Even in the midst of Good, Evil Reinfects

Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that was to be yours made careful search and inquiry, inquiring about the person or time that the Spirit of Christ within them indicated, when it testified in advance to the sufferings destined for Christ and the subsequent glory.   1 Peter 1: 10-11

This is the Easter Morning to the Good Friday.  It is like the sufferings destined for Christ piled up from the moment that Adam and Eve disobeyed God and gained the knowledge of good and evil.  Then, from the moment of his resurrection on Easter morning, the subsequent glory began, to be fulfilled on the day of Jesus’ Second Coming.

This is the parallel I see in the prophets speaking of suffering and glory.  It is what I see in the progression of Holy Week.  It is what I see from the very beginning of the Bible, in its explanation of Original Sin.  We gained the knowledge of Good and Evil, just like God has.  And since then, one cannot exist without the other.  Evil happens but Good rises up to overcome it.  Look at 9/11 and its aftermath, or the recovery efforts from Hurricane Sandy. 

Yet, even in the midst of the Good, Evil reinfects.  Consider the battles, to this day, over health care and recompense for responders and victims of 9/11.  Consider that now, two and half years later, there are still houses to be built following the Superstorm.  Those are the big examples from life.  Taking our own lives day by day, can we not see the suffering and the glory of living intermixed?

I am proud when there are people doing amazing things to overcome the effects of evil.  I am proud to work with police and fire fighters, with the Office of Emergency Management and Preparedness, to be active myself.  But what pulls me down is then to see the complacency sneak back in.  I want to know this is the subsequent glory that Jesus will bring, the ability for us to do Great Good and know that feeling, know that wonder, without fading, without getting complacent, without returning to the questions of serving the self instead of serving others.