Luke 13:1 - 9
Why is there a war going on in Ukraine? I’d sure like to know and apparently so would everyone else. If you go on the internet you can find all kinds of people speculating as to why Putin chose this moment to invade Ukraine. Maybe he’s crazy. Maybe he senses that our president and the leaders of European countries won’t put up much resistance. Maybe it’s a matter of stubborn pride now -- if he turns back without accomplishing something big, he will have caused all this trouble, especially to his own country, for nothing. A few small voices seem to suggest that Putin is paranoid and doesn't want a NATO country on his doorstep. And I’m sure if you lived in Russia you would hear a lot of justification for what is happening, and you might have no way to find out the truth. But the bottom line is that every time there is disaster we are programmed like computers to look for a reason.
And that’s the gospel today. Some people come to Jesus with headline news. Pilate killed a bunch of Galileans. Those people in Siloam died when their tower collapsed. And perhaps they asked Jesus, or perhaps he knew what they were going to ask -- why did all this happen? It must have been sin, right? Because sinners get what they deserve.
We aren’t much different twenty centuries later. We aren’t so quick to blame disaster on sin, but we still look for reasons, for excuses. If someone loses a loved one, we tell them he’s in a better place. If someone loses his job, we remind him that God is in charge and something will come along. We think we are consoling but we are just filling in the blanks giving speculative answers to the question, “why do bad things happen -- to good people, to bad people, to you , to me.”
When you look at this gospel passage, it’s a little hard to see how the second part relates to the first. Jesus tells the messengers that those people who suffered disaster are no more sinful than we are, and we better repent before it’s too late. To uis “repent” means to be sorry for our sins, and maybe that’s what Jesus meant. But another meaning for repent is to change one’s mind, to ask a better question, perhaps -- and I think that makes more sense as a prelude to the parable he tells. Because if you look at the parable, you see two reactions to something bad. The fig tree does not bear fruit. Cut it down, says the person who owns the tree. It won't bear fruit, what good is it? The fig tree not bearing fruit isn’t much of a disaster, is it? But it’s the same kind of response that is so natural to all of us. We identify a problem and almost in the same breath identify a reason for that problem. In this situation the owner of the tree sees that the tree isn’t bearing fruit, concludes that it is sterile, and orders it cut down. But the gardener sees an entirely different situation. The tree is alive, perhaps with some nurturing it can be made to bear fruit. And he is willing to get his hands dirty, to work with the tree, to invest some time and effort.
And we can draw some conclusions from the story. God is like the gardener, sure. He is the God of second chances. And third ones and more. He never gives up on us; Salvation and eternal life are ours to lose. God is not the tree’s owner, he’s the gardener.
But another lesson has to do with what we do when our minds automatically look for reasons for bad things that happen -- to us, to our neighbor. And when we ask why and come up with an answer, perhaps that is just a waste of our time, but more importantly, perhaps it puts up a barrier to appropriate action. If my friend experiences a loss, maybe the right response is to grieve with him, to enter into his pain. Perhaps when a war happens, the right response is how I can be a peacemaker; how I can relieve suffering. Because trying to figure out why is a waste of time and blocks further action. So whether it’s a fig tree, personal loss, or something like a war, the question is not “why” but rather, where can I do something to begin to change things for the better. That’s repentance, that’s the changing of one's thinking.
So next time you feel yourself asking why, recognize it as a prompting from the Holy Spirit; don't ask why, ask where you can help, how can you make the situation better, how can you bring about the kingdom of God, which you have the power to do because you belong to Christ, and in the end Christ will triumph over all evil.
