For thousands of years people have asked, why do bad things happen to good people? Why do innocent people suffer? In today’s gospel, Luke 13:1-9, some people pose similar questions to Jesus. We could ask Jesus, why did an armed terrorist kill fifty people at prayer in Christchurch, New Zealand? Did the Muslims of Christchurch suffer this calamity “because they are greater sinners than all other” people? What about the people in the mid-western USA? Did they suffer debilitating floods and a bomb cyclone because “they were more guilty than everyone else who live[s]” in the USA? Jesus’ response is emphatically, “By no means”! Natural disasters, human disasters, calamities, sickness and death can strike any of us at any time. And because bad things can and do happen to everyone, we cannot afford to become complacent.
As Christians, we should be prepared for whatever life in this world hurls at us – disaster, tragedy, illness or death. In the gospel Jesus reminds the people around him and us that we must repent so that we are not caught unaware. Repentance means changing. It means turning away from whatever separates us from God. It means living life in a different way. It means being prepared to live in the kingdom right now. In today’s second reading from 1 Corinthians 10:1-6, 10-12, St. Paul says, “whoever thinks he is standing secure should take care not to fall.” In reality we are all going to fall at some time or another. St. Paul goes on to say, “No trial has come to you but what is human. God is faithful and will not let you be tried beyond your strength; but with the trial he will also provide a way out, so that you may be able to bear it” (1 Cor. 10:13). The strength St. Paul promises us comes from our repentance and the grace that follows in reconciliation and forgiveness.
Jesus offers us the parable of the fig tree as a sign of hope. God our Father does not give up on us. God is merciful and offers us every opportunity to repent and bear fruit. Of course, bearing fruit requires cultivation and fertilization. It requires hard work. True repentance is something we have to strive for every day. True repentance increases our capacity to love, to forgive, to be renewed and to accept the gift of salvation offered to us through the suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, out Lord and Savior.
God of
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,
you revealed your name to Moses
in the burning bush;
in the burning bush;
and you revealed your mercy to
every generation in the life and teaching of Jesus.
every generation in the life and teaching of Jesus.
Open our minds to the wisdom of his Gospel
that we may grasp the lessons you teach us
in the events of our daily lives.
We ask this through Christ, our deliverance and hope,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
holy and mighty God for ever and ever.
AMEN.
