According to the ancient Greek myth, a curious Pandora opens a box releasing all manner of evils into the world, among them turmoil, strife, jealousy, and hatred. Too late she realises that there’s no way to put them back in, but then discovers hope lying at the bottom of the box – all may not lost after all.
In 2016 Donald Trump, opened a Pandora’s box in order to win popular support and the race to the White House, stirring up turmoil, strife, jealousy and hatred along the way. He won the race, but like Pandora will find that the box can’t now so easily be shut. History is littered with the terrible consequences of those who have gone down a similar path, and given licence to the same feelings in society.
But all is not lost because hope remains. The story of Pandora is just a myth, but the certain hope that lies at the heart of the Christian faith is the historical certainty of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Events that achieved both a conclusive defeat of all evils, and also the means of reconciliation. While many, therefore, are in despair at the box that Trump has opened, it is the people of God following Jesus who have the power to shut it.