Disaster!
(Ex.3:1-8, 13-15; 1Cor.10:1-6, 10-12; Lk.13:1-9)
Every year, accidents, natural disasters and war bring death, destruction and despair to countless people around the world.
When such tragic events occur, people understandably seek answers, and sometimes they ask, ‘Why did God let this happen?’ Or even ‘why did God make this happen?’
They think that God uses disasters to punish people.
Today, I want to remind you that God is love (1Jn.4:8), and that he does not use disasters to punish us. There are always other reasons for the bad things that happen. The terrible landslide that occurred in Papua New Guinea last year wasn’t God’s doing. It was caused by heavy rainfall.
The fires that devastated Los Angeles recently were caused by sparking power lines, heavy winds and unusually dry conditions.
There are always other reasons for the bad things that happen.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus talks to his disciples about two disasters. The first involves several Galileans who were killed in the Jerusalem Temple. We know what happened because the Jewish historian Josephus tells us about it.
Jerusalem was short of water, and Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor, wanted to solve the problem. He planned to build an aqueduct, but didn’t have the money. So, he decided to take it from the Temple. The Jewish people strongly objected, however, and one day a mob gathered to protest.
Pilate gathered his troops and told them to hide clubs under their cloaks. He instructed them to mingle with the crowd and on his signal to break up the mob. When the riot began, the soldiers were ruthless and several people died.
When Jesus heard this news, he said, ‘don’t think that those who were killed in the riot were greater sinners than the others in the mob.’ In other words, there is no connection between sin and punishment in this life.
Jesus then mentions an incident where a tower on the south-eastern wall of Jerusalem collapsed, killing 18 people. Again, he says, ‘do you think they were more guilty of sin than everyone else in Jerusalem? They were not, I tell you.’
In other words, don’t think that God deliberately punishes people for their sins. When someone suffers from some hurt, misfortune or serious disappointment, don’t blame it on God. However, many people do blame God. They blame his anger for tragedies like the Indian Ocean tsunami and the floods in India.
But Jesus says that’s not right, and then in the second half of today’s Gospel, he goes on to explain the nature of God’s love in his Parable of the Fig-tree.
This is the story of a tree that has produced no fruit for three years. The owner wants it cut down, but the gardener wants to give it another chance. He promises to dig around it and fertilise it, and see if it does better next year.
The point Jesus makes is that God is this compassionate gardener, and he’s always patient towards us, even when we don’t do the right thing. He’s not out to punish us.
This is the same message we get from Jesus’ Parable of the Prodigal Son, which is in next week’s Gospel (Lk.15:11-24). A young man commits two terrible sins: he rejects his father and he squanders his inheritance on sinful living. Then, totally destitute, he is forced to return home.
But his father isn’t angry. He is disappointed, but he doesn’t seek to punish his son. Instead, he waits patiently for him to return, and when he finally sees him, the father rushes out to greet him, kisses him and calls for a celebration.
This is what our Father God is like. He is full of mercy and compassion; he is light and not darkness (1Jn.1:5). And he is just like his Son Jesus, who we know is the loving Prince of Peace. ‘The Father and I are one’ (Jn.10:30), Jesus says. He also says, ‘If you really know me, then you know the Father’ (Jn.14:7).
Jesus’ life is all about healing, not pain; it’s about making all things new, instead of destroying them. And as we heard in Psalm 102 today, ‘the Lord is kind and merciful.’
This is our God. He is love itself; he does not cause disasters. There are many other reasons for them, like natural forces, or our own human foolishness and sin.
But God does let these things happen. Why? It’s because he wants us to learn from them. He wants us to let go of our worldly obsessions; to put our faith and trust in him, instead of in things. He wants us much closer to him.
And through Jesus, he teaches us how to respond at these difficult times – with deep patience, profound mercy and compassion, and unfailing love.
Just like God himself.