The Death of A Sinner

Fred Phelps is dead. The country watched on as reports of his failing health came in and we waited for what we know to be the enviable end for everyone.

Given his notorious history, there was question about how people would treat his death. In case you don’t know, Fred Phelps was the founder of West Boro Baptist Church—a small, radical group of folks who targeted various events around the country to spread a message of, quite literally, hate. They’re most known for carrying picketing signs at the funerals of soldiers which read such ignominious things as “God hates fags,” “God hates America,” and “Thank God for dead soldiers”—to name just a few of their many slogans.

In my very, very small hometown, we had the misfortune of having the West Boro Baptist Church come and protest the funeral of a man who had died after having fought in Iraq. It caused quite a stir among the community, and people from all walks of life agreed that protesting the funeral of a fallen soldier, no matter on what grounds, was despicable.

But what do we as good, loving Christians make of the death of Fred Phelps? Two particular readings from Scripture come to mind for me as we might seek to come to a faithful answer to that question:

Jesus also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt: ‘Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax-collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, was praying thus, “God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax-collector. I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.” But the tax-collector, standing far off, would not even look up to heaven, but was beating his breast and saying, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” I tell you, this man went down to his home justified rather than the other; for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.’ –Luke 18:9-14

Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, says the Lord God, and not rather that they should turn from their ways and live? –Ezekiel 18:23

It’s easy for us to look at the behavior of the West Boro Baptist Church—in particular of Fred Phelps who founded it—and say to ourselves and others, “Well, at least I’m not that bad.” In that place, we’re acting just as rottenly as the Pharisee in Jesus’ parable above. It’s not our place to sit in judgment of others. Instead, like the verse from Ezekiel tells us, we know in fact that God doesn’t take pleasure in the death of any of his children, no matter how misguided or corrupted they might be. God desires for us to have life and have it abundantly. For in the end, we’re all a bunch of sinners, wholly dependent on the grace of God for anything—our lives, ourselves, and everything we have.

God doesn’t promise us that it’s believing the right thing or doing the right thing that earns us our place in the Kingdom. The promise is quite simply that Jesus, God’s love incarnated, has already earned our place in eternal life and given it to us freely. This knowledge frees us from judgment of others and encourages us to call us to live in the hope and freedom it gives us. And perhaps we ought to do well to remember that in this period of Lent, how much God loves the whole world and desires not for its destruction but its life—even for those rotten sinners we call ourselves.

-DS