A Time Such as This
Being good makes one a target. History rattles off instances of virtuous individuals cracked by circumstance and at the mercy of a world that seeks its own ends apart from a universal pattern anchored in the Divine. Should one register shock, then, at the violence directed at those whose faces reflect the goodness of God, for the world “hated me first” Christ reminds his disciples. No, we cannot feign surprise. Nor can we fail to act. When Mordecai implored Esther to approach the king on pain of death, he did so with the assurance that God would provide regardless of her choice, and yet, he asked her, “... who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such as time as this?” Yes, God will provide, and perhaps we are that provision.