Whose fault was it?

Lent 3 – March 3 2013 – Holy Communion at St Giles Cheddington

First Reading Isaiah 55.1-9

Come, all you who are thirsty,
come to the waters;
and you who have no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without cost.
Why spend money on what is not bread,
and your labour on what does not satisfy?
Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good,
and your soul will delight in the richest of fare.
Give ear and come to me;
hear me, that your soul may live.
I will make an everlasting covenant with you,
my faithful love promised to David.
See, I have made him a witness to the peoples,
a leader and commander of the peoples.
Surely you will summon nations you know not,
and nations that do not know you will hasten to you,
because of the LORD your God,
the Holy One of Israel,
for he has endowed you with splendour.”
Seek the LORD while he may be found;
call on him while he is near.
Let the wicked forsake his way
and the evil man his thoughts.
Let him turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on him,
and to our God, for he will freely pardon.
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the LORD.
“As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

Gospel Luke 13.1-9

When the Gospel is announced the reader says

Hear the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to N.
All Glory to you, O Lord.

Some people told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. Jesus answered, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them - do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.”

Then he told this parable: “A man had a fig-tree, planted in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it, but did not find any. So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, ‘For three years now I've been coming to look for fruit on this fig-tree and haven't found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?’

“‘Sir,’ the man replied, ‘leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig round it and fertilise it. If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.’”

This is the Gospel of the Lord.
All Praise to you, O Christ.

Sermon

Vicky tells story – mother’s cherry tree – produced fruit only when about to be chopped down for road widening. No second chance for that tree. Too late. But parable of fig tree tells different story of God’s grace.

Today’s gospel starts with serious questions. Whose fault was it when seemingly random accidents occur? Whose fault when people suffer at the hands of a cruel tyrant? Why were some chosen, and not others?

Same questions posed in Job – Lent Course. Job’s friends, like many people, conclude he must be at least partly to blame.

A few verses before this passage – we read Jesus told crowds they were good at predicting weather – but could not interpret the present time. Similar saying in Matthew 16:

The Pharisees and Sadducees came to Jesus and tested him by asking him to show them a sign from heaven.

² He replied, ‘When evening comes, you say, “It will be fair weather, for the sky is red,” ³ and in the morning, “Today it will be stormy, for the sky is red and overcast.” You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times.

The crowds responded with two questions. Two cases of unjust suffering. Told him about Galileans murdered by Pilate in ghastly event. Their blood mixed with sacrifices. Did they deserve it? Was Pilate agent of divine retribution? Were they worse sinners than anyone else?

Second question: a tower fell in Jerusalem, killing 18 people. Were they more guilty than others living in Jerusalem? Or did they just happen to be passing by at the wrong moment?

Those who raised these questions can hardly be faulted. Who was to blame – always first question asked by TV news reporters about almost any event, including natural disasters, acts of God, insane and random shootings, whatever.

The assumption is that we live in a universe of rewards and punishments. That way of thinking is reflected within the Bible itself. The book of Job is a particularly eloquent case. Job suffered severe losses (family, property, and health), and he carried on a long verbal interchange with three friends. According to Job’s friends, he must have done something wrong to deserve his suffering. God is all-powerful. God is not malevolent. Surely God could only allow the suffering of the innocent by deliberate choice, or he would have put a stop to it.

Job throughout maintains his innocence.

How does Jesus respond to these important questions? He addresses the concerns head on. Just like in John 9 when he encounters a man born blind. Whose fault was it? – disciples asked. Who sinned – man or his parents?

Jesus declares Galileans killed were no better or worse than any others. They happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. Construction workers, developers or financiers cutting corners, using shoddy workmanship, or cheap materials through corruption may have played a part I suppose – but that’s no reason to blame God for what happened, any more than if the tower had been struck by lightning.

The question of God’s justice persists to the present day. The doctrine is called Theodicy. To think that human suffering is due to divine punishment for sin, or perhaps to some unknown flaw or secret misdeed, is too simple, but very familiar.

Of course, there may be consequences and suffering as a result of risky behaviour. But that’s not the point being made here. Scripture itself has enough instances of divine punishment resulting from human sin, and many of these are much easier to explain. But not the sort of random acts Jesus is being asked about in today’s gospel reading.

Having said those killed by Pilate or the fallen tower of Siloam were not more to blame than any other Galilean, Jesus adds: But unless you repent, you too will all perish. In other words, God is not punishing just those who were killed, but judgement waits for all of us. So don’t focus on seemingly unfair and isolated events – consider your own destiny.

That sounds harsh, but consider the parable which follows. It’s a parable about judgement. The two protagonists are the landowner – that is God – and the caretaker hired to look after the vineyard. The landowner plants a fig tree – that’s probably us - but it never produces any figs. It’s a waste of space, says God, I’ll dig it up and use the land for something more productive.

The caretaker persuades his boss to give the barren fig tree one more chance. He’ll dig round the tree, and fertilise the soil. In a year, the tree might produce fruit, and in any event, a new tree would take several years more to get established. The landowner agrees.

The implication is that God is patient, which gives Jesus’ hearers time for repentance, but there is a limit.

The parable helps place God’s judgment and grace into a wider perspective. God’s grace is greater than God’s judgment. How could it be otherwise? Divine patience is simply another expression of God’s love for us and his grace. As we heard in our first reading from Isaiah:

Seek the LORD while he may be found;
call on him while he is near.
Let the wicked forsake his way
and the evil man his thoughts.
Let him turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on him,
and to our God, for he will freely pardon.
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the LORD.
“As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

Amen