All Saints Lutheran Church
Pastor Raita Neely
Luke 13: 1-9 "Why?"
March 14, 2004 Lent 3C

This morning, let's do some imagining. It is Saturday, late afternoon. Jesus and his disciples have spent a busy day teaching at a workshop on Spiritual Growth, followed by spending some time with kids at Courage Center, and then a short visit to Sharing and Caring Hands. Jesus is preaching at a Saturday evening worship service at Luther Seminary, but they have a couple of hours to relax. So they pop some popcorn, and watch a bit of basketball on TV. The next thing they know, the national news is on, the day's tragedies are rehearsed. In Spain 200 are dead and 1,400 more injured as terrorists bomb a train. Before anyone can recover from that incomprehensible and sad news, comes a report that there have been shootings in Minneapolis and St. Paul, and a grandfather in California has killed at least eight of his grandchildren. As the McDonald's add comes on, the disciples pose the question, "Jesus, who sinned? Whose responsibility are these events? Why is there so much suffering in the world?"

Jesus replies, "The people who died were no bigger sinners than anyone else. Tragedy does not always indicate lack of morality. Bad things don't happen only to bad people." And then Jesus takes his disciples by surprise in saying, " Unless you start going in the right direction, you will die just as tragically."

The disciples, much like you and I were trying to make sense of human suffering. They were trying to find purpose, some reason, for the violence and sad events of the day. Behind their questions was the same question we sometimes ask, "What horrible thing did these people do to cause God to abandon them in this way?"

Today's gospel lesson reminds us that such questions are not new to the 21st. century. Perhaps we feel threatened ourselves, and therefore desire to separate ourselves from "those people." We are not like them; "they" are different. We would like to think that what happened to them cannot happen to us. If only we can separate ourselves from them spatially or verbally, we will not be contaminated, we won't "catch" whatever it is they have. We crave an answer, an explanation, a cause and effect equation with which our minds can ascribe sense to something which makes no sense. Or is it that we hunt for some cause to explain the effect, in hopes that we can stop causing it. We are less interested in truth than consequences. What we want above all is control over the chaos of our lives.

It is as though we have never really heard Jesus when he announced God's favor on the poor, the maimed, the blind, the crippled. Jesus' teaching in itself should have broken any insistence that one's financial, social, or physical condition is always a direct reflection of one's spiritual state. The common observation that sometimes the evil prosper and sometimes saints suffer should have shattered the finger pointing that started thousands of years ago and continues today. In fact, that Jesus of Nazareth, Lord and Christ of God, suffered at the hands of humanity should have buried forever the connection that argues that those who suffer are the worst sinners. But it has not.

Jesus does not give us an explanation. He does give us a response, "I tell you, unless you repent you will all perish likewise." With his response, Jesus shifts the focus from "them" and "those people" to "all of us." Jesus does not allow us any false distinctions with which to protect ourselves or think ourselves superior. He rejects the notion that calamities come to people in payment for their sins. He makes the clear point that we all are sinful and we all need repentance.

This is part of our Lenten journey, it is a time to acknowledge our sin. Each of us must admit our vulnerability to and at the same time participation in suffering, pain and death. We participate in a society that tolerates violence in our homes and on the streets. We participate in a society where people are left without shelter, clothing or food. Many fall in between society's cracks. We fail to see others as whole persons, instead we focus on a trait that for one reason or another repels us, and define them by that trait. We contaminate our air, our soil, our water, our food, in so doing, we jeopardize our children's and grandchildren's future. We build more and more weapons and we use them.

It's rather peculiar that Jesus doesn't really tackle our favorite questions in this our human story. We wish he would indulge us at least a little bit. Does God act in the world today? Is our whole life simply an exercise in randomness? Why doesn't God do something? Does malice and chance rule in our world?

Jesus is shifting the conversation away from God's responsibility and toward us. We love the God question. Where was God when this happened? We are far less comfortable, however, discussing our own role in the suffering and injustice of this world.

It is far easier to locate evil in somebody or something else rather than in ourselves. Far easier to rant and rave at the evening news rather than ask what can I do here, or what I'm going to do about that or consider how the way I now live may, in fact, be contributing to the events that are happening in the world. In today's gospel, Jesus will not allow his followers to blame others or God.

Ulitmately, our obsession with headlines is just a diversion from the real territory Jesus wants to enter. There are bloody tragedies every day across our country and in our world. I don't deny that. But Jesus goes in another direction. First he calls us to repentance which holds the promise of forgiveness. Then, with the parable of the fig tree he takes us into the world of God's mercy.

Jesus tells us the story of a gardener who hoped to rescue a barren fig tree. His imagery is not too subtle: we recognize right away that we are the fig tree, God is the owner, Jesus is the gardener.

God's word of judgment, that our barrenness is a sign that we should be cut down, is quickly followed by a word of forgiveness and hope. The gardener suggests that we must be properly cultivated and adequately fertilized. The compassionate gardener assures the owner of the tree that he will "dig around the tree and put manure on it." He wants to do everything possible to nurture so that we will begin to bear fruit that produce justice, love and compassion

Throughout Scripture Jesus has promised to meet us, to teach us and to guide us. Are we disrespectful if we think of daily Bible study as manure for the soul? Jesus meets us in the Word. Are we wrong to think that prayer feeds us more than food? Jesus encourages us to pray, because the Father wants to hear from us. I think the tears of joy and pain we shed together with those in need and the small ways that we can ease their lives give living water to our spirits. Jesus promised to be among the poor, the thirsty, the hungry. He cultivates our souls when we are attending to acts of justice, compassion, and service that break up the hard soil that forms around our hearts. Jesus calls us to be good Samaritans. Jesus invites us to feast with him, sharing bread and wine - as his body becomes part of us, we know community and joy. We come to realize more fully that with Christ within us, we can begin to be his heart, and hands, and feet for the world. We find out that Jesus has a green thumb, reviving what others count as dead and coaxing the wayward to repentance. So through and in our relationship with the gardener, we will bear sweet, juicy, God pleasing fruit and make a difference in our world.

This morning we need to be very clear that the fruit borne by a well-tended soul will not prevent our death. Ultimately we all must confront the certainty of our death and the death of all those whom we know and love.

Our family has been living with the vulnerability of life as our little twin grandsons continue to fight for eevery ounce that will give them life. Their low birth weight is a liability. The immaturity of their systems demands round the clock special care. They need to be reminded to breathe. Any infection is life threatening. We are so grateful for the wonderful care they are receiving and for your prayers, in many countries they would not have survived their first day.

Yes, in the midst of life we are in death. But Jesus calls us to live the life we have fully, cultivating and nurturing our souls with daily care and attention. Jesus tells us that as we walk with God who created us and loves us, we will have life and will have it abundantly. At the same time, we live in penitence and trust before God, and that penitent trust is not to be linked to life's sorrows or life's joys. Life in the kingdom is not an elevated game of gaining favors and avoiding losses.

The parable of the fig tree says that the story is not over. The gardener says, wait, give more time. And as long as there is still bread and wine for us to share at this table today, as long as there is still water for us to remember out baptism, then there is still time and hope. Time to repent, time to receive forgiveness, and time to live with compassion. Coming to terms with the precarious dimensions of life help us to discover how precious life is. Your life is precious to you, and even more precious to God. You and I are responsible and accountable to God for using this precious life well as we serve God. There is yet time, for God's mercy is still in serious conversation with God's judgment.