(Spoilers ahead for fans of Bones.)
The finale of the TV series Bones, was a two-part episode (season 12, episodes 11 and 12). The first part, “The Day in the Life”, ended with a horrendous explosion. The bad guy had won. He had successfully attacked the good guys and had escaped justice. The good guys, well, we are left wondering as to how many had died or had been maimed horribly. And one of them was pregnant. Did she die? Will the unborn child survive? And because this is not Netflix, which sometimes releases a whole season at once, we had to wait one whole week to see how things turn out. Once again, we encountered the dreaded “To be continued…”.
We saw episode 12 last night, “The End in the End”. And we could exhale. The good guys survived and went on to experience shalom in different forms. The bad guys were captured or killed when they resisted violently. The good guys won in the end. Evil people were brought to justice. And I so badly need life to imitate art.
These days, the soundtrack of my life is often in a minor key. A dear brother, Pastor Raymond, has been kidnapped for more than a month now and still not a single word from the captors. And a few days ago, I received the shocking news that an old friend, a fantastic human being, Loh Meng Hoi, had had a heart attack and died. Meanwhile, many who oppress others with evil seem to prosper and are seemingly immune from justice. Recently, a friend reminded me of Ecclesiastes 7:15,
In this meaningless life of mine I have seen both of these:
the righteous perishing in their righteousness,
and the wicked living long in their wickedness. (NIV)
Is there a God? Is this God good? Is He any good? Empirically, the jury is out.
I am hanging on till Good Friday and Easter. Fortunately, they are just a few weeks away. Once again we remember the Good Friday-Easter sequence. On Good Friday Jesus died. Good died. Hope died. Evil won. But we realise now, looking back, that Good Friday ended with a “To be continued…”. We held our breath on Holy Saturday. But Easter came and Jesus rose again. And we remember the words of Julian of Norwich:
“But Jesus, who in this vision informed me of all that is needed by me, answered with these words and said: ‘It was necessary that there should be sin; but all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.”
Art imitates life. Hang on. It’s still “To be continued…”.