— A Sermon by Robert W. Prim —
~~~ Third Sunday of Lent~~~
Luke 13:1-9
The passage we are about to read focuses on “repentance.” I want to define that word in a different way than we typically think of it. Frederick Buechner, in his book, Wishful Thinking: A Theological ABC, gets close to what I think the word is really about. He writes – “To repent is to come to your senses…True repentance spends less time looking at the past and saying, ‘I’m sorry,’ than to the future and saying ‘Wow!’ ”(Buechner, page 79). My own definition will be slightly different.
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At that very time there were some present who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. He asked them, “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as they did. Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them—do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others living in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did.”
Then he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and found none. So he said to the gardener, ‘See here! For three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and still I find none. Cut it down! Why should it be wasting the soil?’ He replied, ‘Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig around it and put manure on it. If it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.’ ”
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Forever it has been a problem.
Forever we, as human beings, have wanted
to have simple answers to complex questions.
Forever we have accepted as truth
answers that fail to capture
the depth and breadth of situations
because we want to know reasons
for why things happen the way that they do.
Forever these oversimplified answers
have led to a wrongheaded view of the world
and of our companions
on the mysterious journey of life
upon God’s glorious dance floor on earth.
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Here are examples of what I mean…
Someone, say a young person, a son or daughter, in a mosque in New Zealand, is gunned down by a White Supremacist with an automatic weapon. Why? Well, some might say, that person was worshiping the wrong God and this was punishment for being a Muslim in New Zealand.
Well, then, we might say as Christians, what about the African Americans gunned down by a White Supremacist in Charleston, South Carolina while attending a Christian Bible Study at their church? Well, some might say, they don’t belong here and God was punishing them.
What about that young woman who died in Charlottesville, Virginia after being run over by a car driven by a Neo-Nazi? Well, she should not have been there protesting and this was God’s way of punishing her and her family and those in Charlottesville who want a city that embraces people of every race, creed, and religion.
What about all the people in Iowa and Nebraska who have died in flooding, the people on the airplane in Ethiopia, the cyclones in Zimbabwe? The people who died somehow deserved what they got? Right? God was punishing them, right? Either those people or someone in their family did something that made God angry, right? So, they were killed in these events, right?
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Jesus, do you think those Galileans who Pilate killed while they were worshiping at the Temple did something to displease God? Is that why their time was cut short?
And Jesus states emphatically,
No, I tell you; but unless you repent,
you will all perish as they did.
Jesus, do you think those eighteen who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them – do you think they were being punished for their sins?
And Jesus states emphatically,
No, I tell you; but unless you repent,
you will all perish just as they did.
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Jesus made it clear in his response to these tragedies – one of human volition and the other a random, natural event – that there is not a “one to one” correspondence between sin and human suffering. We cannot explain away all tragedy by placing it in the realm of God’s punishment for sin. The world does not work that way. God, for goodness sakes, does not work that way. Bad things happen to good people. Good things happen to bad people. It rains on the just and the unjust.
We live in a world that offers no guarantees about health, wealth, or well-being even if we follow God’s rules and live a moral life. The world is not so simple. Good people are shot by people whose lives are twisted by evil ideologies. Good people are overwhelmed by flood waters. Good people are tragically killed in airplane crashes. And all the while evil people are raking in cash and living long lives in their villas in wine country. None of it can be explained by assigning curses or blessings from God.
Jesus did not try to explain why good things happen to bad people or why bad things happen to good people. Nowhere did Jesus offer a fully formed theological explanation for evil in the world. He did not try to explain the reasons for suffering – like Pilate’s evil deed or the unfortunate end for those who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time when the tower fell. These things happen and we cannot explain fully why these things happen; therefore, we are not to judge those who suffer such occurrences.
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Assuming that God is punishing people who suffer is a religious way of blaming victims. We are not to blame the victims of tragic events. It is tempting to blame the victims because the extension of such thinking is that we are morally superior to those who have perished because, after all, we are still alive. If people are just getting what they deserve then we who are still alive and doing well are better than those who have died or who are suffering. Such simplified thinking is wrong and Jesus did not let it stand in his day nor should we in ours.
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And yet, Jesus offered his listeners, who, like we,
are prone to blame the victim, a teaching –
Unless you repent, you will perish just as they did.
When Jesus said “you will perish just as they did”
he was not saying that they perished because
they were worse sinners than anyone else;
rather, Jesus was saying, I think –
repent because each day is a gift!
We never know when our last day on earth will come;
so, Jesus told us, we should orient ourselves
toward the hope, love, mercy, mystery and glory of God – now! We should orient ourselves to holy love – now!
We should turn to our graceful God – now!
Otherwise we are living lives that are less than our lives can be. Otherwise we are bound to things that are less than eternal.
Life can change, life can end in an ordinary instant; so,
live into the depth of God’s love this very day!
Turn to the graceful God of love this very day!
This passage from Luke is a reminder
to not put off until another time
the fullness of life that comes
with a heart and mind turned toward the love of God
and the love of neighbor.
This passage is a call
to use everyday we are given
to the glory of God.
To fail to use this day
as a day to dance in the mystery of God’s love
is to let ourselves be robbed of a beautiful gift –
it is to choose the wrong dance partner in life.
Too many in this world worship a God
who is harsh, judgmental, angry.
Too many in this world think of God
as always ready to condemn and punish and cast away.
Too many of this world, especially those who prosper,
want to view those who suffer and are poor
as receiving from God their just deserts.
To worship this kind of God is to choose
the wrong dance partner in life.
The God of Jesus is a God
of abiding love, grace, forgiveness and abundance of joy.
The God of Jesus is a God
always inviting us into God’s arms of grace.
It matters not to God where we have been.
It matters not to God how we have failed.
It matters not to God if we think like those around us,
love like the majority around us,
vote like the masses,
dress like those with money,
live in the best neighborhoods,
go the finest schools….
what matters to God is whether or not
we will step on the dance floor
with God as our graceful dance partner.
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I conclude with a poem by Hafiz, the 14th Century, Sufi poet. The poem is entitled The God Who Only Knows Four Words.
Every
Child
Has known God,
Not the God of names,
Not the God of don’ts,
Not the God who ever does
Anything weird,
But the God who only knows four words
And keeps repeating them, saying:
“Come dance with Me.”
Come
Dance.
(The Gift, page 270, translations by Daniel Ladinsky)
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So, I say on this very day,
let us each choose a graceful dance partner.
On this very day,
let us accept the joyful invitation of God
to dance in the arms of our loving Maker, our Friend,
the One with boundless love for us all. Amen.