It was an ordinary day for Mason Wells. As a Mormon missionary in Brussels, he was at the airport that morning to drop off colleague who was heading to the United States. Waiting in line, he pulled out his iPad to look something up. It was shortly before 8 a.m. The first of two bombs exploded, nearly engulfing him in flames.
“I wasn’t expecting it at all,” Wells told CNN’s Phil Black. “I was looking down and all of a sudden, a huge blast from my right. I believe my body was actually picked off the ground for a moment.”
“A large part of the right side of my body got really hot and then really cold, and I was covered in a lot of fluids, a lot of blood, and a lot of that blood wasn’t mine,” he said. Talking from his hospital bed, Wells said, “I am Lucky,” and it many ways he was. Tragically during Holy Week we saw another horrific terrorist attack that took the lives of 35 people including a young American couple Justin and Stephanie Shults who were dropping her mother off at the airport.
Mason Wells’ words, “I wasn’t expecting it all,” hit me deep in the heart this Easter. As I am reminded way too often, life is fragile and very unpredictable. We never know what darkness lurks around each corner or with each new day.
The journey of Jesus from Palm Sunday to Easter Day and beyond is an acute reminder that evil was alive and well that week in Jerusalem and the events of Holy Week 2016 remind me that evil is alive and well in our world today.
As a human being the thought of life’s fragility can be very scary. As a Christian, the hope and security we have in the resurrection of Christ gives reassurance in the midst of the fear and the unknown we live into each and every day. Living as an Easter people is as important now as it has ever been for our world.
The message of Easter is clear! Death does not win, victory is ours to embrace! As I grieve for those lost and injured in Brussels and in Pakistan this past week, and sadly, those facing violence and hatred each day, I hold onto St. Paul’s profound and eloquent words from the Book of Romans:
“No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God
in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8: 37-39)
I often wonder how people cope with tragedy and fear without a faith! Thank God I will never know this answer, because in the resurrection of Jesus on Easter morning, life wins! Like St. Paul, there are many things I am not confident about in our sinful and broken world. One thing I am confident in: that it’s Jesus’ victory over evil which gives reassurance and can transform our hearts and our world.
The Rev. Ron Abrams serves as Rector of St. James. He and his wife are native Long Islanders, have two sons, a daughter-in-law, and two dogs. Before answering the call to St. James, Ron was Rector of Holy Trinity in Fayetteville, NC; Rector of St. Ann’s in Bridgehampton, NY; and Assistant at St. Mark’s, Westhampton Beach, NY. Ron is also an avid Yankees fan and historian.
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