"If you do not repent, you will all perish"
The Word:
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/032325-YearC.cfm
O God, author of every
mercy and all goodness,
Who is fasting, prayer and
almsgiving
Have shown us a remedy for
sin,
Look graciously on this confession
of our lowliness,
That we, who are bowed
down by our conscience,
May always be lifted up by
your mercy.
Through our Lord Jesus
Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with
you
in the unity of the Holy
Spirit
God, forever and ever.
(Collect of Mass)
In the midst of our journey through Lent, this Sunday we are confronted with an age-old question about the nature of God and the seeming random events of life; mostly the bad stuff that seems to happen. You may be familiar with the statement: “Nothing happens by chance.” Frankly, I often wonder is it purposeful or is it random? Does God permit rather than cause? And if so, why? Are we victims of our own choices? Does God really bring punishment on the bad? These are questions that often concern us.
God’s wisdom is beyond our own and he remains forever
the kind of burning bush experience we hear of in our first reading today in
the book of Exodus. God speaks to Moses
from a bush that burns with fire but is not consumed: “I am who am” or short
form: “I AM” is the name God gives to Moses. Such a name is not really a name
as such but rather a statement of God’s existence. God cannot be contained or identified by an
individual name as the pagan gods. He is
rather, as St. Thomas Aquinas states, totally Other. God cannot be limited or contained, nor can
we comprehend his fullness and ultimate purpose. Yet he communicates in a
personal way to his creation and to humankind as we see in Abraham, Moses,
Jesus and in our times of prayer.
As true as this is, the question about evil remains
unanswered. Was God the cause of the suffering of the Hebrew slaves and now,
through Moses, their liberator? To assume that God’s purposeful hand is the
cause of all the bad that happens is to assume that God is both the determined
cause of tragedy and blessings. If that
is true, then God appears to be both a sadistic dictator and a compassionate
healer at the same time. He takes some sort of perverted pleasure in the
suffering of the guilty and allows the righteous to enjoy blessings. Our Gospel
from Luke this Sunday is a classic example of this viewpoint.
In other words, the crowds revealed a general
understanding of that time: sinners were punished by God and the innocent were
blessed. So, in this example, what
seemed a great abomination by Pontius Pilate was really God using him to punish
these Galileans who were notorious sinners.
In answer to their inquiry, Jesus does a very Jewish
thing – he answers a question with another question and uses the example of a
tower in Siloam which fell upon and killed eighteen people: “Do you think they
were guiltier than everyone else who lived in Jerusalem? By no means!” (Lk 13:
3-4).
Jesus’ statement: “By no means” is telling. So, does our God go around causing tragedy
and suffering as retribution upon the guilty?
I think not. Yet, it’s clear he
permits it and the death on the cross of the most innocent human being ever who
walked this earth is the model for that mystery.
God’s purposeful will is beyond us yet up close. Jesus
revealed important things about the nature of God, and so in the Old Testament,
but we remain in darkness about the reason for the existence of evil.
What we do know is that God is not the cause of evil
but out of tragedy he can bring much good. Think of the outpouring of
compassion and generosity from others that often comes after great suffering of
both the guilty and the innocent.
Before him we stand as Moses did: “Remove the sandals
from your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground . . . Moses hid
his face for he was afraid to look at God.”
Yet, this God beyond us, reveals his compassionate
care, his desire to save and set free, his promise to take action on behalf of
the suffering. “I have witnessed the affliction of my people in Egypt and I
have heard their cry of complaint . . . I know well what they are suffering.”
(Ex 3). Does that sound like a God who
deliberately inflicts misery, even on the guilty?
If we put it all together, we find a God of mercy who walks with us in our sadness and our joy. Yet also this Gospel presents a warning to us to, as we heard on Ash Wednesday: “Turn away from sin and be faithful to the Gospel.”
Bad things that happen are not punishment from God for
sin. Rather, he calls us to conversion, away from lives of sin to avoid a dark
end. The way of darkness and sin and pride leads to darkness. The embrace of
repentance and the Gospel leads to eternal life. Those who suffered physical
tragedy were not greater sinners than anyone else, Jesus reminds his audience
and us, but we create our own world of suffering through the choices we make.
In support of this, Jesus uses the image of barren fig
tree as a symbol of the ancient chosen people.
The planter of the tree recognizes that the tree is unproductive,
lifeless, and just stealing much needed nutrients from the soil that could be
used by other more lively plants. The
gardener (God) recommends, however, “Sir, leave it for this year also, and I
shall cultivate the ground around it and fertilize it; it may bear fruit in the
future.” (Lk 13: 8-9).
One more chance, one more opportunity. For this merciful God in Christ Jesus, has
come to walk among us and show us the way to life. No retribution or vengeance
but an invitation to conversion and a new way of life based in mercy and love.
This Lent is the time to wake up and embrace this great truth. Don’t let the towers of our pride and selfish
choices be the cause of our misfortune.
Our Eucharistic gathering is a moment of connection with both joy and sadness in everyone’s life. We are not there alone for Christianity and Catholicism in particular is not a private devotion. It is a call to imitate the God who comes into our lives as a living word and a real presence. This is the God who loves, forgives, and who offered his life in suffering for our salvation. He desires our salvation, but he also warns against our refusing it. We stand before both mystery and mercy.
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