Luke 13:1-9
Third Sunday of Lent February 28, 2016
Why do people suffer? There are two popular responses to this question. One is that it is our fault, which means that we can change it. Telling a cancer patient that if Lance Armstrong can beat cancer, they can, too, or that they just need to think positively implies that their illness is under their control. Ask a parent of a child with autism if they have tried juicing implicitly says, “You can fix this!”
The other widespread belief is that God causes suffering. “It’s part of God’s plan,” they say. Tell that to someone paralyzed in a car accident, and then think about what kind of God that would be. Personally, I’ve experienced two different cancers. I know that people do mean well when they say these things. Sometimes their comments express a theology different than mine. God does not want people to suffer. I’ve heard people tell parents whose child has died that everything happens for a reason. Telling the parents of a child with a disability that God only gives them what they can handle also tells them that God wanted child with disabilities to be born. Why are children born with disabilities? Why do people get Parkinson’s disease, or chronic depression, or cancer? Why do babies die?
Adding fuel to this fire are some TV evangelists. Picture a wavy haired preacher with a permanent white toothy smile. He’s authored books entitled, It’s Time: Activate Your Faith, Achieve Your Dreams, and Increase God’s Favor, and The Power of I Am: Two Words that Will Change Your Life Today. This last book preaches that we can invite God’s goodness by saying, “I am.” Say, “I am blessed, and blessings will pursue you. Say “I am healthy,” and health heads your way. Say, “I am talented,” and talent follows you. This has not worked for me.
Our experience tells us that this is simply not true. We like to think that people get exactly what they deserve in this life, good or bad. Does any child deserve to be abused or to become a refugee? A tireless worker for racial equality, Martin Luther King was shot and killed as he stood on his balcony to talk to Southern Christian Leadership Conference members below. On the other side, we all know people who take advantage of their position of power to inflict harm on others. You simply need to look to the abuse that has happened in churches. While the Catholic church made the news, no denomination has escaped. Did you know that no hedge-fund managers or Wall Street bankers were punished for the mortgage-banking crisis?
Things get confusing because, as we have learned through our scientific methods of cause and effect, there are bad things that happen for which we are at fault. If I eat only cookies, drink only alcohol, and do not exercise, it won’t be long until I get deathly ill. If I jump out of an airplane without a parachute, I will die. Just like I would if I tried to ski down the Black Diamond slope. Some bad things are consequences of our actions. Some things are our fault. Then there are those things for which we have no one to blame and no answers, like why young people die or why one person gets dementia and another stays sharp until age 94. How hard it is not to know why things happen!
This morning we hear people who came to Jesus asking why, and longing to make sense of recent events. Pilate, the Roman governor, had killed some Galileans while they were making their sacrifices in the temple, and then he mixed their blood with the sacrifices they were making. As these events troubled people’s hearts, Jesus responded to them, “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all the other Galileans?” In other words, did their bad behavior cause this to happen? Pay attention to Jesus’ answer. He said, “No.” Then Jesus tells then about another senseless tragedy of eighteen people who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them. “Do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others living in Jerusalem?” In other words, did they deserve what happened to them? Again Jesus answers his own question, “No.” Jesus offers no explanation for these tragedies. He does not say it was God’s will or divine retribution. St. Paul’s letter to the Romans is applicable here, “For there is no distinction, since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (verses 22b-23).
Pilate’s blood bath reminds us of blood poured out at the mass shootings at Columbine and VA Tech. Those killed by the falling of the tower of Siloam reminds us of those who were crushed when the Twin Towers toppled on 9/11. Were they worse sinners than everyone else? No. Is there an acceptable explanation for these tragedies? No. Were these events God’s will? No. In all these things, God’s heart is the first to break.
Even though these catastrophes are not a punishment for sin, Jesus does not throw judgment out the window.[1] “Repent,” he tells us. Turn back to God. God cares about how we live our lives, and how we treat each other, and how we care for God’s creation. God wants all people have a full life.
Jesus continues, telling us a parable about a fig tree in the vineyard, a fig tree with no figs on it. “Cut it down!” the vineyard owner said. ‘It’s wasting soil!” We, who are so results oriented, probably agree with the owner. If your metrics at work are off for the month, you are out of there. If something breaks, we throw it in the trash. The gardener, however, wants to provide the tree with all it needs to thrive. “Give it one more year. I will dig around it. I will put natural fertilizer on it. I will give it what it needs.” This is our God, the one who will not give up on those who stray, who sweeps the house all night looking for a lost coin, and leaves the 99 sheep to find the one has wandered away. Our God is the father who stands on the porch waiting, looking for us to return, and runs in his robe to greet us when we come home.
Jesus did not give any answers to our questions of why. Jesus gave us a promise and an invitation. “Come to me. Return to me. Bring your tears and your anger. I will care for you. I will love you in your living and your dying.” This Lenten season, you are invited to return
[1] Food for thought –judgment and justice are inextricably linked.