Consider an extended story about Aberfan, Wales
“The Crown,” Netflix’s on-going drama about Queen Elizabeth, tells the story of the 1966 Aberfan coal mine tragedy. Her Majesty visited this Welsh village of 5,000 residents eight days after a devastating avalanche of slurry smashed a school and other buildings just after 9:00 AM. It killed 144 people; 116 were children.
To get a sense of this profound loss, consider recollections by Philip Thomas – now 63. In 1966, he was ten. Despite being buried, he survived. He recalls: “I was taken to hospital. Mum and Dad did not know. In frantic efforts to find their children, they were with the parents digging at the school and visiting the mortuary in the chapel.”
“It wasn’t until 4:30pm that they tracked me down. By then I’d had an operation. Though my left ear was nearly torn off, they saved it, but not three fingers on my right hand which were crushed as I protected my head. I had a fractured pelvis and lost my spleen.”
“I remember Mum sitting on the end of the bed and asking a nurse why my sheets were red. The nurse said, ‘That’s blood.’
It was 50/50 as to whether I’d live. For two months, I was in hospital. When I finally went home, the streets were strangely quiet. Out of the 32 children in my class, only three survived and whenever me and my brother went out, we saw hardly anyone our age.”
Prior to the Queen’s coming to Aberfan, Netflix shows Philip, her husband, attending the funeral. The too-long mass grave is filled with too-short coffins. Later, Philip tells Elizabeth of the weeping townsfolk surrounding the array of caskets and listening to a pastor read meaningful Scriptures.
“It was extraordinary. The grief, the anger – at the government, at the coal board, at God too. The rage behind all the faces, behind all the eyes. They didn’t smash things up or fight in the streets. What did they do? They sang – the whole community. It was the most astonishing thing I ever heard. Anyone who heard that hymn would not just have wept. They would have been broken into a thousand tiny pieces.”
The words of Jesus
Philip’s words recall those of Jesus in Mt. 21:42: “Did you never read in the Scriptures, THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED, THIS BECAME THE CHIEF CORNER [stone]; THIS CAME ABOUT FROM THE LORD, AND IT IS MARVELOUS IN OUR EYES’? 43″Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people, producing the fruit of it. 44And he who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; but on whomever it falls, it will scatter him like dust.”
Jesus quotes Psalm 118: 22,23. Matthew, Mark, Luke and Peter (twice) repeat this verse. Six times God inscripturated this truth. What notoriety!
Let’s have ears to hear our humble carpenter soberly warn us about a more terrible and universal two-part avalanche? “He who falls (part-one) on this stone will be broken to pieces; but on whomever it falls (part-two), it will scatter him like dust.”
Our first parents’ rebellion deeply wounded us and our world: natural calamities, disease, fractured relationships at every level – even war – and internally, we cannot even trust ourselves. Still, God’s image thrums in us. So, we build – building buildings, building families, building businesses, building churches, building cities, building cultures.
Into this busy, damaged world Jesus came. Simeon prophesied over infant Jesus (Lk 2:34): “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many…revealing the thoughts of many hearts.”
Defiantly or haphazardly, many builders “rejected” this “stone.” The Greek “apodokimazo,” comes from: “apo” = “away from” + “dokimazo” = “to prove, to test.” It means “to cast away after determining something is useless.” Trash.
Jesus tells his disciples he(!) will be trashed (Mk 8:31): “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be ‘trashed’ by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law.”
Having no place for Jesus, these elites preoccupy themselves with their own agenda.
And, what about common folk? They follow both their own natural desires and the elite’s lead. Luke (17:25) records Jesus: The Son of Man “must first suffer many things and be ‘trashed’ by this generation.” Like us.
Two Realities
Somehow, despite previously participating in ongoing devaluations of Jesus, some of us reconsider, embracing repentance, faith, and humility, falling upon this “stone.” In our wounded world, we are still “broken to pieces.” The Greek “sunthlaó” means “to break, break in pieces, crush, shatter.”
Dear God.
At least we may have the Foundation upon which to rest our brokenness. Energized by God, we rebuild, and “rising” “produce fruit.”
But, a person who persistently depreciates this “stone” starts stones rolling that will roll back over him (Prov. 26:27). Consider Haman, Esther 7:10: “They hanged Haman on the gallows he had prepared for Mordecai.”
Also, during this life, or at death, like the Aberfan avalanche, the ultimate “stone” precipitously falls. Jesus warns: “On whomever it falls, it will ‘scatter him like dust.’” The Greek “likmáō,” is used of winnowing chaff, grinding to powder – isolated bits blown by the wind – no foundation – ultimately alone/meaningless.
Application
From 11/15 – 4/16, I served as co-interim pastor for Helena’s Grace Community Fellowship. During a revision of its vision statement, I suggested: “We are a family of sinners pursued by Christ.” One leader quietly/firmly added “broken” before “sinners.” I spoke up: “Exactly!” We are a family of broken sinners who invite Christ into our brokenness.
If not, Jesus says we will be pulverized.
Let’s join the Aberfan townspeople who sang by heart marveling Charles Wesley’s 1740 hymn “Jesus, Lover of My Soul:”
“Other refuge have I none
Hangs my helpless soul on Thee;
Leave, ah! leave me not alone
Still support and comfort me.
All my trust on Thee is stayed
All my help from Thee I bring;
Cover my defenseless head
With the shadow of Thy wing.”
This is the second of six columns based on Scriptures where astonished Jesus asked elite leaders: “Did you never read?” Despite their high level of education, they remained in their own shallow comfort zones. He expected them to connect what they had read in Scripture with life.
