By Rev. Kenneth Jensen

Kenneth Jensen is a retired Evangelical Lutheran Church Association pastor living in Albert Lea.

“The Lord said, ‘For the sake of 10 I will not destroy it.’” — Genesis 1832

Aug. 6 commemorated the 71st anniversary of the destruction of Hiroshima, Japan, with an atomic bomb. Not since the days of Sodom and Gomorrah has a city been destroyed by a singular firebomb from heaven.

The infamous cities of Sodom and Gomorrah are symbolic of a society run amuck. During the era of World War II many Americans held similar feelings toward Japan. The wounds of Pearl Harbor were raw and deep. In our haste to end the war, we indiscriminately killed over 80,000 people, including many innocents.

The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah is often equated to God’s disapproval of homosexuality which, on a closer look, is more about the violent act of rape (See Genesis 19:5). Sexual sins were but part of the problem. Elsewhere in the Hebrew text ,we read that God chose to destroy those cities due to a multitude of sins including pride, haughtiness, accepting bribes, murder, practicing meaningless religious rituals and lack of charity in assisting beggars, strangers, the poor and the sick.

It isn’t the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah that interest me, but rather the character of Abraham and ultimately that of God. God informed Abraham of his intent to send down fire upon the cities (See Genesis 18:16-33). Abraham wanted to know if God would eliminate the good people along with the bad. Would God kill the innocent along with the guilty?

Abraham pleads with God to spare the lives of the innocent. Would God spare the cities for the sake of 50 righteous persons? God agrees to spare the cities. Abraham knows there may not be 50. He begins to negotiate with God. What about 40? Thirty? Twenty? Ten? Each time, God promised not to destroy the cities for the sake of the few.

As a just God, God felt obligated to punish the wicked. But, Abraham reminded God was to be merciful. Even though the cities were eventually destroyed, Abraham’s nephew, Lot, and his immediate family were spared.

To learn that the God of the universe, who “hung the stars” and created “that great leviathan just for the sport of it” would care about someone as insignificant as me is best described as a beautiful scandal. How scandalous it is to believe that the God of Creation would stoop to join us in the mundane details of everyday human life — who would care even when a single sparrow falls to the ground (Luke 12:6-7).

The bombing of Hiroshima was an act of man, not an act of God. Individuals will continue to debate whether it was justified or not. We learn from the story of Sodom and Gomorrah that God’s judgment is to be feared. Even greater, however, is his mercy, which can be trusted.