Gospel Reflection for Sunday March 20th, 3rd Sunday of Lent By Brian Maher OMI
Why do bad things happen to good people?
The age old question which has exercised the minds of philosophers since sentient beings walked upon the earth. For those who believe in a God, particularly those who believe in one God who is omni (all)-everything (all-powerful, all-knowing, all-present, all-good, all-merciful, all-everything), the question becomes this: How could an all-powerful, all-good God allow evil to exist in the world (suffering, war, natural disasters, disease, etc.)?
Without doubt it is a question, maybe even a problem, for philosophers and theologians. But all of us experience pain, illness, bereavement, tragedy, betrayal, injustice in our own lives or in the lives of those we love, and so the question, “How can God allow terrible things to happen?” is a question for all of us. If we are to truly develop a relationship with our God it is important, I think, to search within our hearts for a personal answer to this question.
Today’s Gospel sees Jesus being asked this very question. As frequently happened to him, he is being tested by those seeking to trap him into saying something which would outrage those listening and lose him popularity.
The “Galileans whose blood Pilate mingled with that of their sacrifices” refers to a group of worshippers, good-living, moral, practising Jews who were slaughtered by the Romans while they were in the temple, at prayer, offering their sacrifices. Why should they die at the hands of cruel and evil men?
The “eighteen on whom the tower at Siloam fell and killed them” refers to eighteen people killed accidentally when a tower collapsed on them. Why would God allow this to happen?
The common answer at the time, used to explain almost every evil which befell a person, either through cruelty and injustice or accidentally, was the existence of some ‘sin’ in that person’s life, known only to God, for which they were being justly punished.
It is a strange and simplistic answer to suffering and injustice which sets people up as judges of others, ready to condemn innocent victims of tragedy as ‘sinners’ being punished by God. Sadly, it is an answer still found in various strands of religious fundamentalism. Those of us old enough to remember the early eighties will recall the cruel naming of HIV AIDS as the “Gay Disease”, implying it was God’s punishment on homosexuals. What incredible arrogance it is to set oneself up as the moral judge, not just of a person’s visible actions or words, but of what may or may not be in their hearts. The fact that it is done in the name of God makes the offence so much worse.
Interestingly, and as Jesus always did, he avoided entering into a dualistic, right/wrong argument which could only result in confrontation and a withdrawal into tribal “I’m right / you’re wrong” statements which can have no winners. Rather, Jesus tells them what did not cause their tragic deaths and he does so strongly, clearly, and with authority. “You can be certain…” he told them, “…that their deaths were not caused by God because of some sin or guilt they carry within them.”
More than this he warns them that they would be better served looking into the sins of their own hearts rather than judging others.
Whenever, in the Gospels, Jesus confronts hypocrisy, pride and arrogance he always speaks with conviction and confidence. There are things, he seems to say, which can never be part of God’s Kingdom, and anyone wanting a place in this Kingdom needs to take note, repent what they are saying or doing, and start again with a heart that is generous, tolerant, compassionate and loving.
The God Jesus is constantly revealing to us is not a harsh God, counting up our sins, punishing us in this world and the next, for everything we have done. We may pretend, in our pride, that we know the mind of God and label those who suffer or are poor or are different to us, as sinners whose unfortunate situation is God’s judgement on them…… but we do so at our peril.
Jesus warns us that by making ourselves into Gods we close ourselves to the God who is love. We see only ourselves and our vision becomes narrower and narrower until we essentially block God altogether.
This, for me, has to be what Hell is; a place where only I exist, eternally alone in my own self-righteousness, seeing tolerance and forgiveness as signs of weakness, building an ever growing wall around myself, a wall which ultimately blocks out the true God – the God revealed in Jesus – leaving only me, an ever shrinking ‘God’, eternally ‘right’, eternally lonely, eternally unable to see anyone other than myself.
No wonder Jesus calls us so forcefully to “repent, lest we perish”. Jesus wants nothing more for us than that we experience the love of God. He wants us to experience the joy and happiness of the Gospel; he wants us to meet a God who loved us enough to walk among us, die for us and rise again, revealing a Kingdom which is greater even than death. It is a Kingdom which is there for me, for all, if we are open enough to want it and enter into it with sincerity and humility, allowing ourselves to be drawn into the love which is God, sharing it with others rather than losing ourselves in a spiral of loneliness, pride and self-righteousness which does not allow God to enter.
And if, by chance, you find yourself far from this wonderful Kingdom we are invited to be part of, and if you see within yourself the seeds of pride, selfishness, judgement and self-righteousness, do not despair.
Read the rest of today’s Gospel – the tiny parable of the man looking for fruit from his fig tree and finding no fruit there. In his anger at finding no fruit he demands that the tree be uprooted and destroyed. But the man who tends the trees, the man who knows how a fig tree grows and matures better than anyone else, says gently, “Leave it one more year. Give me time to dig around it and manure it.”
This is our God. Always there, always patient. He doesn’t judge us or cast us away if we are not producing fruit at this time. God “gives us time”, always, to repent, to return, to open ourselves to the God revealed in Jesus – never judging us, never punishing us, always patient and waiting for us, offering us life and joy in the Resurrection.
In “the Joy of the Gospel”, Pope Francis asks us this question:
“Why should we not also enter into this great stream of joy which is the Gospel?” (EG. 5)
The answer has to be, only our own pride and our own self-righteousness.
Repentance, this Lent, is no further from us than opening ourselves to the Gospel. The important thing, however, is that we hear it through the words and actions of Jesus and not through our own narrow, self-serving image of God. This is a lot easier said than done, but we can begin, and that is enough.
If God does not see wonderful success and constant love in our lives, then he will not judge us or condemn us. He will gently and patiently ‘leave us for another year’, just waiting for our return.
Let us walk with God without fear.
Many thanks,
Brian.
If you have any comments, questions or thoughts on this scripture reflection you would like to share, I would be delighted to hear from you – please feel free to email me at b.maher@oblates.ie
| Gospel Sunday March 20th | Luke 13:1-9 © |
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