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Verse:Then Herod, when he saw that he was deceived by the wise men, was exceedingly angry; and he sent forth and put to death all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all its districts, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the wise men. —Matthew 2:16
The April 2, 2016, issue of the German newspaper Westerwälder Zeitung came off the press with a special note from the parents and the brother of Andreas Lubitz. They expressed their thankfulness for the support from the local community after the tragic death of Andreas in an airplane crash more than a year earlier.
Several readers criticized the note not for what it stated but for what it left out. The note mentioned only Andreas, without any reference to the other 149 people who also died in that accident. On March 24, 2015, Germanwings Flight 9525 departed at 10:01 A.M. from Barcelona, Spain, en route to Düsseldorf, Germany.
While flying over the French Alps, the flight’s pilot in command, Captain Patrick Sondenheimer, left the cockpit for a lavatory break.
Meanwhile, the copilot, First Officer Andreas Lubitz, locked the pilot out of the cockpit, disabled the lock’s code, and initiated an intentional ten-minute descent that caused the aircraft to crash into a mountain, killing all of the passengers on board. Later research confirmed that Lubitz was being treated for severe depression and suicidal tendencies. As a safety measure, many airlines now require that at least two crew members, including at least one pilot, are in the cockpit during the entire duration of the flight. But we should still remember that irresponsible acts can have tragic consequences.
A popular proverb says, “One tree can make a million matches, and one match can destroy a million trees.” As mentioned in Matthew 15:29, a crazy decree of King Herod resulted in the death of all innocent “male children who were in Bethlehem and in all its districts.” If “no man is an island, entire of itself,”47 then we should also recognize that it is impossible to live without influencing others.
Our small actions and careless words can have enduring consequences that last for eternity. May the Lord grant us His grace so that whatever we do and whatever we say may glorify His name and bless all in our circle of influence.