Why?

The Third Sunday of Lent
March 18, 2001

By
The Rev. Ann M. Smith

Based on Luke 13:1-9

Lent is a time for us to reflect on and renew our relationship with God. We may hunger and thirst for such renewal, and yet things happen that we cannot explain. We witness terrible disasters in the world around us. We experience pain and suffering in our own lives. We begin to wonder about the existence of a God.

We all ask that age-old question. Why do bad things happen to good people? The Titanic, an indestructible ship, sinks. Hundreds of people die. A chosen few are spared. Why?

A twister rips through a community uprooting everything in its path. One person is ripped out of his living room and hurled into oblivion. Another is left unscathed. Why?

A country is torn apart by civil war. One race rises up against another and slaughters indiscriminately. A whole culture is wiped out. Why?

About the time of Jesus, there was an uprising, a Jewish demonstration in Jerusalem. Religious Jews, part of a peaceful plea for religious tolerance, were brutally suppressed by Pilate. They were simply slaughtered for their faith. Why? Jesus’ hearers put it down as many do, to the sinfulness of those who lost their lives. It must be their fault. They must have done terrible things in their lives to bring about such a disaster.

Jesus tells a story that brings it closer to home for them, a local story. During the construction of the pool at Siloam there is a terrible disaster. Eighteen of the construction workers are killed when a wall collapses on them. The story has naturally created a sensation. People are outraged. How could God permit it to happen? Did they die because they were sinful? After all, these were people just like them, upstanding citizens of Galilee. If it happened to Joe down the street could it happen to me? He sat there with me in church just last week. Could God simply zap me from the sky and bring an end to my existence?

The Gospel addresses one of the most frightening questions involved in our relationship with God: the injustice done to people by other people and by natural disasters. There is a tendency when terrible things happen in a community to lay blame. We either blame the victim, or we blame God. Jesus asks them to consider the possibility that the whole of society is responsible for what happened. They did not die because of their sinfulness any more than we live because of our righteousness. Suffering and sin are simply not linked that way. What we need to consider is how to bring about our own wholeness and right relationship with God, and ultimately the wholeness of society. We need to find a way to nurture hungry souls.

Luke, whose gospel we are following at the moment, was a doctor. And so time and time again as I read the gospel I realize that the stories that he tells come to us through the eyes of a doctor. He sees that the world is sick. All of humanity is sick. It needs healing. Over and over again, Luke points out that Jesus' work amongst us is to bring about real healing, the wholeness of the human condition.

Luke comes across to me as a knowledgeable doctor. For the one thing that he clearly understands is that healing must come from within the one who is sick. Good doctors know that. They may not say it. But they know that they cannot heal you. They can only help you to create the conditions under which you might heal. They can prescribe the right medications. They can offer advice on lifestyle. But the real healing comes from within the one who is sick. It is by doing everything the doctor prescribes, by taking care of oneself, that one has the best chance of becoming well.

It is clear that Jesus understood that as well. It is reflected in what he said after many of his healings. "Your faith has saved you. Your faith has made you whole."

It is like the parable that Jesus tells in today's gospel about the fig tree that does not bear fruit. The owner, we are told, is ready to cut it down. After three years the tree has certainly reached maturity and should be bearing fruit. "Give it a little more time," the gardener advises. "I will come and dig around it. I will fertilize it. I will care for it as best I can. And if it still does not have any fruit next year then you can cut it down." And basically that is all that can possibly be done. The rest is up to the tree. No amount of wishing can produce fruit on it. Without the right conditions within the tree nothing will ever change.

The parable is a good description - perhaps prescription is a better word - of what we need in order to become spiritually whole. For healing to take place, the conditions must be right. Changes must be made. That requires the forgiveness of the past and beginning to live a healed existence. The question of how and why we got into our present state is not important. It is not a question of who is responsible for the state of society. The question is not about responsibility or laying blame, but about change and wholeness. It is about being fruit bearing Christians. It is about being everything that God intends us to be. It is about a society so changed and transformed that it reflects God’s kingdom here on earth.

And the wonderful thing about it is that the way to wholeness is open to us. There is another opportunity to come into right relationship with God. God prunes us and stirs us up so that we are able to be everything that God intends us to be. We cannot explain human suffering. We cannot explain why one person dies while another is spared.

The clear message of the gospel is that, as the community of the faithful, we are responsible for one another. Our personal lives, the community of which we are a part, are all created for one purpose, to help us to bear that responsibility. Not to lay blame, not to blame ourselves, not to rescue, but to take responsibility for one another, to be accountable, not only for our own lives, but for the lives of those who share our Christian journey.

We cannot explain the actions of God. God cannot be explained, but God can be experienced. Jesus is present again and again whenever we allow him into our lives. He is with us through pain and sickness. He is with us through disaster. His love quenches our thirst and satisfies our hunger. We reach out to others and God’s kingdom comes. Amen.