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| Sacred Heart at the centre of a rose window, Santa Ifigênia Church, São Paulo, Brazil |
Pastor Tom Johnson, March 20, 2022
Jesus’ words today go to the very heart of the age-old question “Why do bad things happen to good people?” Somebody shows up and tells Jesus the latest news: Pontius Pilate, in his customary cruelty, kills Galilean worshipers while they are bringing offerings to the Temple mixing their human blood with animal sacrifice. Today’s headlines are no less cruel and tragic. Russia bombs a maternity and children’s hospital in Ukraine. People and even children are killed routinely by stray bullets walking on the sidewalks, sitting in their homes, and driving in their cars. What strikes me about this Scripture is Jesus’ reaction. First of all, it is not news to him. He knows the cruelty of Pontius Pilate. One day he knows that he will also suffer under Pontius Pilate as we confess in our Creed. He knows how evil we humans can be to one another. There is indeed nothing new under the sun.
There is something even more extraordinary than Jesus’ knowing his shared fate under Pontius Pilate. Jesus knows the thoughts and intentions of the hearts around him. He can hear the inner dialogue of the others around him who hear the news. Jesus says, “Do you think…do you think that these Galileans suffered in this way were worse sinners than all the other Galileans?” In other words, in our desperation to make sense of human suffering, the path of least resistance is often to suppose these Galileans had it coming to them to die this way. It’s easier to suppose that bad things happen to bad people Jesus is just as disturbed to hear these merciless thoughts around him as he is the tragic news of innocent worshipers being slaughtered in the temple. That is why Jesus responds so forcefully to such diabolical thinking. Instead of bringing platitudes of comfort, Jesus brings his disciples deeper into the mystery of why bad things happen to good people. He mentions the 18 unsuspecting people who died when a structurally unsound tower fell. Again, was this random, tragic incident orchestrated by an angry and vindictive God? There is nothing more disturbing to Jesus than for us to think of God as some pagan god of mischief or some cosmic force of karma that doles out severe consequences for our sins.
Jesus says, “Repent!” You and I need to repent of such cruel notions of God and false religion. Repentance is not only a change of mind but a change of the mind itself—a rewiring of the mind to have the mind of Christ. Our reading from Isaiah says it this way: “Let the…unrighteous [forsake their ways and] thoughts… For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isa 55:7-9).
On September 11, 2001, I was in El Paso, Texas watching the second airplane crash into the second trade tower. The next day, I went to a Christian high school where I taught one class a few days a week. One of the teachers told the staff that her pastor believed the trade towers coming down were predicted in Scripture and that the greedy Wall Street workers got what they all deserved. It was God’s judgment, she said. Even more recently, we have the reaction to all the tragic deaths due to Covid19. There are many instances of people celebrating and mocking those who got infected and even died who were on the opposite side of the political spectrum. No, Jesus reminds us, our hearts should break and ache at the news of any suffering or death even when bad things happen to people we consider bad. The prophet Ezekiel (33:11) says, “Say to them, As I live, says the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from their ways and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways.” No, God’s justice includes mercy, and patience. That’s the point of the parable of the fig tree. God is the gardener who does not want to cut down the unfruitful tree but wants to give it a second and third chance. As Scripture says, “The Lord is patient with you, not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance” (2 Pet 3:9).
Jesus’ stern warning that we will suffer the same fate if we judge is meant for us to reflect on the great command to love our neighbor as ourselves. So we should consider how we would want others explaining the tragedies we suffer. Instead of calling our suffering poetic justice, we would want their empathy and prayers. So Jesus wants us to cultivate the same heart for people as the gardener does for the unfruitful fig tree. Earlier in Luke’s Gospel, Jesus says, “Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.” And so he teaches us to pray, “Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.” God wants us to be like him: “merciful and gracious, slow to anger [and judgment], and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness” (Ex 34:6).
Jesus never says why the Galileans suffered under Pontius Pilate. He leaves it a mystery. But what is not a mystery is God’s character. God is love. And he wants us to fill our hearts with the same compassion and love for others. Jesus does not explain away the suffering under Pontius Pilate. Instead, Jesus takes upon himself the suffering under Pontius Pilate and the weight of the sin of the world. He does not explain it away. He takes it away. He nails it to the cross—not to give our suffering meaning but his suffering meaning to deliver us from evil and on the third day raise us with him to eternal life.
Be still, my soul; the Lord is on your side;
Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain;
Leave to your God to order and provide;
In ev'ry change He faithful will remain.
Be still, my soul; your best, your heav'nly Friend
Through thorny ways leads to a joyful end.
(“Be Still, My Soul,” LSB 752, v. 1)
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