There’s a wonderful scene in the movie, Grand Canyon The language in the movie is really rough, so I can only show you a small part of the scene. Toward the beginning of the movie, Kevin Kline is driving at night in LA, and he decides to take a shortcut to avoid traffic. He and his expensive car eventually end up in a rather dangerous part of town. And then, his car stalls out. He calls a tow truck, but before it arrives a rather tough bunch of street hoods surround him and start to threaten him. Just in the nick of time, Danny Glover, the tow truck driver, arrives. He begins to hook up the car. The predatory gang members protest that he’s interrupting their meal. But Danny Glover takes the gang leader aside. He asks the gang leader a favor, to let him tow the car without further incident.
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Danny Glover gives an absolutely wonderful description of sin:
“The world ain’t supposed to work like this.
“This ain’t the way it’s supposed to be.
“Everything’s supposed to be different than what it is here.”
That’s what sin ultimately is. Sin is missing what God created us and the world to be. “This ain’t the way it’s supposed to be. Everything’s supposed to be different than what it is here.”
Sin is the way that our lives have gone off kilter. Sin is choosing my way over God’s way. Sin is missing the way it’s supposed to be.
Sin is ultimately a matter of orientation. Am I turning my back on God? Or am I turning toward God? Am I missing the target? Or am I aiming towards the way things are supposed to be?
And if sin is a matter of going off in the wrong direction, then what is repentance? Just as we so often equate sin with rule breaking, we often equate repentance with being sorry. But repentance is much more that being sorry. Repentance is making a change. Repentance is turning. Repentance is a matter of stopping and making a change in direction.
We have a rather harsh Gospel lesson this morning. But at heart, it is a call to repentance. Luke ch13 p950
In our Gospel lesson, the people ask Jesus about some current events. Apparently, v1 Pontius Pilate massacred some Jews worshipping in the temple. Also, v4 a tower fell over and crushed eighteen other people.
So the people ask Jesus the question: What did these people do? What sins did they commit? What’s the explanation? Why did God single these particular people out for death?
The people want an explanation. Surely bad things don’t happen to good people. At heart, they, like us, believe that the moral universe operates according to Newton’s Third Law of Motion: “For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.”
If something good happens, it must be because God loves you. If something bad happens, it must be because God is mad at you. That’s a common view.
So Jesus’ reply is rather startling. v2 “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans? No I tell you.” He continues, but we’ll come back to that in a second.
The same formula is used in v4: “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.” Again, we’ll come back to the second part in a moment.
Jesus’ reply is that these people didn’t die because God was out to get them. They weren’t worse sinners than anybody else. Instead, Jesus is basically saying, “These things just happen.”
Why did these particular people die? Why did it happen? The answer is, because it happened.
Over and over again, I have people ask me about events in their lives. Do I think God is trying to punish them? Do I think that God sent this disease as punishment? Do I think God caused that to happen because he’s punishing them?
My standard answer is, “No, that’s not the way God operates. God loves you. I don’t believe God is out to get you. Sometimes bad thing just happen.”
After all, we believe that God created us with free will. That goes for everyone, including a despot like Pontius Pilate. If Pilate ordered his soldiers to kill people to make an example of them, then they died because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. They didn’t die because they were worse sinners than anyone else.
God also created the natural order to obey natural laws. If a tower is flawed, gravity will ultimately pull it down. If people are under it when it falls, it means that they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. It doesn’t mean that they were more evil than anyone else.
Jesus is saying that disaster and suffering and death are not to be viewed as punishment from God. The innocent often suffer. And if you want a perfect example of that, we have have to look no further than the cross. The innocent, sinless, lamb of God suffers an excruciating death by slow torture. Jesus goes to his execution, even though he is innocent of all charges against him.
In this world, we can’t take the easy way out of equating suffering with God’s punishment. The gospel just won’t allow it. Often times the innocent do suffer. Often times, people are just in the wrong place at the wrong time.
However, there’s the part we skipped over. End of v3, and again in v5: “But,” Jesus says, and here’s the hard part. “But unless you repent, you will all perish as they did.”
In other words, Jesus says, turn to God. The mortality rate is still 100%. So take this tragedy as an opportunity. Use it as a reminder to change your direction. Repent. Put your trust in God. Make a change in the way you’re living your life. As long as you’re alive, the opportunity is always there to make a change. So take advantage of the opportunity.
And then Jesus tells the parable of the fig tree. v6. A man has a fig tree that doesn’t bear fruit. v7 He’s ready to cut it down.
But, v8 the gardener steps in and intervenes. Give me one more year. Let me cultivate the ground. Let me spread some manure. Give the tree an opportunity to bear fruit. Then if it doesn’t you can cut it down.
The Gospel presents a paradox. Jesus calls us to change and repent now. Yet Jesus also highlights God’s patience. The fig tree isn’t destroyed. It’s given yet another chance to be fruitful.
In our Gospel lesson, we’re not offered simplistic answers. There isn’t an easy answer to why bad things happen to good people. But it’s not because God is out to get us. If we die by violence, or by accident, or by natural disaster, it’s not because God is out to get us. God is loving, and God is patient. Jesus tells us that God would even give an unfruitful fig tree another chance.
But Jesus’ words do remind us that our lives are fragile. Any of our lives could end at a moment’s notice. So we are called to repent. We are called to turn. We are called to seek God’s direction. We are called to follow the path God intends. We are called ultimately to put our trust in God’s grace and love.
May we all have the grace to turn toward God with all of our hearts.
May we all have the grace to turn our backs on sin, and to embrace the way that things are supposed to be.
