displace people take hundreds of displaced children—not their own—and begin day schools. grace emerges!!
I saw farmers take land that had been abused. I saw the results of their nurture and care. Yes, the land bore fruit once again. grace emerges!!
And what seemed impossible—the internal change of the human heart. Yet, reports keep coming of rebels who have done these dastardly acts bowing before our Lord in repentance and confession seeking forgiveness and restoration. grace emerges!!
In all countries, we see daily the tragic effects of human sin—individual, social, and cosmic. But as grace emerges in Genesis 3, so we see grace re-emerging in our day throughout the world, even in the midst of the worst tragedies.
