Let’s, for the moment at least, leave to one side the question of whether or not it’s ever right for a state to use capital punishment as part of its criminal justice system.
Maybe there are crimes so heinous that those who perpetrate them should be put to death – and maybe there aren’t. But let’s accept that there are genuine grounds for reasonable people to come to differing conclusions on the matter, and focus instead on something that we can all surely agree on.
That if someone is going to be executed it needs to be done properly.
By which I don’t simply mean that there shouldn’t be any botched attempts such as the one we’ve heard about this week, leaving the condemned fighting for their lives and those who loved them, despite their crimes, even more distressed than they no doubt already were.
Rather, I’m referring to how those passing such final sentences should do so in a manner that reflects the seriousness of their actions. Because there should be a sense of solemnity surrounding their decisions rather than an all too obvious delight – a recognition of the gravity of the situation they find themselves in rather than an attitude of triumphalism that leaves them glorying in the death of someone who, no matter how justified their death is considered to be, remains someone whose humanity should be respected.
More than that, the carrying out of a death sentence shouldn’t be considered a spectator sport. The death of another should never be offered up as a form of entertainment as if it were a reality TV programme or a game show in which the stakes are unusually high.
Now there will be those who will say that public executions were once undertaken in England which is, of course, true. But just as public executions being part of our past can’t be dismissed simply on the grounds of their being something from a bygone age, neither does historical precedent make their modern day reemergence acceptable.
We need to think harder than that and ponder why our ancestors behaved in the way they did and consider whether, as well as drawing those spectating into their own base nature, the actions of those in power were an attempt, on occasions at least, to intimidate them into submission.
Because if, as I suspect, they were, the supposedly powerful were, I think, at the same time revealing just how insecure they considered themselves to be – a fact made all the more apparent perhaps, by their sometimes feeling the need to mount the heads of those they’d mercilessly killed on poles for everyone to see – a practice that, though it hasn’t yet resurfaced, one can’t help feeling, if things continue as they are, it won’t be long before it does.
All of which is in stark contrast to those with genuine authority – to the one in ultimate authority who takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked [Ezekiel 33:11] and does not wish for any to perish, desiring instead for all to reach repentance. [2 Peter 3:9]
And more remarkable still is the way He goes about providing the forgiveness He offers to all who do. Because instead of simply condemning all those who have ever opposed him, He offers them salvation by laying down His own life and bearing the punishment that they themselves deserved.
So on Sunday, when I go to church, amongst other things I will remember again two things. Firstly, I will recognise that whilst I may not have committed crimes that have made the headlines, I have nonetheless sinned and fallen short of the glory of God in ways that mean I too deserve to die. And secondly, I will recall that the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. [Romans 6:23]
‘For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person – though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die – but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.’ [Romans 5:6-8]
So if there is any death I’ll be fixing my eyes in the coming months, it’ll not be the one soon to be taking place in America. Rather it’ll be the one that took place 2000 years ago on a green hill far away – the death that went entirely according to the plan of the one who, in complete control of everything, delights to save rather than to condemn.
Just as He always has in the past, just as He still does today, and just as He will continue to do forever.
