Hmmm. So much to think about when it comes to the death of Osama Bin Laden. Obviously, he is someone who set in motion a great deal of hatred, death and destruction. The events of 9/11 were horrific and tragic. Osama's role in creating and leading Al Qaeda to use violence and death to strive to get the West and the U.S. to stop interfering in the Middle East as well as supporting corrupt, authoritarian regimes (i.e. Saudi Arabia) in order to ensure our access to oil was horrific and ghastly. No one should question whether he should be held accountable for such acts, all as part of the attempt to find some justice for the events of the past ten years.
But there are important dimensions of his death that we as Christians must reflect upon more deeply. For one, the scenes of people dancing in front of the White House, the chanting of "USA, USA" at the Phillies/Mets game once the news got out, the use of "rejoice" repeatedly in discussing people's reaction to the death really seems to miss the reality that he too was a human being, loved by God, living, under law and promise, judgment and grace, (as we Lutherans understand it). Such rejoicing turns us into the crowds in Gaza and Palestine who cheered after 9/11. To rejoice over his death is to ignore that no one is completely evil, completely devoid of being a child of God; Osama was a cruel, angry, wicked man and murderer, but if we really believe that all people are created by God in God's image, then Osama never loses this status. Rather then "rejoicing" as in gleefully finding pleasure in his death, instead we really should reflect and repent about why Osama was such a murderer.
What do I mean here? First, God doesn't rejoice in death. A Pastor friend of mine used Ezekiel 33:11 to make this point: "The Lord God says, 'I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from their ways and live.'" Osama's death is a death of life; what is tragic is Osama's turning away from the fulfillment and good that God offers. (Obviously, as a Muslim, Osama has a different understanding of such things; but my point is our response to his death as Christians.) And this turning away is its own tragedy, one that clearly had a great deal of horrific and violent consequences, but one that has been repeated in human history (Pol Pot, Hitler, Stalin, etc).
To further this point, Augustine said that there was no evil, or at least evil is a thing or material reality. Instead, evil is the act of turning away from the good, which is God. It is like walking away from the light until you have no sense of up/down and right/wrong. Evil is darkness, emptiness, a turning away rather than any substance or make-up within one's nature. And I think this idea, that Osama is a child of God, but one who turned away from good/God should give us pause, both to reflect about why such turning happens and repent about our complicity in some aspects of this turning away.
We should reflect and repent on how the society we live in played a part in shaping the society and Islamic theology that helped Osama become Osama. Just like historians look at the Treaty of Versailles as part of shaping Hitler's worldview, how did the society we participate in (including oil dependence, creating the "Middle East" and supporting the corrupt, repressive Saud family) shape his worldview? The very term "Middle East" implies a standpoint, as it is middle and east of some place and historically that place is the West, including the US. We are the center; the Middle East is on the margins.
These questions demand a lot of us, and there are no clear, simple links. But such reflection should help us to realize that we too fall short of truly being children of God, truly striving to enact neighbor love and helping others flourish. We see the Middle East as a means to secure a reliable source of oil at any cost; if we truly cared about human rights and freedom, we would have embargoed Saudi Arabia (where Osama is from) years ago just because of how they treat women.
Again, I am not suggesting that Osama didn't deserve justice for the heinous acts of 9/11; but even so, we should take no pleasure in any death for neither does our God.
