What do the Bondi massacre and Christmas have in common?
Both of these events remind us of our mortality and give us an opportunity to share and celebrate the victory of life over death and those who seek to cause it.
Over Christmas we have all undoubtedly thought of the Saviour Christ who was murdered for openly speaking the truth to those with vested interests in maintaining a lie. This same Christ who as a matter of duty faced his own suffering and death in the spirit of righteousness and was ultimately enthroned at the right hand of the Father.
What we can see today in the multicultural experiment that Australia has become are the very same forces of state power ripping away the sacred right to speak freely and to express openly the experiences we are having when and where we deem it to be appropriate. Those who make the laws, once again, fail themselves to embark on the way to the Kingdom and bar entry to it to all those faithfully knocking to enter.
Christ fought not for scraps of land here and there, his mission was not of this world. The mission of the Saviour was for the Kingdom to come and it is through faith and righteousness that it is earned. When we stand up first in the light of righteousness, the worldly things such as the country we cherish, are added to us, like the birds and flowers are clothed in beauty. First we must seek to have a pure heart devoted to the world to come.
So what is the point of remembering this every year?
Mortality salience. The present awareness of our death.
When people forget the ever present nature of death their minds shift into fame seeking, materialism, and other extrinsic valuables, they waste their lives watching TV or scrolling on a phone. People who have forgotten death are easy prey for the very threat they have forgotten. Whether crossing a road or sky-diving, death is present. Whether in Bondi or Jerusalem, death is present.
A people who remember and celebrate death, or in the words of Carlos Castaneda “stalk death”, as though they were the hunter and their end the most desired game, these people value morality, peace, relationships and they become generous to those who are close to them.
It is this remembrance and embracing of death that breathes life into a person, a community or a country. It is this fearless righteousness that sees death and does not flinch that built the civilisations that we enjoy and love.
It is time for Australia to remember death and to remember that we built this country with the Blessing of Almighty God.
Header image: A memorial for the victims of the Bondi massacre (Marine Rescue Port Jackson).
