Responding to unspeakable violence
"The Crucified is the One most traumatized. He has borne the World Trade Center. He has carried the Iraq war, the destruction in Syria, the Rwandan massacres, the AIDS crisis, the poverty of our inner cities, and the abused and trafficked children... He has been in the darkness. He has known the loss of all things. He has been abandoned by his Father. He has been to hell. There is no part of any tragedy that he has not known or carried. He has done this so that none of us need face tragedy alone because he has been there before us and will go with us."
—Diane Langberg
Unspeakable violence is all around us. Many times, we treat it like an unsettling scene in a movie. Some of us fast-forward. We skip a disturbing moment to mitigate the psychological alarm. Other times, we just watch it, and over time, become less and less alarmed or more and more angry. Or we just stop watching scary movies.
Two years ago, a woman was brutally assaulted by seven male students at Cornell University. Only this week has the story come to public light. Early reporting seems to indicate that the school's administration was negligent in its response to this injustice. If we're not careful, we'll treat this moment like a scary scene. We'll scroll to the next story, watch with numb disillusionment, stir with anger, or stop reading the news altogether.
God's Word offers a different way.
In Psalm 82, Asaph begins by lamenting the unspeakable. He aches with a question: "How long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked?" Then he gets specific: "Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute." Asaph names the injustice. Those in positions of power have favored the strong and overlooked the vulnerable. They've tipped the scales in favor of the guilty. The psalmist calls them out. Finally, there's resistance: "Arise, O God, judge the earth; for you shall inherit all the nations!" Notice the resistance is deeply spiritual. Asaph isn’t taking matters into his own angry hands. His resistance comes under the shadow of God's power and sovereignty.
The psalmist doesn't fast-forward, grow numb or angry, or look away. He leans in with indignant hope. Ultimately, Asaph's cry for justice is answered. Jesus comes to earth as the Father's ultimate response to unspeakable violence. God doesn't fast-forward, grow numb or angry, or look away. He leans in with his one and only Son, and his Son goes all the way to the cross. Diane Langberg explains, "There is no part of any tragedy that [Jesus] has not known or carried. He has done this so that none of us need face tragedy alone because he has been there before us and will go with us." Jesus endures unspeakable violence for us.
You see, the reason Jesus came—and why it's so important for us to name, lament, and resist injustice—is because for many, violence isn't a scene or a moment. It's a life-altering event. It's their reality and fear. It's a lived trauma. Many don't have the luxury of skipping, remaining unaffected, or simply looking away. And it’s for them that Jesus has come—eyes wide open, never turning away.
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Written by Jason C. Helveston
Psalm 82:2, English Standard Version (ESV).
Psalm 82:3-4, ESV.
Psalm 82:8, ESV. For readers who want to trace the lament-to-resistance pattern in the Psalms further, see also Psalm 10 (the cry "Arise, O LORD!" in v. 12 and "break the arm of the wicked" in v. 15) and Psalm 94:20-23.
Diane Langberg, Suffering and the Heart of God: How Trauma Destroys and Christ Restores (Greensboro, NC: New Growth Press, 2015). The quote used here appears in her chapter on the cross; her fuller line reads, "The Crucified is the One most traumatized... There is no part of any tragedy that he has not known or carried."
On the Cornell University case: the 2024 incident was reopened by the Tompkins County District Attorney's office in late September 2026 after the survivor filed a civil lawsuit, and New York Governor Kathy Hochul called for a review of the university's response. See "Cornell campus rape case reopened by prosecutor as new allegations surface," WSPR/TSPR, September 28, 2026 (https://www.tspr.org/2026-09-28/cornell-campus-rape-case-reopened-by-prosecutor-as-new-allegations-surface); "Cornell fraternity rape case is reopened as Hochul calls for review of school response," WESA, September 28, 2026 (https://www.wesanews.org/national-international-news/2026-09-28/cornell-fraternity-rape-case-is-reopened-as-hochul-calls-for-review-of-school-response). Because no criminal charges have been filed, the assault described is alleged.
Diane Langberg, Redeeming Power: Understanding Authority and Abuse in the Church (Brazos Press, 2020), on why institutions - including churches and universities - drift toward protecting themselves rather than the vulnerable.
