Responding To Tragedy With Gospel Hope

Two very different tragedies have gripped the news this week. First, the brutal killing of 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zaratuska on a Charlotte light rail train. Second, the fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk, a conservative activist, during a campus event at Utah Valley University. These moments shake us because they expose the frailty of human life. 

Both of these events underscore one truth… we live in a world marred by sin.

In Charlotte, Iryana Zaratuska was stabbed without cause while riding public transit. She was a refugee who had fled war in Ukraine only to lose her life in America. The attacker had a long history of arrests, homelessness, and mental health struggles. This incident raises many painful questions: Why does God allow this type of evil to overcome such seemingly innocent people? What is our responsibility as Christian neighbors when we witness suffering or violence?How should Christians view refugees, especially those fleeing violence or war? How do Christians mourn such tragedies?

Later in the week, in Utah, Charlie Kirk was shot in the neck while speaking to nearly 3,000 people. Charlie Kirk was the founder and president of Turning Point USA (TPUSA), a conservative activist organization that promotes free markets, limited government, and other right-leaning values, especially on college campuses. His “Prove Me Wrong” tour was meant to stir debate, to which Kirk excelled at, but it ended in gunfire. His death raises a slightly different set of questions from Iryna’s. What does it mean for freedom of speech when public dialogue becomes deadly? How should Christians even think about freedom of speech?

Though both stories illustrate the depravity of man and the heinousness of sin, we need to know how to think Biblically about them.

1) Evangelism

This may shock some of us, but in Luke 13:1-5, Jesus teaches us to think about national tragedy through the lens of evangelism.

“There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.And he answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”

Here, Jesus is asked whether people who died in specific tragedies (Galileans killed by Pilate during worship, or the eighteen who died from a tower collapse) were worse sinners than others. Jesus answers by telling them no! But what He does next is a valuable lesson for us. He uses these tragedies as a warning that everyone needs to repent, because “unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”

In the coming days and weeks, as everyday conversations focus on the events that transpired over the last week, use these as bridges to the gospel and offer others hope that this world never can.

2) Compassion

Romans 12:15 calls us to “weep with those who weep.” Before we analyze or debate, we must mourn. For Iryna, this means grieving the loss of a young woman who fled war only to meet violence here. For Charlie, this means remembering that behind headlines is a family with young children and friends who are grieving. Compassion should be our first response, and the desire to pray for both the families involved and the government officials who will be sorting out the aftermath and administering justice.

3) Justice

Micah 6:8 reminds us that God requires us “to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God.” When tragedies strike, like the killing in Charlotte or the shooting in Utah, we are reminded that we live in a fallen world where violence and broken systems touch every part of life. Christians cannot be indifferent. God calls us to pursue accountability for evil while also advocating for systems and practices that protect the vulnerable, care for the oppressed, and address root issues like poverty, isolation, and mental illness.

Doing justice means more than calling for punishment. It also means working toward communities where righteousness, safety, and mercy flourish. Only the gospel can create such communities. Loving kindness keeps us from the hardness of heart, and walking humbly with God guards us from self-righteousness and reminds us that true hope lies not in policies but in Christ, who alone transforms hearts. 

4) Hope in Christ alone

Tragedy tempts us to despair, yet Christians cling to a greater reality. Jesus Christ is making all things new! The cross and resurrection assure us that evil, sorrow, and death do not have the final word. Revelation 21:4 promises a day when God will wipe away every tear and when mourning, crying, and pain will be no more.

Our hearts rightly ache at the brokenness of the world, but that grief should turn our eyes upward to the hope secured by Christ. The hope of a renewed creation, where justice will roll down like waters and peace will prevail without end. This hope fuels endurance even now in the present. Believers live between the “already” of Christ’s victory and the “not yet” of His final restoration.  Our labor in the Lord is not in vain.

When violence shakes our nation, Christians are called to respond differently than the world. We respond with gospel hope. We lament over the loss of life. We call sin what it is. We pray for justice. We also advocate for better policies that will prevent these types of things from happening again. Yet we also remember that the answer to human depravity is not found in stronger arguments or sharper weapons, but in the crucified and risen Christ