Luke 13:1-9

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.’”

Reflection by Anthony B. Robinson

When terrible things happen we cry out, "Why?" An earthquake buckles Haiti, bombings batter Baghdad, Alzheimer's descends upon a dear friend; we cry out, "Why?" As he traveled toward Jerusalem, Jesus encountered people shaken by two recent disasters. Herod's soldiers had slaughtered a group of religious pilgrims from Galilee. And a tower in the town of Siloam collapsed, killing eighteen. Why?

Jesus didn't begrudge the question, but he did challenge the answers and explanations that people had come up with. Their answers to the "Why?" question were pretty much the same as those of Pat Robertson for the recent earthquake in Haiti. "They had it coming; punishment for their sins."

The problem with such ready explanations, besides their egregious compassion deficit, is that they allow us to stop shaking. At least sometimes, shaking is exactly what's needed. The implicit promise of the "This happened to them because they had it coming" explanation is, "Then we're safe because, thank God, we're not like them." Jesus challenged that answer to the "Why?" question. The strange thing is that Jesus didn't want them to feel safe. He wanted them to feel shaken.

Maybe, at least at times, Jesus wants that for us too? To be so shaken that we feel other's suffering as our own. So shaken that we are overwhelmed by ordinary kindness? So shaken that we are awe-struck by the fragile beauty and gift of this day?

Prayer

Lord, to my complacency speak your hard, loving and healing challenge. Come Holy Spirit, break me open and make me new. Amen.