by Pastor Paul Clark, President of Lutherans For Life of Michigan
Some of the greatest literary characters were created by Victor Hugo in his sprawling novel, Les Miserables—Jean Valjean and Police Inspector Javert. Many who have not read the book have seen the famous musical version in the play or film. Jean Valjean, a paroled prisoner, after serving for many years just for stealing a loaf of bread, is moved by an act of Christian mercy, and his life is changed for the good. However, Javert—wholly dedicated to the Law—is determined to capture him and return him to prison for originally breaking parole. When Javert finally catches up with Valjean, the tables are turned, and Valjean has the chance to kill his tormenter. But Valjean chooses mercy and lets him go. Javert, a slave to the Law, cannot accept this mercy, and so commits suicide, throwing himself off a bridge into the River Seine. Hugo writes: “All that he had believed was dissipated. Truths which he had no wish for inexorably besieged him … He felt that he was emptied, useless, broken off from his past life, destitute, dissolved.”
God is merciful and has sent His Son Jesus into the world to save sinners. But many refuse to accept this mercy. They cling to the scaffolding they have built for their lives—the rules, the laws, the pride, the self-glory. They believe they can make their own way, by their own rules (or lack of them), and they want no help from anyone, least of all from a God they don’t believe exists, or if He does, simply doesn’t care.
Tragically, many end up like Javert, emptied, feeling useless, broken off from life, destitute, dissolved. It is no wonder that suicide is often embraced as a way out for those who have nowhere to turn, when all that they depend on within themselves, or from others, fails them. But God does exist. God does care.
Suicide is never the answer. Jesus is. He is the Lord of Life who gives new life through the Gospel. The Lord who so loved each of us that He died on the cross and then rose from the grave to take away our sin and our guilt and bring healing and renewal in their place. The Savior who held back nothing but gave Himself totally for us because He wanted us to know what true life is like and to spend eternity in a wonderful world with Him where all fears and sorrows will be forever banished.
Yet the godless and profane culture of our day seeks to remove all boundaries around suicide. The clear message behind atheistic and evolutionary teaching is that there is no God, that there is no real purpose to life, with nothing existing after death. Therefore, if I feel in any way useless—or in Hugo’s words, “broken off from life,” “destitute,” or “dissolved”—why should I not choose to end my life? And, in the words of the song by Frank Sinatra, to do it my way?
The answer to that question is that I am not God. Nor are you. We may not be able to see through the temporary fogginess that lurks in the sinful heart of man. We may not see a way out of our present troubles. We may not comprehend any real reason why our life should continue. But we are not God.
With God, there is always a purpose to life. With God, there is redemption. With God, there is hope.
Many who have been at the point of despair, but (thanks be to God!) have had someone reach out to them with compassion, have moved beyond that despair, finding renewed joy and peace in living each day under the merciful grace of God.
This is why the social and political forces that have promoted and continue to promote physician-assisted suicide are so dangerous and despicable. Their answer to life’s trials and problems is to simply “end it.” You choose, on your terms, and you decide when your life is not worth living. But that’s a lie. Life is always worth living, even when one must endure pain, grief, or depression. Self-murder is not the answer. The prince of darkness is behind the culture of death, not the Lord of light and life.
We must resist every attempt to justify and promote suicide (and physician-assisted suicide) as a solution to man’s problems. Instead, let us have compassion toward those enduring times of physical or mental stress, those who are in the pits of grief or depression. Let us proclaim to them Jesus, the Lord who loves them and gave His life for them. Let us share the Word of life with them, that they may be able to wield the sword of the Spirit to fight off the enemy. For in the Holy Word of God and in the Church where one can hear this Word proclaimed and receive the very body and blood of their Savior in the Sacrament, the devil loses his power to deceive.
We recently watched an old movie called Fourteen Hours. Richard Basehart plays a man who has lost his reason for living—who has “gazed into the emptiness of life”—and then climbed out onto the ledge of a high-rise hotel, threatening to jump. The entire movie is a taut and tense race, with police, doctors, and family members desperately doing everything they possibly can to talk him out of it.
It is quite an emotionally engaging movie, with excellent performances and direction. Most people would like to think that they would do everything possible to convince a suicidal person that their life is worth living. But here we have a conundrum, for many of the same people would turn around and support a physician providing prescription drugs to enable a person to end their life if they so desired!
Should we be surprised, when human life has been so cheapened anyway, and we buy into the lie that we are simply an animal, an evolutionary by-product, no more or less important than a frog or a squirrel? Death will simply bring release from all life’s worries, right?
Then you might as well go ahead and jump.
But wait! You are NOT a product of mindless evolution. You are not an animal. You are a human being, created in the image of God. Loved by God, redeemed by Christ, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. Your life is important, no matter what the circumstances may be. And death does not really end things at all. There is a heaven. There is a hell. Death is not the end, nor the solution. Repent and believe in the Gospel!
Jesus says: “I have come that they may have life and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep … My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me. I give them eternal life and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand” (John 10:10b-11, 27-28).
NEW LIFE. NEW HOPE. It is found in OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST. This world offers darkness; we have the Light. This world offers death as a solution to man’s problems; we proclaim eternal life in Jesus. This world celebrates the right to choose; we rejoice in the gracious and blessed Lord who has chosen us, forgiven us, lifted us from the mire of sin and hopelessness, called us to be His holy people, enlightened us with His gifts, and NOW SENDS US to love and serve others in His name. Like Jean Valjean, the Lord has indeed shown us mercy.
Dear Father in heaven, help us to be merciful toward others, and in compassion, point them toward the one and only Savior who can bring healing and hope to the lost and hurting soul.