Was reading Ecclesiastes this morning, and came across Chapter 5, verse 15 which says: "Everyone comes naked from their mother's womb, and as everyone comes, so they depart." It echoes Job 1:2: "Naked I came from my mother's womb and naked I will depart." Interestingly, I read this just after seeing the leaked photo of the corpse of Tamerlan Tsarnaev, a 26 year old man police suspect was involved in the bombing at the Boston Marathon on Monday, April 15.
Tamerlan had gotten into a shootout with police after allegedly assassinating a young police officer Thursday night. After the shootout, his accomplice and brother, Dzhokhar, 19, ran over Tamerlan's body as he drove off to escape. Tamerlan was pronounced dead at the hospital. The photo of this young man showed him from the hips up, completely naked, bloodied and bruised. Some of his wounds were digitally distorted so people wouldn't see them. His eyes were open. I wondered if his parents saw this photo.
I remember the day both of my children entered this world. I held them, kissed them and fell instantly in love, filled with joy. I wondered if Tamerlan's parents felt the same way when he came into their lives. And now, here he was, lifeless, soulless on a gurney, not surrounded by loved ones, a life cut short by violence after perpetrating one of the worst events in our history. And for what? Answers to those questions may come later as his younger brother, now in custody, is interrogated, but any answer seems worthless for the carnage results of their acts. There is no excuse for what they did. None. They killed innocent people, Krystle, Lingze, Martin, Sean. They injured hundreds.
I wondered, as I saw Tamerlan's lying there dead, what he said to his Maker when he met Him face-to-face. I wondered what this man could have accomplished for God's glory had he known the Truth. And when Dzhokhar was arrested, the first thing I prayed was: "God please let someone tell him about Jesus." He's a teenager. I am hoping he will have a chance to have a far different visit with the Creator.
What goes through the mind of a 19-year-old bent on exploding and shooting people? I heard several of his friends who knew him prior to this incident call him "an angel." This is a boy desperately in need of a Savior.
Naked we come into this world and naked we leave. Solomon goes on to say that everything under the sun is meaningless except for one thing. Just one. "Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind." Eccl. 12:13.
My husband is working in a prison this weekend, sharing the love and salvation of Jesus Christ with them. These are murderers, rapists, armed robbers and drug dealers, all serving their sentences and paying for their crimes. Many will never see the free world again, and deservedly so. But they all deserve to know freedom in Christ, the love of Christ and experience the salvation of Christ.
While continuing to pray for the victims of this atrocious act, I will be praying for Dzhokhar. The Lord has put eternity on our hearts, Solomon says in Eccl. 3:11. Praying Dzhokhar gets to enjoy it with the Father ... because I'm thinking Tamerlan didn't stand a chance.
