God's No Handyman

One of the churches in our area has a moveable letter sign board.  Whoever keeps watch over it is very clever, and often posts rather pithy sayings.  I often chuckle as I ride by as many of them are dependent on puns and I love a good pun.  But the saying that is currently posted has left me rather cold.  It is clever.  And I get what the message means.  But I'm not sure I agree with it theologically, which should come as no real surprise as the church in question belongs to a rather conservative denomination.  Here's what it says:

"Duct tape is good, but three nails fixes everything."

I understand about duct-tape--it can indeed be used in a wide array of ways, and I once had a car accident in my '83 Yugo (remember those?) and afterwards held various parts of it together with duct tape!

And the three nails, of course, refer to the nails used in the crucifixion to tack Jesus to the cross.  The clear theological implication?  The death of Jesus sets everything right. 

But does it?  What about the fact that evil is still rampant in the world?  Just this morning I woke up to news that chemical weapons were used on children in Syria this weekend.  Nuclear weapons seem to be up for grabs again.  Gun violence continues to rock our own nation.  Cancer still takes many, many lives.  And the list goes on.  From where I sit, three nails doesn't fix everything--and God's no handyman.

But that said, the Way of Jesus, the way of compassion, justice, peace and love, that could set things right.  But only when and if we work to make that way real.  And sometimes standing up for that which is right and good will lead to our own crosses.  It is then that we can and should take hope in the fact that the cross wasn't the end of the story of Jesus.  And it doesn't need to be the end of ours either.