We should mourn the Wicked

How celebrating the death of evil people can become an idol! PLUS: Osama bin Laden, Wicked the musical, and the death of death.

I was only four years old when the Twin Towers fell, so I don’t remember the event or much of its aftermath—but I do have a recollection of the death of Osama bin Laden.

Osama bin Laden, leader of the terrorist group Al Qaeda, was killed by U.S. Special Forces during a raid at a large compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, on May 2, 2011.

Along with Hurricane Katrina and the inauguration of Barack Obama, this killing is one of the largest historical events I remember from my time growing up. These events were especially talked about in school and noted as very significant.

But you know what I remember most about the death of bin Laden?

Everyone was so extraordinarily happy.

Even though I was much farther right politically at the time, I distinctly remember feeling profound discomfort with the celebration of this death. I fully recognized that bin Laden was terrible and had orchestrated a lot of terror, notably the 9/11 attacks. I didn’t even believe it was wrong that he was killed—it seemed pretty justified and all that.

Yet, it seemed so un-Christian to actually celebrate this death. To say it will a smile on his face. To be giddy at a killing. To say “Thank goodness!” when someone’s life is ended early. To get so ecstatic because a man died. He never got a chance to face justice on earth, or even, yeah I know it’s a long shot, to repent.

Humans are very prone to rejoice at the “good news” of a bad person’s death. Sometimes, it’s even a badge of honor to celebrate when the bad guy is killed. Indeed, conservatives and liberals often unite in a view of justice that celebrates when the wicked die alone.

However, does that reflect the “Good News” that we Christians believe in? Is that how we live out the gospel message?

The Witch of the West is Dead

Though I like a good musical, I initially had no interest in seeing the new Wicked Part 1 movie. But then all the strange promotional tours and clips of catchy songs and mesmerizing dances got me hooked. So I told my girlfriend: we’ve gotta see it! And we did last weekend.

It’s no spoiler to discuss the opening sequence. Though this is a prequel, it opens up after the events of The Wizard of Oz. And I refuse to keep a spoiler ban on the book (called The Wonderful Wizard of Oz) that came out in 1900 and the movie that came out in 1939. You’ve had quite some time to learn about how Dorothy defeated the Wicked Witch of the West—so no excuses!

Anyway, yeah, the witch dies in the end. That’s the big “spoiler.”

The musical opens with a number called “No One Mourns the Wicked,” which showcases a town celebrating the death of its public enemy, the Wicked Witch of the West. The first refrain begins:

Good news, she’s dead
The Witch of the West is dead
The wickedest witch there ever was
The enemy of all of us here in Oz
Is dead
Good news
Good news

Like so many celebrated bin Laden’s demise, the people of Oz celebrate the demise of this green witch and call it “good news”—this is their gospel! The song sets up an assumed morality that “no one” is going to mourn for bad people. Indeed, it claims that those on the side of good definitely don’t have anything to do with wickedness and especially are rejoicing!

One stanza goes:

No one mourns the wicked
No one cries "They won't return!"
No one lays a lily on their grave
The good man scorns the wicked
Through their lives, our children learn
What we miss, when we misbehave

Now, I know enough to know that this opening song—and indeed the title of the play—is a bit ironic. Wicked challenges our notions of “wickedness” by showing the origins of the Wicked Witch of the West. The play itself explores this theme through the rhetorical question Glinda asks in the opening number: “Are people born wicked? Or do they have wickedness thrust upon them?” (I write about this topic a bit in a piece for Pop Culture and Theology that relates a lot to this one: “Sympathy for the Devil: Jeffrey Dahmer and the Tension of Redemption”)

But my brothers and sisters in the faith aren’t always ready for this conversation. They like to celebrate the death of evil people. They like to say, “Now at last, there's joy throughout the land.” I have found especially that many of my Christian siblings throughout conservative evangelicalism very much despise the trend to “humanize” villains and give them semi-understandable motives. They’d much rather view them as less than human. That way, there isn’t that cognitive dissonance when they get all gleeful when the bad guy dies.

Out of convenience, and a bit of an internal devilish desire to see beings suffer when they “deserve it,” we often root for the death of the wicked.

The Last Enemy

It makes me very sick the way we treat death today.

I’ve seen people either shrug off or specifically express joy at the death of the CEO of an insurance company. At the drowning of migrants crossing into the U.S. from Mexico. At the destruction caused by hurricanes, depending on the popular political affiliation of the affected area. At the assassination of heads of state we don’t like. At the untimely death of people in our country with darker skin. At the ultra-wealthy dying in a sub at the bottom of the ocean. At the execution of a convicted felon—even when new evidence puts their guilt into question!

It’s weirdly a force that brings liberals and conservatives together. They like the death of those they don’t like.

And, now unified, both of those parties look at Christians who are just trying to follow the nonviolent way of Christ like the early Christians were taught to do and the New Testament clearly outlines—and then think we are the weird ones because we don’t celebrate death (Except the death of our Savior—but that’s a bit different)!

It might make us not popular. It might make people feel loathing toward us.

But the reality is, Christians mourn the wicked. That’s because Christ has redefined the enemy for us.

Jesus’ two oft-repeated commands to “love your neighbor” and “love your enemy” effectively cover every person on the planet. And in the famous Parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25–37), a Samaritan “enemy” of the Jewish people shows neighborly love to a man who very well would have died without his help—we are people who stop even enemies from dying. Any person anywhere is a neighbor. In the end, we don’t have any excuses for whom not to love.

Getting punched by a Nazi

But Christians do have one last enemy, one we don’t have to respect. It’s the last enemy. The big baddie. Our main villain is Death.

Paul declares a vision of the end of days when the curtains fall and everyone takes a bow:

“Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. For he ‘has put everything under his feet.’”

-1 Corinthians 15:24–27

The last thing to defeat is Death itself. It’s the ultimate enemy. And while Christians have a sanctified view of death, knowing that it’s the gateway to eternal life, the actual factual story of the New Testament is pretty clear that what Jesus brings is the power to conquer Death. That’s the big achievement of the coming of Jesus—Jesus offers resurrection, a life after death.

Paul writes a few verses later, in 54–57:

“When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: ‘Death has been swallowed up in victory.’

‘Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?’

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

We later read, according to John the Revelator, that “death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire” (Revelation 20:14). Death will be dead, eventually. Yet we have the victory.

Death—even when it leads to eternal life for a believer—is our one true enemy as mortals. While death is often a convenient way to rid the world of evil, contributing to death (or celebrating it) only leads to more evil in the world. It might be “efficient,” but that doesn’t make it right. It might be safer, but it’s not the path the Good Shepherd wants to lead us down.

The Gospel is inefficient

There will always be bad. Something bad is happening in the world all the time. There will be those who you think really have done no good deed at all! But we do not rejoice that the baddest of bad are now six feet under because death is not something a Christian desires. That’s not us. We are “not that girl” who refuses to mourn the wicked. We are called to a different standard.

The Mourning After

Romans 12 is your homework assignment if this is difficult for you. Romans 12 reminds us of our obligation toward peacemaking, loving enemies, and avoiding vengeance. In it, Paul offers a frank analysis, or think of it as personality dialysis, toward Christians who need their values shaped properly:

“Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.

Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: ‘It is mine to avenge; I will repay,’ says the Lord. On the contrary:

‘If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.’

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”

-Romans 12:14-21

Love in action—love for neighbors and enemies—looks exactly like this! It’s above and beyond. It’s avoiding vengeance. It’s “killing” only with kindness, hoping and praying for their redemption. But if they don’t repent, then that’s between them and God.

(I suggest a better way to change people besides fear of punishment in my Pop Culture and Theology article “Virtue Ethics and Moral Transformation in A Christmas Carol”)

Obviously, this doesn’t mean we never punish the wicked or remove them from polite society. The Christian call to justice means we do want wickedness to decrease, but we have a “code” to follow—like all those superheroes and their no-kill rule. It might make things more complicated, but if we break the code, we cease to be those who place our identities in Christ.

If this is your idol, you may have difficulty smashing it. I get it. It takes more than one short day to change our tune. Unlike in musicals, where they are just dancing through life, we don’t change our personalities and priorities after one epic musical number! Trying to have an appropriate balance of justice while also mourning the reality of death—no matter who died—is difficult; it’s like defying gravity!

If the Wizard and I were pals, maybe I’d ask for everyone to have an easier time loving our enemies. Sorry, I’m a sentimental man! But of course, he’d have to be more than smoke and machines! Instead, we are going to have to just get to work all by ourselves.

What I do know is that God is shaping us to be lovers of everyone, seekers of justice, and mourners of death—those are all intertwined characteristics. We must grow in courage, intellect, and empathy as we seek our great and powerful God’s will. We have an obligation to not be like the rest of the world with the radical way we respect the image of God in even the worst people imaginable. As Christians in the world but not of the world, we aren’t in Kansas anymore, so to speak. (Okay, I know, I really forced that one!)

We should pray for the Wicked, do good deeds for them, and seek to be a positive influence—as hard as that may be! And, yes, if they do pass, by whatever means, we must certainly mourn the Wicked.

Okay, how many Wicked/Wizard of Oz/Musical references did you catch?

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Mourn all death,

Jake Doberenz

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