Looking Death in the Eyes

The Rev. Joseph Winston

April 22, 2007

Sermon

Grace and peace are gifts for you from God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.1
On April 16, 2007, the peaceful early morning silence at Virginia Polytechnic
Institute was shattered. Cho Seung-hui, a fourth-year English major at Virginia
Tech, shot and killed two people that lived in West Ambler Johnston Hall. About
two hours later at 8:00 am, Cho continued the carnage in Norris Hall. Here he
killed thirty-two others and injured another twenty-nine.
Since this horrible crime was committed, we have learned how some of the
people stood up to Cho and in doing so lost their lives. Partahi Lumbantoruan,
who was only two semesters away from receiving his PhD in civil engineering,
vainly tried to keep Cho out of a room. For his act of bravery, he was gunned
down. Jocelyne Couture-Nowak who taught French at Virginia Tech, ordered her
1
Romans 1:7, 1 Corinthians 1:3, 2 Corinthians 1:2, Galatians 1:3, Ephesians 1:2, Philippians
1:2, 2 Thessalonians 1:2, Philemon 1:3

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students to the back of her room. Mrs. Couture-Nowak tried to barricade the door
to her classroom. Cho entered the room, killed her and ten of her students. Dr.
Kevin Granata was in the relative safety of his office, which was a floor away
from the all of the murders. Dr. Granata realized that his office had a door that
could be locked so he brought twenty students from a nearby classroom into his
office. Dr. Granata and another professor, Dr. Wally Grant, went downstairs to see
what was happening. Both men were shot. Dr. Grant lived, all the students in Dr.
Granata’s office escaped injury, and Dr. Granata died. Dr. Liviu Librescu held the
door to his classroom shut while his students climbed out from the second story
windows. Cho shot Dr. Librescu five times and killed him.
While no one knows what these different people were thinking on Monday, it
is probably safe to say that none of them was expecting to die. Then why did these
individuals, against unimaginable odds, try to save others and in turn sacrifice
themselves? Before we answer this important question, listen once again to the
lessons from Acts and John where Jesus tells both Paul and Peter that they will
die in His service.
In the extended version of the first lesson from Acts, we hear Jesus tell Ananias
that he must go and find a man from Tarsus named Saul and lay his hands on
Saul so that Saul may see again. Ananias wisely questions the Lord’s motives
because Saul has been persecuting Jews who professed Jesus. Jesus replies that
Saul will bring Christ’s name to whole world: Jews and Gentiles. Jesus then states
to Ananias, “I myself will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my
name” (Acts 9:10-16.).

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 The early Church tells us that Paul was beheaded by Nero sometime near 67
CE.
We hear a similar story in our second lesson. It is some time after Easter. Peter
and the boys decide that they need to go out fishing. So, he grabs six of his friends
and they head out on the lake. After a night of failure, a stranger shows up on the
beach and tells them to throw the net out one more time. They listen to what this
man has to say and the catch is so large that they cannot haul it in. One of them
sees that the unknown man is Jesus. Peter cannot contain his excitement and he
swims to the shore. The remaining fishermen then struggle to bring the boat to
land and they all rush over to Jesus.
After the eight men eat a breakfast of fish and bread, Jesus repeatedly asks
Peter if Peter loves Him. Three times Peter answers yes and three times Jesus
commands Peter to take care of Christ’s followers. After the final order to take
care of the others, Jesus tells Peter how Peter will die.
Tradition tells us that Peter was executed in Rome upside down on a cross at
the Circus of Nero around the year 67 CE.
We can now return to the question of, “Why did these individuals choose death
over life?” Or more importantly, “Why did Paul and Peter continue to follow Jesus
when they knew it would be certain death?”
From what I could discover by reading different news sources, the student and
the professors who gave their lives for others did so because they thought that this
was what they should do. Mr. Lumbantoruan’s father was in the Indonesian army
and this background seemed to influence his son’s actions on Monday morning.

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Mrs. Couture-Nowak was described as a motherly figure that despised violence.
Maybe she gave her life since she cared deeply for all of her students. At Dr.
Granata funeral on Friday, his students and friends remembered that he liked to
help others. It seems safe to say that Dr. Granata went to his death believing that
he could be of some assistance to those in need. Dr. Librescu was a survivor of
the Romanian World War II death camps. His son told reporters that his father
had no fear of death. It appears that his son was right. Dr. Librescu was not scared
because he stayed at the door, keeping Cho out, even though he was hit with five
bullets.
By critically looking at the four people who died while trying to save others,
we will discover one important truth. No matter how hard we try, we can only
delay death.
For Mr. Lumbantoruan, who grew up in a military family, death on the bat-
tlefield for your comrades does not prevent your friends from meeting their end.
One day, they too will die. Like a good mother, Mrs. Couture-Nowak attempted
to protect her students. However, every mother knows deep in her heart that her
children will face the same destiny. They all will die. In reality, Dr. Granata’s help
that he offered others is severely limited. This restriction holds for all of humanity.
Our aid for our fellow humans can only delay the inevitable death that we all face.
Dr. Librescu had learned not to fear death. This fact did not help him nor will it
help anyone else. The fact is that death will take every one of us.
This is the type of analysis of the situation that I would expect from any
Lutheran pastor. Unfortunately, this did not happen in this specific situation. Rev.

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William H. King, the Lutheran pastor who delivered the “Christian” message at
the convocation held at Virginia Tech did not speak to the reality that each one of
us will die. There is nothing that we can do by ourselves to escape the sentence
of death that is hanging over each of our heads. Despite what Rev. William H.
King said at the convocation, pulling together and working as one does not stop
our death. No matter what this pastor said last week, human love does not triumph
over death.
The truth is this. When we die, our love ends.
This attitude that we are immortal is the root of our problem. We think, we
hope, and we even pray that there will be something in us that lives forever without
any help from God. That is why we are so driven to have children and for our
children to give us grandchildren. We want to live forever. It is for this reason why
we believe the story that if we just work hard enough, someone will remember us.
But when we carefully examine the claims of others or when we look deep
inside ourselves, we know that these are nothing more than empty promises. We
cannot live forever.
That is why we need God. But why would God want anyone like us?
The Good News contained in today’s Lessons is that God not only accepts
people like you and me but that God actively reaches out and invites us into God’s
life. Look at Saul. Here is a man who at the very least stood by while Stephen
was stoned. Just after this murder, Jesus calls him, trains him, and then sends
him out into the world. In other words, God embraced an accomplice to a murder
committed in God’s Name and made Paul the missionary to the Gentiles. Perhaps

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you prefer Peter. Jesus called this man Satan and predicted that Peter would betray
him not once but three different times. After the resurrection, Peter left Jesus once
again and took up fishing. Jesus came to the beach, cooked breakfast for Peter and
his friends, and told Peter to take care of Christ’s followers. Jesus has trusted the
future of the church to the one who could not be trusted.
If Jesus can do this with Paul and Peter, then think of what He can do with
you.
One more thing, Rev. William H. King did not give the grieving families at the
convocation the Good News of the Lord’s resurrection, which is this. Everyone
who is baptized in the in Lord’s Name has already been given the gift of eternal
life. Additionally, all who stop rejecting Jesus will live forever with God. God
does all of these actions not because you are worthy in any way, but because God
comes to you and takes you as you are.
The reason why people like Paul and Peter follow Jesus is not because Jesus
predicts with some accuracy how these people will suffer for Him. Instead, Paul
and Peter follow the risen Lord because Jesus has given them something that the
rest of the world cannot: peace. In His acceptance of them, He has pardoned every
one of their sins and has given them eternal life. That is why through the two
thousand year history of Christianity, a countless number of men and woman have
followed Christ to their death. Jesus has completely freed them from worrying
about what would happen to them.
When Christ calls us to follow Him, He calls us to die. No matter how much
we would like to think otherwise, this death is not metaphorical. We have to die

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not only to our self-interests but also to our fear of death. Thank God that this
work has already been done for us because when we die in Christ, we live.
“The peace of God, which passeth all understanding, keep your hearts and
minds through Christ Jesus.”2

2
Philippians 4:7.