Right now, in the midst of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, many people are asking, why are such horrible things happen to innocent people? Why does there seem to be so much evil in the world? The people of Eastern Australia are asking why are we suffering from 1000-year flooding that has displaced millions of people? And in the meantime, the people of Asia and the Pacific Nations are struggling with a new variant of COVID. Why are they suffering? Natural disasters, human disasters, war, calamities, sickness and death can strike any of us at any time. And most of the time we are helpless as individuals to do anything about it.
In today’s Gospel, Luke 13: 1-9, Jesus confronts the question, why do bad things happen to people? Why did Pilate kill and desecrate Jews from Galilee? Jesus counters with the question “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way, they were greater sinners than all other Galileans?” What about “the eighteen people who died when the tower Siloam fell on them”? He tells his questioners “If you do not repent, you will all perish as they did”! At first reading Jesus’ response seems very harsh. All of us are going to die. Does Jesus mean that if we do not repent that some calamity will happen to us?
No, Jesus reminds us through these two tragic examples and the parable of the fig tree that God does not judge us on how we die. Rather, God judges us on how we live. A barren fig tree is useless in God’s eyes. However, under the care of a good gardener and with cultivation and fertilizer it has the potential to bear fruit. God wants us to weed out our sinfulness, prune away our bad behavior and free ourselves from anything that might strangle the roots that help us grow in his love. God calls us to repent so that we can become productive citizens of the Kingdom. All of us are sinners. Our only hope is repentance, total conversion to new life, through the good news of salvation offered to us by the suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And the reason we have to repent now is, as St. Matthew reminds us " you do not know on which day your Lord will come…. be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.” (Matt. 24: 42, 44).
For those of you who aren’t afraid to struggle with some of these seemingly unanswerable questions, I have a reading suggestion, a book called SERIOUSLY GOD? Making Sense of Life Not Making Sense by Michael White and Tom Corcoran published by Ave Maria Press. It is not a difficult book to read and it may help.
And so, we pray:
Patient God,
we are reluctant and slow
to make the change of heart we need.
Give us the time to understand
Give us the time to understand
the extent of your mercy and your love,
which your Son Jesus showed us
which your Son Jesus showed us
in its fullness in his suffering and death.
Recognize your own Son in us
Recognize your own Son in us
and accept us in our poverty.
Raise us up, and change us,
Raise us up, and change us,
so we may proclaim your persistent love,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
