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Commentary
REFLECTIONS: Goodness still prevails, even when unrewarded Bishop Woodie W. White, Jul 29, 2010
Bishop Woodie W. White
By Bishop Woodie W. White UMR Columnist
Chilling events often happen in life. Recently, one such event in my community hit me hard.
One never knows how events will impact us. I often hear people say what they would do if this or that occurred, how they would react in the face of physical danger, a child’s rebellion or spousal infidelity. The illustrations are endless.
The truth is most people have no idea how they would react or respond until the reality of the event looks them in the face.
I am constantly surprised at my response to so many things in life. A newspaper account of a recent event would not leave me alone. It haunted me, ripped my heart to pieces, as do so many stories reported in our media.
A young man joined his friends for a night out of fun. As is typical, there would be drinking involved, but he chose to refrain and be the designated driver for the group. He would make sure that none of his buddies who had been partaking of alcohol would have to drive themselves home.
At the end of the evening, he dropped all of his friends off at their homes safely. Then he proceeded to his own home. While on his way home, his car was struck and he was killed!
“Why do bad things happen to good people?” is a question that has been pondered through the ages. A variation of that theme might be, “Why do bad things happen to people as they do good?” It has even caused some to say there are times when goodness doesn’t pay.
Another tragic occurrence is often repeated. A motorist stops to assist another who has run into difficulty. While helping, the Good Samaritan is hit by an inattentive motorist and is killed! In the midst of doing good, a life is taken.
Sometimes, goodness doesn’t pay, the cynic might say.
I remember a very popular couple, members of the congregation I was serving, who became missionaries for our denomination. They left for their missionary assignment before I was appointed to the congregation, but they were much loved, supported and prayed for continually.
He was a physician, and together the couple brought healing and wholeness to the people of their missionary setting. They devoted their life to their ministry.
Some years later, in the midst of a changing political and social climate, he was killed by a group of young men as he was seeking to bring healing to a community that otherwise would not have it.
One might argue that if there were any time when God would look with favor upon us, surely it would be while we are in the midst of doing good. In a way, that is the message—and the inherent failure—of the so-called “prosperity gospel,” which promotes the idea that God awards prizes for doing good.
In such a theology, bad things do not happen to good people!
Of course, many of us wonder why horrific things happen to people who are in the midst of doing good. Such questions are understandable. But those who would claim that goodness does not pay miss the mark and take the short view of life.
In their recent book Made For Goodness (HarperOne), Bishop Desmond Tutu and his daughter Mpho Tutu assert that goodness is not so much what we do as what we are. Goodness is at our core. We were made for goodness.
Goodness, therefore, always finds a way to express itself. Sometimes goodness is rejected. Sometimes goodness results in evil turning upon it.
But goodness prevails when goodness is expressed. Not even tragedy or evil can wipe out goodness. At Calvary, evil did not prevail; goodness did!
At the memorial services of the designated driver and the missionary physician, what was remembered most profoundly was their goodness, even in the midst of overwhelming loss and grief.
From time to time, even a bishop must be reminded.
Retired Bishop White is the denomination’s Endorsing Agent for Chaplain Ministries and bishop-in-residence at Candler School of Theology.
Bishop Woodie W. White
