Tamerlan
Tsarnaev, 26, and his 19-year-old brother Dzhokhar, are accused of planting two
bombs near the finish line of the Boston Marathon. The April 15 explosions killed three people and wounded more than 250.
They're also accused of killing an MIT police officer on April 18 and of
engaging in a gunbattle with police the next day. Tamerlan Tsarnaev died from
injuries he sustained during that firefight. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was captured
later that day. He's been charged with using a weapon of mass destruction.
As this newspaper account puts it so succinctly, we know many of
the details about the Boston bombings.
The newspapers have also reported how difficult it has been to find a
funeral home and cemetery willing to receive Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s body and inter
it. There were those who hoped that body would be shipped back to Russia, those
who hoped that it would be left to rot, and those who were afraid having the
body of this widely hated man in their cemetery or community would create a
backlash or acts of vandalism against them.
Enter Martha Mullen of Richmond, Virginia who was troubled by
all the threats, bullying, and anger surrounding what to do with the bomber’s
body. Wes White, in Sunday’s Joys
and Concerns, made me aware of this rather ordinary woman’s rather
extraordinary act of moral faithfulness.
Mullen told NPR reporters: "I was listening to NPR and I heard the story ... that he
was unable to be buried and that people are protesting him. And it made me
think of Jesus' words: Love your enemies.” Mullen then emailed the Greater Richmond Islamic Society and
other related organizations and became instrumental in getting Tsarnaev’s body quietly
buried in her state.
Mullen is someone
who knew that in helping facilitate the burial of this generally reviled and
hated man she would come in for her fair share of ‘criticism.’ And from what I can gather, that is
putting it mildly. All Mullen did
was take Jesus seriously when he calls us to love our enemies, to treat others
as we would want ourselves or loved ones to be treated, and face persecution
for standing up for Jesus and his teachings.
Like Wes, I was touched by this woman’s simple
obedience to the call of becoming like Jesus, and her willingness to live with
the consequences that come from allowing God to work through your life. I believe that Martha Mullen thought
what she thought and did what she did for no other reason than that, but it is
also a powerful witness to those of us who also follow Jesus. I sit up and think, I want to be more
like Martha Mullen, I want to be that kind of Christian, I want to belong to a
church that has a Martha Mullen kind of spirit. And the reason I want to emulate Mullen is because I believe
she has done a bang up job of emulating my Lord and Master.
There is an important added bonus of Mullen’s
actions. It tells the rest of the
world that not all Christians are vindictive, angry, punitive people. I was struck by one of the commentators
who responded to the newspaper article online. He wrote: I hear all these awful comments about hanging
the body from a tree and letting it rot, or defiling it in some way. We should
not stoop to the level of the bombers. We are better than that. I am an
atheist, yet I seem to have more Christian charity in me than all the so called
Christians who are reacting this way. Let it go. Move on. Heal. Martha
Mullen is a wonderful of Christian charity who has gone a long way to offset
the bitterness and bile of folks who derive so much glee from damning others
(some of which claim to do so in Jesus’ name).
In a time of so much religious sectarian
strife and violence it’s a powerful witness to forgiveness and a convincing
testimony of acceptance to be able to lift up someone like our sister from
Richmond. As a matter of fact, in
today’s world, being like Martha Mullen may be the key to evangelizing a war
weary generation that is looking for a third way: not diplomacy, not armed conflict, but something deeper and
more lasting—something like a peace that passes our human understanding.
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